Paris Basketball continued its astonishing discovery of the Euroleague by dominating Zalgiris Kaunas at home (83-77), co-leader before the game, to record a fifth consecutive victory.

With more than a quarter of the regular season played, the Parisians are in a group of five teams just one win behind the leading duo of FC Barcelona and Fenerbahçe (seven wins to two losses). They travel to Catalonia on Friday with the opportunity to sit on the leader’s couch, unbelievable just a month ago when they began their first ever C1 campaign with two defeats.

But nothing has stood in their way in recent weeks, and the Lithuanians, who were very clumsy from long range (4/23, 1/14 at half-time), in turn bit the dust against a team led by TJ Shorts (21 pts at 2/3 long range and 6 assists), Nadir Hifi (10 pts and 5 rebounds) and Colin Malcolm (17 pts at 2/2 3-pointers).

Paris, first French club

Shorts and Malcolm carried the club from the capital as they extended their lead from the end of the third quarter to the middle of the last. Firstly, they inflicted a 10-2 defeat on Zalgiris, thanks in particular to back-to-back jump shots from Shorts and Hifi, to take a six-point lead at the end of the third quarter (62-56).

They then continued to build on their lead to take a 13-point cushion with just under four minutes to go before the buzzer (78-65), thanks in particular to the contribution of Kevarrius Hayes (10 pts and 9 rbds), who was essential in the final quarter after being handicapped by three fouls in the middle of the second quarter. Like the other Parisian pivot, Leon Kratzer.

But Paris was able to overcome its deficit inside, and sort out the offensive rebounding sector abandoned to Zalgiris in the first half (3 shots against 10), thanks to its continuous pressure and outside address (9/22). And it was Mikael Jantunen who sealed the Parisians’ success (81-72), with a penalty shot one minute from the siren, putting them ahead of the other two French championship clubs, Monaco (5 v/4 d.) and Asvel (2/7).