Traveling to the floor of Evan Fournier’s Olympiakos, Friday evening during the 12th day of the Euroleague, Paris relapsed (98-86) a week after ending a series of four defeats against Valencia at home. The absence of Nadir Hifi was too much for these Parisians, although they were supported by a huge Justin Robinson (35 points).
Deprived of Nadir Hifi, Paris relapses. Eight days after finally returning to victory, at home against Valencia while the Parisians had just recorded four defeats in a row in the competition, the French champions fell back into their ways and suffered a new setback – their 7th since the start of the season – Friday evening on the floor of Olympiakos (98-86) for the 12th day of the Euroleague.
Hifi absent, Justin Robinson took over as the team’s usual triggerman and above all top scorer in the Euroleague. The American, author of 35 points (including 7 out of 10 from three points), produced a dizzying performance against the 4th in the ranking and Evan Fournier (18 points) who greatly contributed to this new victory for his team, back on the podium after this success against Paris. The players from the capital started the match better (29-21 after the first quarter).
Fournier and the merciless Greeks to the end
At the break, however, it was Olympiakos and former… Parisian Tyson Ward, author of 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, who returned to the locker room with a 9-point lead (58-39). On the restart, thanks in the first place to a still monstrous Robinson, Paris found color again.
At the start of the last quarter, Jeremy Morgan (13 points) and his teammates even came back to two points for a while after two new points from Robinson, then later to three lengths on a new distant basket from the same Robinson, decidedly stratospheric. However, it was still Olympiakos, rarely trailing in this part, who was in the lead.
Thanks to two free throws from Thomas Walkup and a shot behind the line from Fournier, the 2023 finalist even gave himself almost ten points in advance. In the process, a new basket from the captain of the Blues relegated Paris to thirteen lengths. There was no longer really a match, and Yakuba Ouattara’s efforts at the end of the match did nothing, Vezenkov then Walkup definitely putting Francesco Tabellini’s players, for whom the absence of Hifi was certainly too much, in the lurch. Paris falls to 13th place.
