Paris made club history on Thursday night, advancing to the EuroCup Semifinals for the first time.
Jantunen stepped up for Paris at the right time
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Paris Basketball downed Joventut Badalona 86-70 in the BKT EuroCup single-game quarterfinals.
Things were not easy at first, as Joventut tried to slow down the game tempo and using its size advantage in the paint through Tyler Cook and Ante Tomic. Starting center Leon Kratzer battled foul trouble throughout the game, picking up his third early in the second quarter and fouling out in less than 7 minutes. Kratzer, a 2.12-meter center, averaged 5.8 points and 4.9 rebounds before this game.
Paris had no other player available close to the combination of size and experience that Tomic brought to the table. Coach Tuomas Iisalo opted to play with a smaller lineup most of the way and power forward Mikael Jantunen gave Paris the consistency and toughness required to balance the battle in the paint.
Jantunen finished the game with 12 points and team highs of 6 rebounds and 3 steals in less than 25 minutes. All his baskets were critical: a three-pointer right before halftime to stop Joventut's comeback, giving Paris a 40-35 lead, a couple of close baskets in a 13-0 run that put Paris on track to win the game late in the third quarter, and another bomb from downtown in the fourth quarter to keep the hosts far away.
Iisalo spoke about his team's resilience after the game: "We have a lot of experience of winning, and that is one of the hallmarks of great teams however the game is going. We had difficulties with our three-point shots, we had good opportunities to finish but were not able to do it, but we found another way to win, and that was through our defense, especially in the second half where we locked in and made that third quarter run that proved crucial," he said.
Jantunen had a PIR of 19 for the fifth time this season. Paris is now getting ready for an exciting best-of-three semifinal series against the London Lions.