The 21-year-old guard scored 10 of his team’s last 12 points to secure the victory.
Nadir Hifi stepped up big in crunch time to sink Joventut

In a game that offered fans a glimpse of how this season’s BKT EuroCup Playoff battles are expected to be, Paris Basketball bounced back after Joventut Badalona’s comeback in the last quarter and secured an 89-82 victory at Halle Georges Carpentier. Six Paris players recorded double digits in scoring, but the one who won this was prodigious guard Nadir Hifi. The 21-year-old showed what he’s made of late in the game and stepped up big in crunch time to clinch Paris’s eighth straight win.
Hifi recorded 7 points in 37 minutes of play but scored 10 of his team’s last 12 points in the last stretch to down Badalona. The Paris guard nailed a midrange jumper to tie the game 79-79 with 3:14 left on the clock, before drilling two huge back-to-back triples and a bucket from inside for an 89-82 cushion with half a minute to go.
“When [Hifi] gets into one of those zones, he’s a very difficult player to stop,” head coach Tuomas Iisalo said after the game. “Overall, in those situations, you can see how the other team has to react to this and also leaves open space for others. We are lucky to have him.”
Paris was in control of the game in the first half and took a 41-35 lead into the second. Badalona fought back and outscored the hosts 21-27 in the third quarter, with the two sides heading into the last one tied at 62-62. Then, the momentum shifted and Joventut was up by 70-76 midway through the closing quarter. A couple of Mikael Jantunen baskets from inside put Paris back in front 77-76 before Pep Busquets hit a big triple. Enter Hifi, who finished the game off.
“Congratulations to Paris,” head coach Carles Duran noted. “They played really well in the last 2 minutes. Hifi made two crazy shots, but I’m happy with my team. We worked well until the end.”
A special mention for another Paris youngster, Enzo Shahrvin, who recorded career highs in points (12) and PIR (17), having gone 6-for-7 from inside the arc. The Paris center produced a few highlight dunks, including a slam in transition following a huge steal to make it 81-79 with less than 3 minutes to go. Most importantly, he showed character and demonstrated that he is a player on whom Paris can count in important games.
“We played against a very good team,” Iisalo added. “It was a high-level game. Very intense as you could see. The tempers flaring on both sides. All of these games are worth their weight in gold because these are the games that will be decisive at the end of the season.”
Having already clinched the top spot in Group A, Paris improved to 15-1 by beating Badalona, meaning that it may secure the best regular season record and home court for every playoff series it plays should Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse lose at Aris Midea Thessaloniki on Wednesday.