Paris – SLUC Nancy
99-91
Obviously, it’s always easy to say a posteriori that we felt the blow coming. Rather, in this case, that we had feared that it would end badly. But throughout this match, moreover so pleasant to follow, the scent of danger hovered.
Because the score has always been tight, of course. But also because it quickly became apparent that the SLUC had no other option but to play Paris Basket’s favorite game. A game resolutely turned towards the attack. However, the defense displayed by Nancy this Saturday unfortunately did not have the same rigor as that which brought down Le Mans, last week. Far from it.
Suddenly, it was to be feared, this match was played to a coin. And the coin fell on the side of the team which increased the volume on the athletic level, in the second period. And the SLUC missed out on a bonus that would have done it so much good.
However, it is true that Sylvain Lautié’s team was on the whole on an equal footing with Paris. She even dominated the first period. Largely thanks to a diabolical address (60%, including 6 out of 11 three-pointers) and a perfect alternation between playing inside and taking risks on the periphery. In turn, Walker, Frisch and Nwamu took advantage of the shooting windows to allow Nancy to cross the first period in the lead. The 19-0 inflicted on Paris in the first quarter having helped launch the Nancy machine (14-26, 8th; 34-41, 16th).
A few too many offensive rebounds…
A SLUC which, in addition, lost very little ammunition. But already, he had given Evans too much space in the racket. At the start of the third quarter, Scott was going to allow the SLUC to continue to believe that the feat was in its strings, in this completely unbridled match (52-64, 23rd). So far all was well. Until… 20-0 received in the face, while Paris had decided to pull out all the stops. A few minutes later, the horizon had darkened terribly (72-64, 29th).
But then again, Nancy went over the gas. Thanks in particular to Labanca, who gave him a two-step lead at the start of money time (82-84, 34th). It was time for the… heads or tails. In the dying minutes, SLUC left a few offensive rebounds to their opponent, who found Goulding and Wallace behind the three-point line and Bégarin’s counter-attacks to tip the scales in favor of Paris. The SLUC played with fire and ended up getting burned.
