This Saturday at the Azur Arena (8:30 PM), Sharks Antibes will host CSP Limoges, the current French champion. Julien Espinosa’s team, currently in seventh place, would like to continue their strong start to the season. Meanwhile, Limoges will be looking to stop a very negative streak.
It’s a matchup that evokes memories of the 90s, the era of Olympique Antibes’ last title, which was in 1995. Since then, the paths of the two clubs have evolved significantly. On one hand, Antibes has fluctuated between Pro A and Pro B after some challenging years (administrative relegation). Limoges has also spent time in the lower divisions but, for the past two years, they have been at the pinnacle of French basketball with two titles easily won at the expense of Strasbourg.
Solomon-Blue, an unstoppable duo
After two consecutive defeats, the team from the Côte d’Azur found their way back to victory, and what a victory it was! Against Nancy, surprisingly in 17th place (out of 18), last Friday, Julien Espinosa’s men literally crushed their opponents from Lorraine 93-77, easing up in the last quarter. Will Solomon’s teammates even had a 29-point lead in the middle of the 3rd quarter. The Solomon-Blue duo continued to work wonders (39 points between them) and Paul Carter dazzled the stat sheet (18 points, 7 rebounds). The key against Limoges? Starting the game strong, something Antibes manages to do half of the time, to make a CSP team in “Titanic mode” doubt themselves after many weeks.
Everything is going so wrong…
A CSP full of doubt is an understatement. In November, Philippe Hervé’s men have a disastrous record of 2 wins (against Paris-Levallois in Pro A and Milan in the Euroleague) to 6 losses. Players are sidelined, results are lacking and, therefore, so is confidence. For all these reasons, Limoges sits only in twelfth place after 10 games. And yet, this team is great, as demonstrated last June by clinching a second consecutive French championship title. However, they seemed small last week and on Thursday in the Euroleague. The Limoges team fell at home against Zagreb, jeopardizing all their chances of qualifying for the Top 16. Worse, 48 hours ago, they sank in the Basque Country against Laboral Kutxa (92-56), being “pathetic” to quote the newspaper L’Equipe.
And why not see Mickey…
If Antibes wins this Saturday, with seven victories, they would move closer to the Leaders Cup at Disneyland next February. An objective of the local press that is beginning to excite the Antibes group. The Sharks will have to do without Bernard King, who is injured until the break. The name of the substitute medical player is not yet known.
