The first EuroLeague double-round week usually reveals quickly how much of a team’s summer work is truly ready for the competitive rhythm of the season. There is little time for extended analysis between games, rotations have to handle a heavier workload, and every weakness in the roster becomes easier to expose. Partizan heads to Paris under exactly those circumstances, facing a team that will try to take away what the Black and Whites had against Olimpia Milano, and that’s control of the game.
Partizan opened its EuroLeague season with a win in a game in which its defense dictated the terms, but Paris will look for the opposite. Maxime Lefevre has continued the model the club has built over the past few years: plenty of running, a high volume of 3-pointers, short possessions and constant lineup changes to keep the intensity from dropping.
Paris Has Changed Coaches, Not Its Identity
The coaches have changed, but the basic idea has remained. Tuomas Iisalo laid the foundation, Tiago Splitter continued it, and Lefevre arrived from the NBA to take over a team with little reason to move away from what has made it recognizable. Paris wants a game with a large number of decisions made in a short amount of time. It does not always search for the best possible shot if a good one is already available.
Joan Peñarroya’s team has enough speed in the backcourt to accept that kind of game and should not shy away from playing in the open floor. The danger comes when pace turns into an uncontrolled exchange of possessions, because Paris is comfortable operating right on that edge. Partizan will have to strike a balance between when to speed up the game and when to play tougher defense.
Panathinaikos Already Showed How to Disrupt Hifi
Panathinaikos managed to take much of that rhythm away from Paris in the EuroLeague opener. Nadir Hifi finished with 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field and 1-of-6 from three, while the French team struggled to play the kind of basketball it prefers.
Hifi has the freedom to keep shooting after several misses, attack early in the possession and take responsibility before an action fully develops. A few days after his poor night in Athens, he scored 23 points against Nancy and produced his team’s final five points in a close win.
Vildoza and Pajola Have to Pressure Without Overhelping
Luca Vildoza and Alessandro Pajola will have an important role against him. In the opener, their ball pressure disrupted Milano’s offensive organization, and Partizan finished the game with 12 steals. Vildoza had four and Pajola two.
Against Paris, disrupting the first action will not be enough. The ball will move much faster, and the home team is comfortable letting a second or third player finish the possession. Tyson Etienne scored 17 points against Panathinaikos and attempted ten 3-pointers, Jaden Roden added 11, while Sebastian Herrera remains a player who cannot be given space on the perimeter. Frank Ntilikina adds another option to an already deep group of guards and wings.
Too much help on Hifi will open shots for others, while every late closeout gives Paris exactly what it wants: a chance to make a decision before the defense can react.
That style also leaves opportunities for Partizan. If the Black and Whites can get through the initial pressure without unnecessary risk, they can reach situations in which Paris has to defend deeper into the possession and cannot rely immediately on pace and transition.
Willis’ Injury Makes the Rotation Problem More Serious
Peñarroya, however, arrives in France with an even shorter rotation. Derek Willis injured his ankle and will be unavailable for several weeks, while Joffrey Lauvergne is also out, leaving Nikola Tanasković as practically the only fully available natural power forward. Partizan therefore signed Bandja Sy to a short-term contract before the trip.
Sy already practiced with the team during the summer while the internationals were away, so his integration does not start from scratch. He also knows French basketball and Paris very well, having played for the club before leaving for Oradea.
His arrival primarily gives Peñarroya another option at a time when excessive minutes for Tanasković and other players could create another problem during the first double-round week. Partizan travels to face Bayern after Paris, so the distribution of minutes already carries added importance early in the week.
Hifi Is the First Problem, Not the Only One
Partizan does not have to slow the game down at all costs. It has players who are comfortable in the open floor and enough quality, especially with Carlik Jones, to punish Paris when space appears. What matters more is preventing that pace from turning into a chaotic game, in which the home team repeatedly gets extra opportunities off turnovers, poor shot selection and disorganized transition defense.
Hifi will be the first problem, but not the only one. If Partizan can take care of the ball and keep Paris from constantly pushing the game back toward its preferred rhythm, it will have a much better chance of carrying the controlled, physical basketball it showed against Milano into the first game of the double-round week.