The two French teams will go head to head in a best-of-three series, starting Tuesday night
Paris vs. Bourg: Let the EuroCup Finals begin!
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Three hundred and seventy three games later, the BKT EuroCup Finals are finally here – and for the first time we have an all-French series, with Paris Basketball and Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse set to face off.
Paris and Bourg – both of which will compete in their first finals – are the third and fourth French teams to make it this far, following on from Strasbourg in 2015-16 and AS Monaco in 2020-21. Everything is set up for an intriguing best-of-three series, which gets underway at Adidas Arena in the French capital on Tuesday night (20:30 CEST).
Two clubs with very different projects
Paris, in many ways, epitomizes much of what the French capital represents: swagger, style and ambition. Bourg, meanwhile, reflects the underdog nature of Bourg-en-Bresse, a city with a population of just over 40,000 people 70 kilometers north of Lyon. Just looking at where the two clubs play, the EuroCup Finals will see a battle of David against Goliath.
Ever since Paris made its EuroCup debut in the 2022-23 season, it has not hidden its goal to make it to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague as soon as possible. Each year since its inception in 2018 the side from the capital has gone from strength to strength, but the decision to appoint Tuomas Iisalo as head coach last summer has allowed Paris to go to another level entirely. The shakeup of the roster also paid dividends, with T.J. Shorts and Nadir Hifi establishing themselves as EuroCup stars in their first season in the competition.
It has been a bit of a different story at Bourg, a club that has been in existence since 1910 – 108 years more than Paris. Yet, like Paris, a head coaching change propelled Bourg to new heights, as Frederic Fauthoux has turned a middling EuroCup team into a side that has reached the finals in his second year in charge. Just five players from last year’s roster remained, but Bourg got its business done early last summer and that provided the platform for Coach Fauthoux to work his magic. As it has been at Bourg ever since Julien Desbottes became club president in 2012, smart thinking has won out over overspending.
Will the glitz and the glamour of Paris win out or will the underdogs from Bourg-en-Bresse come out on top? It should be a fascinating watch, particularly with sold-out crowds expected at both Adidas Arena and Ekinox.
EuroCup stars on show
What these EuroCup Finals will guarantee is plenty of talent and lots of attention. Bourg’s Zaccharie Risacher, the projected No. 1 or No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft depending on which mock draft you look at, is sure to be in the spotlight after winning the EuroCup’s Rising Star award. The forward, who turned 19 yesterday (Monday, April 8), averaged 13.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists and a 12.1 PIR through 17 regular-season appearance but has seen a drop in those numbers in the postseason, averaging 5.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist and a 4.0 PIR in four playoff games. As such, some of the hype surrounding Risacher has diminished somewhat, but he has the chance to get everyone back on board with a strong showing in the finals.
It won’t be easy against a Paris side featuring Hifi, however. The other leading candidate to win the Rising Star award, Hifi has been lights out for Paris all season long, and his production has barely been affected in his first trip to the playoffs. Having averaged 16.9 points, 1.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and a 13.5 PIR in 18 regular-season contests, the 21-year-old has posted 16.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and a 12.0 PIR in three postseason games. Knowing that he also had a very good case to become the Rising Star, Hifi will be keen to show that the coaches got their decision wrong once the finals get underway.
Hifi did, however, make it to the All-EuroCup Second Team. Then there is the case of his teammate, Shorts, who has been selected to the All-EuroCup First Team and has put together an MVP-caliber season. Shorts has been dominant from the off and has really been the heartbeat of this Paris side, which now finds itself in uncharted territory. Yet, in Shorts, Paris has a coach on the floor and that can only be a good thing against a team that knows Paris well from domestic action. Back-to-back MVP awards in the quarterfinals and semifinals is a sign of just how dominant Shorts has been and how much of a problem he is likely to be for Bourg to deal with.
The last player to have earned recognition for the season they have put together is Bourg’s Isiaha Mike, an All-EuroCup First Team selection. Mike had a solid debut campaign in the EuroCup last year, but this season has seen the Canadian take on a leading role for Bourg, particularly in the postseason. In fact, having averaged 12.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.7 steals and a 12.4 PIR in the 18 regular-season games, Mike has boosted his numbers in scoring, rebounding and PIR to 15.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and a 21.3 PIR in four playoff fixtures. He’s got hot at just the right time of year.
Paris has home-court advantage entering Game 1, although Bourg certainly has the capability to make things interesting. Bourg came out on top in the only previous meeting between these two this season, winning 83-81 at Ekinox in the French League last December, but a lot of time has passed since then. The EuroCup Finals are about to start – make sure you don’t miss it!