By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Paris is on the rise and this is simply not Maccabi’s year.
The end result was an easy 96-83 win for the home side which jumped to a 13-8 record and remains on track to be among the Top 4 teams of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings.
Tyson Ward with 18 points was the top scorer of the winners, Nadir Hifi added 15 points, TJ Shorts, Maodo Lo, and Collin Malcolm had 11 points each., while Paris shot 12/28 threes.
It has also to be noted that TJ Shorts dished 14 assists, a EuroLeague season high.
“Shout out to my teammates for making shots,” Shorts said. “Because assists don’t happen unless the guys around knock down shots or finishing plays. It’s a credit to them for helping me break my own record.”
Jalen Hoard and Rokas Jokubaitis scored 16 points each for Maccabi, and Levi Randolph and Roman Sorkin had 10 points each, still, it was far from enough.
Maccabi dropped to 5-17 and is second to last in the standings.
“This is something we talked about before the game: To hit first and be the aggressive team on the floor,” Paris coach Tiago Splitter said. “And then just control the pace of the tempo and the way we’re going to play. Also grab the rebounds because they are a great team on offensive rebounds. We did a good job there.”
A show by Paris
Paris set the tone early, leading 26-11 after the first period and extending their advantage to 21 points (32-11) at the start of the second. Maccabi finally appeared in the game and thanks to a 9-0 run trimmed the lead to 12 (32-20) with six minutes left in the first half.
Still, Paris kept things in check, kept their distance, and went to the locker rooms leading by 16 (49-33). Tyson Ward scored 11 points in 12 minutes.
Paris opened up the second half with four unanswered points for a 20-point advantage (53-33) and Maccabi made one more comeback effort, making it a nine-point game (64-55) with Roman Sorking scoring back-to-back threes.
Paris wasn’t rattled and closed the period up by 16 (72-56) while pushing the lead again to 21 (77-56) to start the last quarter and this time there was no coming back for Maccabi.
The hosts cruised until the end, with Maccabi trimming the lead to a more respectable final score.
Photo credit: EuroLeague