Virginie Phulpin 9:22 a.m., June 16, 2022

The final of the French basketball championship began on Wednesday evening.

Monaco went on to beat ASVEL 82 to 74. The first team with three wins wins.

Between this final, the NBA final, and the site problems for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, basketball is, according to our editorial writer Virginie Phulpin, the hot topic of the moment.

EDITORIAL

Like the Astroballe, the Villeurbanne room, a real furnace on Wednesday evening for the first match of this final.

You take a temperature that exceeds 35 degrees in the Lyon region, you add a sold-out room, plus the supremacy of national basketball at stake and you get the unbreathable atmosphere of the big nights.

The Villeurbannais seek a third consecutive title

ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne and Monaco are the two champions of the championship, those we expected with their big budgets and their big muscles.

They are there for the meeting in what is now the Betclic Elite Classic.

The Villeurbannais are looking for a third consecutive title and the Monegasques are contesting this domination.

They proved it on Wednesday evening by stifling the entry ASVEL, before an insufficient comeback from the premises.

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We found this atmosphere, the same as three years ago for the same final, before the health crisis emptied the rooms.

This confrontation gives a good image of French basketball.

The problem is, it's not all so rosy behind the scenes, otherwise it wouldn't be fun.

There are big tensions between the clubs and the Basketball League.

This League wanted to increase the first division from 18 to 16 teams from next season.

The clubs agreed but the Covid-19 moderated their enthusiasm.

They voted to postpone the reform for two years.

It is understandable, the crisis has weakened the entire economy of indoor sports.

You may have to give time to time before changing everything.

As much on the floor, we are in the middle of a heat stroke, as much, there are cold sweats behind the scenes.

The problem of basketball at the Paris Games is not yet settled

Do you remember the confusion caused by the site chosen at the start for the first round of basketball at the 2024 Olympic Games?

A hall at the exhibition center whose ceiling was not high enough.

True, it was embarrassing.

The last option put on the table by the organizers is to switch with handball.

Play basketball in Lille, handball at the exhibition center.

For the moment, it is not validated yet but the idea seems good, except for the problems of ego.

Imagine that there are people who find it disrespectful to send NBA stars to play their first round in Lille rather than Paris.

Honestly, what does that mean?

One hour by train and it's done.

Basketball is overheated

Either way, they could attend the opening ceremony, and if they pass the first round, which is likely to be the case, they would play in Paris.

They can get over it, right?

And then it's an embarrassing question, because it means that we take tweezers with American basketball players, but not with handball players.

For now, these NBA stars have other fish to fry.

This Thursday night is the possible final game of the Grand Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics.

Before ASVEL and Monaco return to the court on Friday evening.

I told you, basketball is overheating.