Coach Tuomas Iisalo's team clinched the best record in the competition with its Round 17 win.
Paris reigns as regular season's best team
![Paris reigns as regular season's best team](https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/f5ba91c0-e875-4f5b-8f60-da3aacef9869.jpg?crop=1257%3A707%3Anowe%3A93%3A98)
Paris Basketball thrashed Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul 72-95 in Group A in Round 17 on Tuesday. By doing so, Paris clinched home-court advantage for every playoff series it takes part in.
By beating Besiktas, Paris reached another goal that may have appeared unthinkable at the start of the season: beating each and every opponent in Group A. Besiktas was been the only team to beat Paris in the EuroCup this season, registering a 63-68 road victory in Round 8.
Its current 16-1 record allows Coach Tuomas Iisalo's team to play at home for the foreseeable future. Paris already clinched first place in Group A, getting the bye in the eighthfinals round and earning the right to wait for almost two months until its next big game, the single-game quarterfinals on March 26.
"We played a very solid 40 minutes. We had one tough stretch after a great start but we played physical, were disciplined and most of all, we were very solid," Coach Iisalo said after the game. "Lately, we have been up and down and it was great to see us have 40 minutes of consistent performance."
Once again, playmaker T.J. Shorts displayed his credentials as a candidate to become the 2023-24 EuroCup MVP, leading his team with 23 points on red-hot shooting (75% 2FG, 75% 3FG, 100% FT), 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 fouls drawn for a PIR of 34, earning a chance to challenge for this fourth MVP of the Round honor this season. He has scored 20 points or more seven times this season.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game, Besiktas is a really good team and they've got a great fan base here. I am just proud that everybody stepped up and contributed to the win. It was a solid performance from us. There are still things that we can improve," Shorts said. "We know that going into the playoffs, there is a single-game elimination that we have to prepare for. There are a lot of things that we still need to clean up but I think that today, we took a step in the right direction. We will go back, look at the film and get ready for the next one."
Paris made 34 of 46 two-point shots. Its 73.9% two-point shooting percentage is the seventh-best mark in the EuroCup this season. Paris shot over 70.0% inside the arc for the fifth time this season. All other 19 EuroCup teams combined for seven times over 70.0%. Coach Iisalo and Shorts are taking their free-flowing, fun-to-watch offense to the EuroCup Playoffs!