The first-year head coach is making waves, as is his team
Tiago Splitter happy to be making history with Paris
Article
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 32 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Paris Basketball needed something special to beat reigning champion Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens on the road, and the French club certainly delivered that in a thrilling encounter on Friday night.
Inspired by backcourt leader TJ Shorts flirting with a triple-double as he amassed an astonishing combination of 20 points, 14 assists and 9 rebounds, along with 2 steals and 9 fouls drawn, for a PIR of 36, Paris came flying out of the blocks to score 56 first-half points. It then held its nerve to survive a trademark Panathinaikos comeback attempt in the final period.
The 98-101 win – secured when Juancho Hernangomez missed an improbable attempt to force overtime at the final buzzer – was even more impressive as it came on the back of demoralizing late collapses and narrow defeats against Zalgiris Kaunas and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in its previous two road games.
Those heartbreaking losses gave Paris’s doubters plenty of opportunity to extend their argument that Tiago Splitter’s men lack the experience to grind out tough wins when it matters the most in the world’s most competitive league. After stepping up to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague by winning the BKT EuroCup last season, and with a roster largely containing players who had never previously played in this competition, it’s easy to understand those concerns over Paris’s ability to last the pace against most seasoned opposition.
And when the fourth quarter in Athens saw Splitter’s team’s advantage dwindle away from 17 points (69-86) to just 5 points (86-91), with more than half of the final period still remaining and 18,000 Panathinaikos fans creating an intense cauldron of noise with every possession, even the most optimistic Paris player must have struggled to prevent his head from swirling with doubts.
But the French side held its collective nerve, finding just enough at both ends of the court to hold on for a huge victory that could prove to make all the difference between a direct passage into the playoffs and not even making the play-in.
And the scale of his team’s achievement was not lost on Splitter, who was happy to laud his players after watching them beat Panathinaikos for the second time this season.
“It's huge,” admitted the Brazilian. “It’s a big accomplishment. This whole season has been amazing and today we played one more of those games. The guys played their hearts out, some guys with injuries they played through.
“This is the last sprint of the season. We’ve still got two tough games coming, but this one was huge for us. We have a small history in EuroLeague but it feels amazing to be part of this. The fourth quarter was a little tougher for us: they were switching everything, they put you in tough spots, playing with the crowd. It’s really hard to beat them here, but somehow we found a way to get the win.”
Paris must now travel to face the mighty Real Madrid before finishing the season with a seemingly friendly home game against last-placed ALBA Berlin, and it’s conceivable that Splitter’s team could finish anywhere between third and eleventh.
Whatever happens, Friday’s Greek drama suggests that Paris will not suffer for a lack of character.