Paris beat Maccabi 96-83 behind Shorts's big double-double
TJ Shorts made Paris roll again
Paris Basketball shook off its first bad moment of the season, following a four-game losing streak with back-to-back home victories in Rounds 21 and 22. On Thursday, Paris raced to a 96-83 victory over Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv at Adidas Arena, trailing only after the first basket of the game, a power layup by Marial Shayok. TJ Shorts took matter into his own hands, getting 3 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in a 12-0 run that put Paris ahead for good, 12-2.
Shorts went to the bench but Paris kept rolling, taking a 26-11 lead at the end of the first quarter and extending it to 31-11 soon after that. Maccabi did not give up and managed to get within 64-55 late in the third quarter. Paris did not panic, however, as it knew it had to put the ball in Shorts's hands and expect good things to happen.
That is exactly what happened, as Shorts was all over the place in a 13-1 run that broke the game open. Shorts rescued his team with a driving layup, fed Collin Malcolm for a fastbreak basket, found Tyson Ward for a two-handed slam and beat the buzzer with a jumper that gave Paris a 72-56 margin after three quarters. Right after that, Shorts connected with Ward for a three-pointer, all in just 3 minutes.
All of a sudden, Paris led 77-56 and was well on its way to its 12th victory. Shorts finished the game with 11 points and 14 assists, a new EuroLeague season-high. Nick Weiler-Babb of FC Bayern Munich, Shane Larkin of Anadolu Efes Istanbul, Mike James of AS Monaco, Facu Campazzo of Real Madrid, Codi Miller-McIntyre of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade and Tamir Blatt of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv had all had 12 assists at some point this season. It was Short's third double-double of the 2024-25 campaign.
Ward led six Paris players in double digits with 18 points. Shorts helped Paris finish the game with 22 assists - 5 more than Maccabi. Three-point shots made the difference, too. Maccabi made 6 of 19 attempts from downtown (31.6%) and Paris buried 12 of 18 three-point shots (42.9%). After the game, Shorts found out about his new career-high in assists and gave credit to his teammates for making it happen.
"It was a good all around team game from us. We are happy that we defended our home court over another tough double week. And the most important thing is that we got another win," Shorts said. "I would shout out my teammates for making shots because assists don't happen unless the guys around knock down shots or finish plays. So credit to them for helping me, I guess, break my own record."