Friday’s French derby saw the home team confirm it is capable of competing with anyone
ASVEL established its playoff credentials by overcoming league leader Paris
Article
4 Mins read
It’s fair to suggest that, when the season began, very few people would have predicted that Friday’s French derby between LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and Paris Basketball would exert a significant impact at both ends of the race for the playoffs.
After all, Paris is a newcomer to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. And however impressive last season’s triumph in the BKT EuroCup might have been, the prospects of first-year head coach Tiago Splitter guiding his inexperienced team to the summit of the world’s most competitive basketball league seemed remote to say the least.
ASVEL, on the other hand, has struggled to establish itself among the elite during its previous EuroLeague campaigns, finishing at least six wins short of the playoff positions in the last four seasons.
Yet the Round 15 meeting came around with Paris aiming to take its 11th consecutive victory and move into an improbable two-game lead at the top of the standings. And after shrugging off a slow start to the season, ASVEL had the ambition of winning its fourth straight at home to stay in touch with the all-important top ten, level with the mighty Real Madrid and just two wins behind reigning champ Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens.
So there was plenty at stake as the latest installment of the Rivalry Series was staged at the highly atmospheric Astroballe, and an opening 15 minutes which contained 13 lead changes and saw neither team lead by more than 6 points offered few clues about which team would end up celebrating.
But then ASVEL started to take control, with the scoring of Nando De Colo at one end matched by intense defense at the other, forcing the visiting team into 4 consecutive turnovers and allowing just one field goal in nearly five minutes. That allowed the home team to take a 47-36 into the halftime interval, giving Paris one of its biggest tests of the season so far.
And although the league leader fought hard to maintain its long unbeaten run, ASVEL played with enough quality, consistency and control throughout the second half to eke out a 98-93 victory which was celebrated like a title win inside the Astroballe.
The importance of the victory was not lost on the MVP of the game, young star Theo Maledon. The guard continued his stellar season by contributing 22 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, and he admitted it was a highly significant success as he told EuroLeague.TV: “It means a lot. A great win, everybody stepped up, and I couldn’t be any prouder of the team.”
Demonstrating the belief that is starting to spread throughout the ASVEL roster after a home winning streak which has conquered heavyweights Anadolu Efes Istanbul, Real Madrid and now the league leader Paris, Maledon said the key for his team was “not being scared of them. We trust ourselves; we’re not going to back down from anyone, and we’re going to fight.”
Coach Pierric Poupet also regards Friday’s triumph as a statement-making success, noting: “The goal was to stay solid for 40 minutes and I thought we did it. We have to stay humble. It’s good to know that we can do good things. It’s a good way to prove ourselves that we can compete in this EuroLeague.”
However, there’s certainly lots of room for improvement with ASVEL needing plenty more wins before it can climb into the top ten, and one obvious need is to improve on the road. ASVEL boasts a 6-2 record in Villeurbanne but has lost every game on its travels, so the upcoming double-round week trips to in-form Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade and Zalgiris Kaunas represent a major challenge.
“Now we have to get wins on the road,” admitted Poupet. “That’s going to be the next step for us to improve.”
If ASVEL can back up its French derby triumph by taking at least one more win from next week’s double header, belief in this team will start to spread far beyond France and across the continent.