By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
When looking at the best and most-remembered head coaches from Europe, Pascal Donnadieu takes a special position in the list.
Coaching a team for ten consecutive seasons is no easy task; prolonging it to two decades, well, it’s even more difficult. Extending your coaching legacy to 37 consecutive years is unprecedented and unbelievable. However, it’s true.
The 2023-24 season was the last one for the experienced 60-year-old tactician on the French team’s bench, leaving a difficult job to his replacing colleague Philippe Da Silva: entering Nanterre’s hearts.
Their run thus far in this season’s Basketball Champions League, however, has been proving that the Portuguese-French head coach, in Nanterre as assistant coach since 2018 and now heir of the legendary Pascal Donnadieu, can actually achieve that.
Participating in a European competition for the first time after four years, lastly finishing in the Top 16 of the 2020-21 EuroCup, they can do similarly this year in the Basketball Champions League.
Losing at home in Game 1 but winning on the road in Game 2, the French team will now come back in front of their fans in Palais des Sports Maurice Thorez on Wednesday night at 20:00 CET. Filou Oostende has been proving to be a tough opponent, but history is on the line.
Achieving success in this year’s Play-In series, they would become only the fourth team in BCL history to win in the Play-Ins after losing Game 1 with home-court advantage.
Heading to Group L of the BCL Round of 16 would be an unprecedented feat for this team, joining the surprise of the year ERA Nymburk, last year’s bronze medalist UCAM Murcia, and the winner of the three-game matchup between Falco-Vulcano Szombathely and Maccabi Ramat-Gan.
Dragged by the latest BCL Player of the Week
After concluding the Regular Season in 2nd place, trailing only Wurzburg on top of Group A after starting their continental campaign with two consecutive road defeats to Igokea and Holon, Nanterre 92 found themselves two wins away from their first-ever BCL Round of 16.
Winning the 2016-17 FIBA Europe Cup with Mathias Lessort on board, they even reached the competition’s Eight-Finals in 2017-18 and Quarter-Finals in 2018-19.
But since the format has changed, they have never extended their run all the way to the last sixteen surviving teams in the competition. This season, Philippe Da Silva’s first season, things can finally change. Especially considering they can count on the latest BCL Player of the Week.
Emerging as Nanterre’s leader in the 76-67 road win in Oostende to save the day with 16 points and 5 steals over 8/9 from two-point range, Desi Rodriguez claimed the award.
According to Opta, the 28-year-old powerful forward has now scored 15+ points in each of his last four BCL games. That’s his best run in the competition.
Scoring close to the basket is a collective tendency this season for Nanterre, as – once again according to Opta – 58.1% of their points this season have come from 2-pointers, the highest percentage in the league.
Moreover, Desi Rodriguez is also a ball-stealer: still, according to Opta, he made five steals during Game 2, a joint-high for a Nanterre player in a BCL game alongside Heiko Schaffartzik against Telekom Baskets Bonn in January 2018.
Adding solidness from Roko Prkacin, the unmatched experience brought to the table by Paul Lacombe, and Ahmad Caver’s extravagant abilities on the backcourt, Nanterre 92 can actually dream.
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League
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