Following their victory over Milan last week, Paris Basketball had another opportunity to extinguish a team’s playoff hopes as they hosted Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday. In their final home game of the Euroleague season, the Parisian club once again proved to be a spoiler against Oded Kattash’s team, securing a dominant 113-80 win.
For one of the first times this season, the French champions maintained their offensive prowess throughout the entire match, leaving nothing, not even a crumb, for their visitors. Key figures in this decisive performance were Justin Robinson, who shone with 25 points and 6 assists, and the agile Allan Dokossi, who contributed 14 points and 4 rebounds, both displaying excellent form as has become customary since Julius Thomas took the helm.
On the other side, Maccabi’s long-range shooting was far too inconsistent (8/35), hindering their chances of leaving the Adidas Arena with any success. This inaccuracy was epitomized by Lonnie Walker, who despite scoring 16 points, struggled with his shooting (5/14), while French player Jaylen Hoard also faced significant difficulties, scoring just 3 points on 1/6 shooting.
A Fiery Start
Determined to show no mercy to their opponents, the Parisians began with four explosive plays. First, Allan Dokossi attacked the rim in transition, followed by Derek Willis swatting away Jaylen Hoard’s shot, and then Justin Robinson and Sebastian Herrera draining three-pointers (8-2, 2nd minute).
This intensity contrasted sharply with the Israeli team, who were often forced into fouls. With 5 turnovers in as many minutes of play (4 of which were by Jimmy Clark III alone), they were quickly punished in transition (21-12, 5th minute). Despite impressive runs from Lonnie Walker and O’shae Brissett, Paris maintained their lead, notably thanks to Herrera’s two more successful three-pointers in the first quarter (29-15, 7th minute).
Led by their captain, Paris achieved their best offensive quarter of the season, scoring 41 points (just two shy of the competition record for a quarter) with exceptional long-range shooting (6/10 in the period). The quarter concluded similarly to how it began, with a powerful dunk from former Dijon player Allan Dokossi just seconds before the buzzer (41-24, 10th minute).
Julius Thomas’s squad maintained this frenetic pace in the second quarter. Driven by Amath M’baye, who executed two magnificent fade-away shots from the baseline, they even extended their lead to 20 points (49-29, 14th minute). Subsequently, the home team experienced a significant dip in scoring, failing to register any points for over 3 minutes.
However, this lull was not enough to allow the Israelis to close the gap. With poor long-range accuracy (4/16 in the first half), Maccabi squandered their opportunity, and Nadir Hifi made sure they knew it by successfully hitting two high-level three-pointers himself (55-34, 18th minute). Despite a poorly managed final play, the French champions held a comfortable lead at halftime (61-38, 20th minute).
Paris Held On Until the End!
They continued to nurture this lead after returning from the locker room, with Justin Robinson again finding Dokossi (66-40, 21st minute) and sinking his second three-pointer of the evening (69-40, 22nd minute). The deficit even surpassed 30 points after a silky mid-range shot from the “Prince of the venue” (85-51) and continued to grow until the end of the third quarter.
This made the final quarter largely irrelevant. The dynamic did not reverse; on the contrary, Paris even led by as many as 40 points (111-71, 37th minute). This magnificent victory, however, had no impact on the standings for the Parisians, but it virtually seals their opponents’ elimination from the Euroleague.
The boxscore for the match is available here.
At the Adidas Arena, Paris
