Cleveland won the third NBA regular season game relocated to Paris against Brooklyn (111-102) on Thursday in front of a Bercy audience that was initially apathetic before waking up during a competitive fourth quarter, which lifted the interest of the event. Like last year, the NBA’s visit to Europe attracted some celebrities, mainly from the sports world.
However, stars like Kylian Mbappé, David Beckham, Ronaldo, Siya Kolisi, and artist Pharrell Williams, who were present court-side, endured over 30 minutes of a match with little interest and in a subdued atmosphere between two teams with few supporters away from home.
For a significant period, the approximately 15,000 spectators only became enthusiastic occasionally over specific actions, such as a block by Cavs’ Jarrett Allen (8th minute), a basket by Mitchell off balance (18th minute), a dunk by Mikal Bridges (36th minute), or even a completely missed free throw by Tristan Thompson two minutes earlier.
They made more noise when former Real Madrid teammates Beckham and Ronaldo appeared on the big screen, or when Joakim Noah and Tony Parker came to greet the crowd on the court during a timeout in the third quarter. The decibels also rose when “Quentin” made a “10,000 euro shot,” a three-point shot, before the final quarter.
But as the Cavs seemed to be heading towards a comfortable victory at halftime (54-34), Bercy caught fire during a fiercely contested final quarter, in which both teams traded blows. The end of the game was spiced up by a scuffle involving the two teams (including the benches) after Nic Claxton (Nets) taunted Tristan Thompson with a dunk that brought Brooklyn to within 10 points at the end of the game (80-70).
Thompson was ejected, Jarett Allen and star Donovan Mitchell (45 points and 12 rebounds) led the Cavaliers back on track, ultimately resisting the Nets’ comeback. Cleveland secured their fourth consecutive victory, putting them on par with the 4th place in the Eastern Conference (22 wins and 15 defeats), six wins ahead of Brooklyn (10th, 16/22), who have suffered five losses in six games played in 2024. Next year, the Parisian audience is expected to get excited long before the final quarter, with the highly anticipated return of Victor Wembanyama with the San Antonio Spurs. This could potentially be for two matches, a hypothesis confirmed early in the evening by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
