Their series in the EuroCup Semifinals will make for must-watch TV
The Paris, London rivalry is ready to go to new heights
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Paris and London. Two of the world’s biggest cities, and two capitals that have a curious rivalry that has taken on a new chapter – yes, in the (wonderful) world of basketball.
Ever since their arrival in the BKT EuroCup in the 2022-23 season, Paris Basketball and the London Lions have been endlessly compared. After all, they are two franchises shooting for the top. Or, in other words, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
For Paris and London, there has been no separating one another. That has helped build the narrative in this rivalry, too.
How the games have played out
The 2022-23 regular season witnessed the first-ever meeting between the two, which led to plenty of build up and what was at the time a record attendance at Copper Box Arena in Round 9, with 5,297 fans watching on from the bleachers. The London fans, which included celebrities such as Maya Jama, Julie Adenuga and Antigoni, were treated to influencer Yung Filly as the game’s host and a halftime performance from rapper K-Trap. Yet, on the court, the Lions fell 80-93 as Paris’s depth made the difference. In this brand-new rivalry, it was 1-0 Paris.
When they met in the French capital in Round 18, it was a far more low-key affair. Just 800 people were present inside Halle Georges Carpinter for a game that had little significance, with Paris and London having already qualified for the playoffs and unable to change their seeding. The Lions, despite being without star player Sam Dekker, nevertheless wanted to make amends for its Round 9 defeat to Paris and managed to grab an 85-96 victory in a focused performance.
When the two clubs were once again paired in the same regular-season group this year, it felt like this rivalry could grow even further – and it has. Following a summer in which Paris overhauled its entire roster and brought in a new head coach in Tuomas Iisalo, London kept its main core together but also made some top-notch signings and appointed a new head coach in Petar Bozic.
The two teams took a big leap forward from day one, and a club-record 6,152 fans packed out Copper Box Arena for the visit of Paris in Round 4. That was just the second time London has had a 5,000-plus crowd in the EuroCup, and both have come for games against Paris. If there was any doubt, this is a fixture that is circled on the calendar for Lions fans.
While there was a spectacle off the court for London’s first game against Paris, the second meeting at Copper Box Arena was a far more basketball-orientated affair – and the crowd were able to watch not 40, not 45, but 50 minutes of elite-level basketball full of thrills and spills. The double-overtime thriller earned headlines right across the continent as fans reveled in the atmosphere for a basketball game in London, a city where this sport is rapidly on the rise.
In particular, Dekker’s game-tying three-pointer at the end of regulation caused an eruption inside Copper Box Arena that showed just how far London – and basketball in England in general – has grown since its EuroCup debut. However, after TJ Shorts had impressed inside the first 40 minutes, Nadir Hifi stepped up for Paris in both overtime periods by playing a key role in the eventual 102-106 win as the Parisians improved to 2-1 in the all-time series between these two.
Then, in Round 13, Paris did the double over the Lions for the first time by coming out on top at Halle Georges Carpentier, 94-77, in front of 2,764 people. Hifi once again showed what he is capable of, netting 26 points, but London’s night was compounded by Dekker going down with an injury early in the third quarter when the score was 54-46. Still, it was quite a statement by Coach Iisalo’s side and it was the first time a team had won by a comfortable margin in this series.
What to expect in this new chapter
All of that history brings us to the EuroCup Semifinals. Paris and London will go head-to-head in a best-of-three series, with the French side having a potential do-or-die Game 3 at home courtesy of securing a higher seed in the regular season. The interesting part is that this derby will take on a new home for the game – or games – in the French capital, as Paris is now playing at the brand-new adidas arena. So far, Iisalo’s men are 1-0 there in the EuroCup.
Paris moving to adidas arena is just another sign of the progress these two clubs are making, on and off the court, and it’s something that Dekker could see coming a long time ago.
“I definitely see similarities between the way London and Paris are going about things, from the top down – from ownership to the front office to the players,” Dekker said ahead of the first-ever game between these two clubs back in 2022. “[They’re] trying to build that culture from within, grow basketball in those areas in two big cities. I love the way they’re both going about it, trying to grow their brand, and trying to put on exciting shows for fans and new basketball fans.”
Should either Paris or London go on to make it to the EuroLeague, with just the EuroCup Finals against either Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse or Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul standing in their way, it would be a big step towards something that feels inevitable: two of Europe’s most powerful cities in the elite of European basketball.
First, though, the fifth and sixth chapters are ready to be written in the EuroCup Semifinals. Who knows, we may need a seventh chapter, too.