Three years after the first edition of the “Paris Game”, the NBA was back Thursday night at the Accor Arena for a meeting between Detroit and Chicago. The Bulls have succeeded in their stay in the capital by upholding logic against a young team from the Pistons on Thursday evening (126-108).
For his first game after a quadriceps injury, Demar DeRozan led his team to victory with a serious game (26 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists). Nikola Vucevic, French-speaking and therefore very much in demand by the press since the arrival of his team on Monday, scored the first basket of the match to give his team the advantage.
The Pistons will have never led the game and the only tie of the match will remain 0-0 in between. The Montenegrin, who comes out of a 43-point game against the Warriors just before crossing the Atlantic (thus equaling his career high), was rather applied with 16 points and 15 rebounds against the Pistons.
Many celebrities present
Beyond the result, the NBA of course brought its American-style show to the floor of the Accor Arena, adorned with the Eiffel Tower. The mascots Benny the Bull and Hooper were on hand to ignite a packed house (15,000 spectators). NBA legends had also made the trip to the image of Ben Wallace or Magic Johnson, who really wanted to meet the sensation Victor Wembanyama. Tony Parker, Joakim Noah were also there but also Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon or even Aurélien Tchouaméni.
To return to the game, the Chicago Bulls were dominant in all compartments with 54% of marksmanship against only 40% on the Pistons side. Detroit has watered far too much at three points (23.5%, 8/34) to hope to return after halftime (56-65). Despite a very good Hamidou Diallo, author of 17 points including nice dunks, the Pistons took the water in the third quarter (79-93) under the impetus of Zach LaVine, the game’s top scorer with 30 units.
Hayes very clumsy in shooting
The Bulls controlled the last twelve minutes and even increased their lead to win by 18 points (108-126). Killian Hayes failed to sublimate in front of his audience despite a very good month of January (14.6 points and 8 assists on average). The 21-year-old Frenchman finished the game with 4 points (2/13 shooting) and 8 assists, but the most important thing is that he got up after an impressive fall on a counter attempt on Alex Caruso.
Seriously, the Chicago Bulls go to a record of 21 wins for 24 losses but remain tenth in the Eastern Conference. The Pistons, they continue their learning with 12 wins for 36 losses and hope to strengthen this summer with why not a certain Victor Wembanyama.