Our Parisians join the Lions in the final

What a start for Momo Faye! Although William-Goss opened the scoring, Paris Basketball responded immediately through their Senegalese giant. First at the free-throw line and then finishing an alley-oop, our center set the tone. Our second unit maintained that pace, particularly on the defensive end; not only did the Parisians punish Kaunas in every aspect of the game, but they also gave nothing away on defense. Then, with one of his first touches in our colors, Terry Tarpey drained a clinical corner three-pointer before Jared forced Tomas Masiulis to call a timeout. Although Žalgiris came out of the break fast, it didn’t stop Maozinha from destroying the rim, as is his custom. Finally, following a devastating drive through the lane by Nadir, Maxime Lefèvre’s men closed out the first quarter with a comfortable lead (21-15). While undersized in the paint—facing the likes of the 2.11-meter Jonas Valančiūnas—Paris relied on relentless activity to ramp up the pressure. Naturally, the Lithuanian ball-handlers began committing errors, both in ball security and passing—opportunities we were quick to capitalize on. While Žalgiris tried to exploit our mid-range defense, T.J. Warren’s teammates—playing with flair—executed a series of inside-out plays near the rim. Once again, as halftime approached, our opponents stopped play in an attempt to break the black-and-blue team’s momentum. The strategy yielded little result, however, as the scoreboard still showed a significant gap heading into the locker room (45-33).