2024-01-12 04:13:41
REPORTAGE – Donovan Mitchell’s Cavaliers largely disposed of the Nets on Thursday at the Accor Arena, after a tasteless match. Roll on 2025!
«Things will be fine for the Cavs. I think they will win», guessed Kylian Mbappé, on beIN SPORTS, arriving at the Accor Arena. A big NBA fan, the PSG striker was right: with a great, enormous, exceptional Donovan Mitchell, author of 45 points, including 21 in the last quarter, Cleveland dominated Brooklyn on Thursday (111-102) , during the third regular season match of the North American league in Paris. Not the last, we know. The NBA will return next year, most likely with… the Spurs. “I can’t confirm anything, but we’re thinking about it», smiled the big boss of the NBA, Adam Silver, several times during this US week in Paris.
Some sources suggest that Paris La Défense Arena could take precedence over the POPB. Mr. Silver above all indicated that the hypothesis of seeing not one but two matches is not excluded. “We thought about offering more matches. In terms of efficiency, given the scale of the operation of bringing two teams here, we have had conversations with teams who, once here, could play a second match against each other before returning to the United States. This is something we are potentially even considering for next season“, declared David Stern’s successor. The NBA had already held two regular season games in two days. It was in London, in 2011. In this case, it is a question of a poster between San Antonio and Indiana, a club on the rise, as revealed The Athletic from Wednesday.
Tony Parker spills the beans
It appears that Tony Parker preempted the call on Canal+. While the journalist from the encrypted channel asked him to comment on the return of the NBA to Paris for a match in 2025, “TP” said this: “Why does the NBA love France so much? It’s a big market, France loves the NBA. It’s very good news to have Spurs next year, it will be incredible. Plus, two matches… It will be crazy!» Relaunched, the four-time NBA champion got a little confused, saying that it was our colleague who had spoken about two matches and that he was only repeating his words. Which is actually not the case. The most likely hypothesis is therefore that said Parker simply spilled the beans before anyone else!
One thing is certain: we have no doubt that the “Wemby” effect would fill Bercy twice. Nanterre twice, too? Madness would take over the capital, that’s for sure. And the room would take up the cause of the Texans. It would be fire! The main person concerned can already be seen there. “I would be very lucky if it happens, it would be special, with home advantage in a way (smile). It would be one of the most intense, most valuable matches of my life if it happens», indicated the giant (2.24m) on Wednesday, after his first triple-double with San Antonio and a success on the floor of the Detroit Pistons (108-130).
Mitchell puts the lid on
While waiting for the Wembanyama madness, the Cleveland-Brooklyn match unleashed less passions, let’s be honest. Already because there was neither superstar nor French in the ranks of the two teams. And what’s more, there was no match. At least, not for three quarters. Cleveland started very strong (18-6), with only Cam Thomas (26 pts) to keep the artificial respiration going on the Brooklyn side. +22 during the first period, +26 in the second. We long believed in a quiet end to the match for the Cavs, despite Cam Thomas, again, who signed the evening’s action, a crazy dunk in traffic. Brooklyn, however, found a way to get back to -10 and the tone seriously rose. Large crowd, tension, start of scuffle. Tristan Thompson even being excluded. It had the merit of waking up everyone, players and spectators. There was a match! But Donovan Mitchell showed his class to calm the enthusiasm of the Nets and put the lid on (111-102 final score). What a festival of old Jazz!
For the rest, it was classic, square, the NBA knows how to do it. Mascots, cheerleaders, various and varied activities… Nothing crazy anyway, deja vu overall. And the 100,000 euro shoot too. The man named Quentin was not far from the mark. He still left with a check for 10,000 euros for three points. He will remember it for a while…
Ronaldo, Pharrell Williams, Tony Parker in the place
Not sure that the rest of the audience will have lasting memories of the evening. Remember that the NBA organized a certain number of events across Paris throughout the week. The players from both teams say they appreciated this moment which allowed them to strengthen ties and train more than would have been the case in the United States. In the meantime, many stars have responded, Mbappé and several of his PSG teammates, but also the Brazilian Ronaldo, the former Parisians Javier Pastore and David Beckham, Pharrell Williams and Matt Pokora. As for the former basketball glories, we saw Tony Parker, Anderson Varejao, Channing Frye, Thabo Sefolosha and the French Kevin Séraphin, Ian Mahinmi, Mike Piétrus and Joakim Noah. Marine Johannes’ current teammate at the New York Liberty (WNBA) was there too. The NBA also saw fit to show Jose Calderon on the big screens at the Accor Arena. The Spaniard was obviously whistled by the public, the Franco-Spanish rivalry being firmly anchored in French heads and hearts.
Can’t wait for next year, when Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs set Paris on fire. On Wednesday, Adam Silver hoped for a quick formalization. A matter of months? More like weeks. We will then have to wait a year to see this. But first, basketball fans will have plenty to do with the Paris Olympic Games. Barring injury, “Wemby” will be there. A priori, Team USA will arrive with all its stars. It promises.
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