TJ Shorts dished a season-high 14 assists
Paris thrashes Maccabi at home, 96-83
Paris Basketball rounded out a perfect week by downing Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 96-83 at Adidas Arena in Round 22 on Thursday. Paris improved to 13-8 in the standings while Maccabi dropped to 5-17 and is now on a four-game losing streak.
Tyson Ward led the winners with 18 points. Nadir Hifi added 15, Mikael Jantunen 13 and TJ Shorts, Collin Malcolm and Maodo Lo scored 11 apiece for Paris. Shorts added 14 assists, a new EuroLeague season-high, for a double-double. Rokas Jokubaitis and Jaylen Hoard led Maccabi with 16 points apiece. Roman Sorkin and Levi Randolph each scored 10 for the visitors.
Game Videos
Marial Shayok got Maccabi going wih a power layup off the baseline. Jantunen answered from downtown and Kevarrius Hayes added an alley-oop slam for a 5-2 Paris lead. Malcolm stepped up with a reverse layup, Ward followed that with a put-back basket and Shorts's jumper made Maccabi call timeout at 12-2. Hifi bettered Hoard's fastbreak dunk with a triple and Yakuba Ouattara soon gave Paris a 17-6 lead. Tamir Blatt buried a three-pointer in transition and fed Hoard for a fastbreak layup, good for a 17-11 Maccabi deficit. Ouattara kept pacing Paris before Ward and Malcolm each struck from beyond the arc to boost the hosts to 26-11 after 10 minutes.
Jantunen joined the three-point shootout early in the second quarter and Ward's backdoor layup made it a 20-point game, 31-11. Malcolm capped a 15-0 run from the foul line. Trevion Williams hit a jumper, getting help from Blatt and Randolph to bring Maccabi within 32-18. Hoard capped a 0-9 run with a power layup, as Lo rescued Paris with a three-point play. Shayok followed a three-pointer with a baseline jumper before Jokubaitis got Maccabi even closer, 35-27. Hifi struck from beyond the arc and fed Leopold Cavalieri for a dunk that made the guests call timeout at 42-29. Ward and Sorkin traded layups before Malcolm's triple restored a 47-31 Paris lead. Ward and Jasiel Rivero traded free throws to fix the halftime score at 49-33.
Jantunen took over with a put-back layup soon after the break. Ward and Randolph traded baskets. Hayes scored down low before Blatt's floater made it 55-37. Shorts ignited the crowd with an electric driving layup, which Jokubaitis matched with a tip-in. Randolph followed a baseline jumper with a fastbreak layup, but Shorts and Hifi kept Paris way ahead, 64-44. Hoard tried to change things with a three-point play and Sorkin struck twice from beyond the arc in an 0-11 run that got Maccabi within 64-55. Shorts stepped up with a driving layup, fed Malcolm for a fastbreak basket, found Ward for a two-handed slam and beat the buzzer with a jumper that gave Paris a 72-56 margin after three quarters.
Ward sank a corner triple early in the fourth quarter and Jantunen's backdoor layup kept Paris way ahead, 77-56. Jokubaitis buried his trademark mid-range jumper, which John DiBartolomeo followed with one from beyond the arc. Jantunen answered from downtown, but Jokubaitis erased that with a wild three-point play and DiBartolomeo got the visitors within 80-66. Lo rescued Paris with a layup-plus-foul and added a triple that broke the game open, 86-66. Hoard scored again and Jokubaitis added back-to-back baskets, but Hifi and Lo kept the hosts fully in charge, 90-72. Paris started to use longer possessions to run the game clock down and sealed the outcome long before the final buzzer.