Eurocup: Bourg “respected too much” Paris Basketball, regrets Fauthoux

Paris Basketball is 40 minutes away from a Eurocup title, after beating JL Bourg in the opening of the Eurocup finals on Tuesday at the Adidas Arena (77-64). The Bressans were swallowed up in the first quarter (23-11) and only suffered in the second (54-31 at the break). “We lost the match in the first half,” said Bressan coach Frédéric Fauthoux, after the match at a press conference.

With a gloomy face, Fauthoux said he was “very disappointed”. “We respected this team too much. Did we still have the lead in Besiktas (victory in match 3 of the semi-finals on April 3, 89-63)? It’s possible,” he said. The Burgienss knew, however, that Paris “pushes, hangs on, plays to the limit. Even with warning, we were not ready,” regretted Fauthoux. And he asserts: “No player of the eleven who played in the first half was at the level of a Eurocup final. It is first defensively, in the intensity, the aggressiveness that we must be present, and then we find rhythm in attack.

The analysis was similar on the Parisian side. “We dominated on the physical and defensive level as we wanted to do from the start, to impact them,” rejoiced the leader Nadir Hifi, author of 13 pts coming off the bench and charmed by “an incredible atmosphere” in a Adidas Arena sold out for the first time (8,000 spectators). Paris coach Tuomas Iisalo followed his player’s lead by praising a “fantastic defense” on the floor. Before deploring, without dwelling too much on it, the less brilliant 2nd half of his team, won by Bourg (33-23).

“Our concentration was no longer at the same level. This also gives us good information for the 2nd match because they (Bourg) made a lot of adjustments,” underlined Iisalo. “We reacted well in the second half, of course. Maybe they too have taken their foot off the gas, surely,” judged Fauthoux, who already promises “a completely different match” this Friday (7:30 p.m.) in Ain. That's good, Iisalo expects "a much tougher match" at Ekinox, in front of a Bressan audience who will experience their first match in a European final.