The two players enjoyed big nights in the play-in as the French side defeated Real Madrid to make the playoffs
Hifi, Hayes epitomize sky-high confidence of Paris: ‘We can play with anybody’
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Fresh off securing the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Rising Star Award, Nadir Hifi was determined to put on a show at Movistar Arena in the play-in. The same can certainly be said of Kevarrius Hayes, too.
While TJ Shorts deservedly earned plenty of plaudits, including by this author, Hifi and Hayes showed their importance to coach Tiago Splitter’s squad in Paris Basketball's 73-81 triumph over Real Madrid.
Courtesy of its first-round win in the Play-In Showdown, Paris rubber-stamped its place in the EuroLeague Playoffs and can now prepare for a best-of-five series with Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.
Hifi and Shorts both sat on 11 points at halftime on Tuesday night, while Hayes had 6, all of which came off dimes by Shorts. Real Madrid boasts a frightening group of centers, but on Tuesday night it was Walter Tavares – the EuroLeague’s MVP of the Month for March and April – and Serge Ibaka who were included on the 12-man roster, with Bruno Fernando surprisingly left out. Early on, Hayes wanted to make an impression.
One of four players on Paris’s roster with previous EuroLeague experience, Hayes enjoyed a first quarter that he’ll remember for a long time to come.
He got his first points of the night after peeling off a pick and roll with Shorts for a dunk inside to put the visitors 3-5 ahead, then – with Tavares on the bench with 2 early fouls – he blocked Ibaka before combining with Shorts for another big dunk. Next, he stole the ball from Dzanan Musa to force a jump ball. To put the cherry on top of an excellent opening period, Shorts sent up an alley-oop pass and Hayes was on hand for the slam.
Paris led 22-27 after 10 minutes and 36-46 at the halftime break, with Real Madrid having grabbed 13 rebounds, of which 2 were on the offensive glass. Paris, meanwhile, had 25, with 5 coming on Los Blancos’ end of the floor.
“In the first half they had 2 offensive rebounds, [so we were] just trying to keep them off the boards as much as possible,” Hayes told Euroleague.net’s Geoff Gillingham in the mixed zone. “It takes a lot and I appreciate them helping me out, rebounding down. Especially if I can’t get it, to make sure Tavares can’t get it and then they’ll take care of it. I feel like we did very good at that tonight and just trying to manage the rebounds as much as possible.”
If rebounding was one of the keys to the win, another was the maverick play of Hifi. The 22-year-old – nicknamed “the Prince of Paris” – left the crowd inside Movistar Arena stunned on multiple occasions, showing a creativity in his scoring that was very reminiscent of 2023-24 EuroLeague MVP Mike James.
Time after time, Hifi stuck the dagger further into Real Madrid after 20-23 seconds of good defense. He finished the night with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, but his sidestep three-pointer over Sergio Llull with 2:41 minutes to go felt like the decisive basket. Not only did it give Paris a 68-74 lead, but it came at a time when Real Madrid was mounting a late charge.
Paris actually came into Tuesday’s play-in game against Los Blancos with a 0-2 record in this fixture, but Coach Splitter’s men showed what they are capable of once again on the biggest stage. For Hifi, he is feeling bullish ahead of the series with Fenerbahce, another team that Paris was winless against this season.
“It’s going to be a tough series,” he said to Euroleague.net’s Geoff Gillingham in the mixed zone. “We know how difficult it is to play in Istanbul, but we already lost two times to them and we know how they play. We can win against them, and we should have taken both [games] that we lost. I believe in everybody here and we’re going to work hard to get to the Final Four.”
Hayes feels the same way.
“We played Fener, we know how they are,” he added. “We just had a big game against them (101-100 in Round 32), unfortunately they hit a shot at the end. But we know we can play with them – we can play with anybody.
“Winning this game [tonight] the way we did, I feel like we were very mature, corrected a lot of the mistakes we made earlier this season and walked away with the win tonight. All we’ve got to do is the same thing: just be us, play with pace, and good things will happen.”
There’s no denying the confidence that Paris is playing with right now, and Fenerbahce should be wary about what is to come. A fascinating series awaits, that's for sure.