Jean-Patrick Nourricier woke up at 2:30 a.m. Thursday in Nîmes, France. From his hotel bed, he opened the NBA app on his iPhone to watch the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
The founder of Spurs Nation France spent most of the early morning darkness cheering wildly as his team built a 29-point lead against the New York Knicks. The Spurs, it appeared, would even the best-of-seven series, 2-2, and ride the momentum back to San Antonio for Game 5 on Saturday.
But then came a series of turnovers, missed shots and blown opportunities. When the Knicks tipped in a final, last-second shot to defeat the Spurs, 107-106, Nourricier was overcome with rage.
“I wanted to break my phone,” he said.
Hours later and more than 5,400 miles away, a Frenchman awoke in San Antonio with a level of distress that disturbed him. Philippe Placé opened the Instagram app on his iPhone and posted a story with a sad face, describing his emotional state as “acute Spursitis.” He commiserated in a Facebook chat with fellow French Spurs fans, all of whom agreed they suffered from the same “disease.”
“One of our friends brought it to our attention that there is such a thing as ‘sports event depression,’” said Placé, co-founder of the Southerleigh Hospitality Group. “You suffer from the very same symptoms as clinical depression, where you feel the world is ending. We all agreed that it was the same feeling we had four years ago when France lost to Argentina for the World Cup.”
At home and abroad, San Antonio’s French connection to the Spurs and star Frenchman Victor Wembanyama remains in a wounded but hopeful state. To that description, you might also add the word “forgiving,” at least for some. Yes, the Spurs blew an enormous lead. And yes, Wemby missed two critical free throws down the stretch that could have swung victory to San Antonio.
But: “Under no circumstances can we look at the guys and be mad at them for what happened,” Placé said, recalling that no one expected the Spurs to reach the NBA Finals this year. “We are much further along than anyone would have thought. It’s easy when you’re in your (early) 20s to succumb to the pressure of the moment.”
Only one team in history has come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals to win a championship. Placé and his friends believe the Spurs can become the second, joining the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers, who swept the final three games from the Golden State Warriors.
“We still think we can win it in seven,” he said. “You look at every game we lost. They were close. We’re down 1-3 in the series but we could be up 3-1.”
Despite facing long odds to win the series, the Spurs are 5.5-point favorites to win Game 5 today at Frost Bank Center.
French Spurs fandom
French fans are pulling hard — but mostly in Europe. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, San Antonio holds a French population of 17,717. Placé says the French do not gather in one or two places to cheer for the Spurs. Their number is small — only a few hundred.
Across the Atlantic, however, the French fan base is growing. The French-dedicated “lesspurs” Instagram account boasts more than 209,000 followers, the Les Spurs Facebook account, more than 12,000 followers.
Meanwhile, the NBA Paris Games in France last year drew nearly 16,000 fans to each of two games featuring the Spurs and Indiana Pacers. The games at Accor Arena generated more than 718 million views on social media. Content on Wembanyama from the games made him the second-most viewed NBA player with more than 836 million views across the league’s social media accounts.
The Spurs built on that momentum in April, sending staff to Paris to host a Watch Party for a playoff game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Hundreds of fans showed up. The team will host watch parties today in Paris and Mexico City for Game 5.
Nourricier will not be attending the Watch Party. He’ll be watching the game at home in Aujargues, near Nîmes in South France. His Spurs fandom dates to 1993 when he rooted for David Robinson, nearly a decade before French guard Tony Parker joined the Spurs in 2001.
“That’s when I told myself, ‘Finally in France, people will talk about the Spurs and broadcast Spurs games on TV,’” said Nourricier, whose Spurs Nation France claims more than 35,000 followers across multiple social media accounts.
In 2007, Nourricier made the first of 14 trips to San Antonio to watch his favorite team. Over the years, he watched Parker and fellow Frenchmen Boris Diaw, Nando de Colo and Ian Mahinmi compete for the Spurs. He bought Silver and Black gear, got a Spurs tattoo on his leg and posed for pictures with the Coyote and owner Peter J. Holt and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
In March, he brought 30 friends from France to watch Wembanyama play at Frost Bank Center. They rented a hotel, drove to multiple games in two 15-seat buses and cheered hard for their team.
“I wanted to go with many people to share our passion,” he said. “I have a good relationship with the Spurs. They sent me 10 flags.”
The sting of Game 4’s crushing defeat has diminished to a degree. The following day, Nourricier remained in a foul mood. But he also managed to strike a tone of optimism.
“I guess I feel there’s a 90% chance we are going to win on Saturday,” he said. “We have to win. Victor will do his best this game and we’ll try to make it a seven-game series.”
