Paris close to achieving a remarkable feat

Published on February 5, 2026

In a heated adidas arena, Paris Basketball held its own against the reigning European champions until cracking in the final quarter. (90–92)

After the excitement of Micke Jantunen receiving his French championship ring, it was time to get down to business. Paris started the match in serious mode, with Jared and Justin deciding to take control of the game. Yes, Nicolo Melli decided to hurt us like he did last season, but this time, we had an answer. At the end of the first quarter, we were ahead. Solid in defence and effective in attack, we saw the Paris of big nights. Timid at the start of the game, Nadir began to heat up, scoring 6 points in a very short space of time to finish with 11 at the end of the first period. Our point guard was extremely aggressive and managed to get a lot of shots, which frustrated Sarunas Jasikevičius, who was furious on the bench. Fener managed to take the lead and pull ahead slightly halfway through the quarter, but a three-pointer from Derek and another from the Prince of Paris put us back on track to finish the half in the lead. But that was only half the game…

The start of the second half was almost perfect. In a packed adidas arena tonight, the sixth man pushed the players like never before. And in defence, we were really solid, led by Jeremy Morgan. Offensively, we built up a 16-point lead, thanks in particular to good play from Allan and Lamar But Fener is still Fener, and they went on a little run to close the gap to 7 points at the end of the third quarter. We knew how strong the Istanbul club was, so we were prepared. And in basketball, things happen fast. Despite a complete game on our part, the arrows fired by Biberovic and Baldwin Wade IV hit their targets and hurt us badly at the start of the fourth quarter, bringing the Istanbul team back to a tie in the game.

Despite an XXL performance from Jared Rhoden in the fourth quarter, helped by Momo Faye‘s entry in the final quarter, Francesco Tabellini’s men began to lose their grip on the game. The money time proved fatal for us, with Nando De Colo crucifying us with a three-pointer from the corner. Jasikevičius’ players held their nerve in the final seconds of the game despite a last-ditch effort from Nadir (23 points) and came out on top in a clash of the titans tonight.

See you this Saturday at home for the last home game of the month, the Africa Game against Nancy. Tickets are available here !