The crowd is overwhelmingly pro Bucks and pro Giannis Friday at sold-out AccorHotels Arena in Paris

PARIS - There were no Chapeaux Fromage at AccorHotels Arena Friday night though judging by the huge contingent of Bucks fans there were plenty of French Cheeseheads.

Though perhaps instead of Cheddar or Colby, they skewed Camembert or Brie.

Apparently everyone loves a winner, especially a team sporting the reigning NBA MVP, which may be why the Bucks got a warm welcome in Paris Friday night before playing the Charlotte Hornets. Merchandise trailers outside the arena sold out of Bucks gear – plenty of Hornets jerseys were still for sale — more than 2½ hours before tipoff.

“I think the Bucks have great chemistry. I think they’re the best team in the NBA,” said Fabrice Rum of Paris as he stood forlornly outside the arena trying to buy a ticket to the soldout game. Ticket sellers were asking 250 Euros or more, around $275, which was out of Rum’s price range.

Rum has traveled to the U.S. to watch professional basketball though he hasn’t punched his ticket to Milwaukee yet.

“Someday I will get there,” Rum said.

Chad Mountin, who was born in Beaver Dam and grew up in Juneau, managed to snag two tickets to take his 12-year-old son Henry. They live in London where Mountin’s wife is stationed with the U.S. Air Force.

“We felt regardless of where we are, we’re coming to the game. The last time I saw a Bucks game in person was in the old arena” in Milwaukee, Mountin said Friday afternoon at NBA House, a free interactive experience for basketball fans scheduled several days this week.

So Mountin and his son flew to Paris from London Friday morning and were flying back Saturday. Judging by the grin on Henry’s face, he was ecstatic to miss a day of school and see the Bucks live. It’s not easy to watch the Bucks six time zones away from Milwaukee but Mountin and his family sometimes get up early to catch the end of West Coast games.

“That’s the hardest part because games are on so late” in London, Mountin said after playing a trivia game at NBA House and losing on purpose because the prize was a Hornets jersey. He did get a free Bucks hat which his son wore to the game.

Though Henry Mountin also hasn’t seen the Bucks in the flesh since the team played at the Bradley Center, he frequently watches videos in England of Giannis Antetokounmpo giving away his sneakers after games. “I think he’s the nicest guy,” Henry Mountain said.

Tom Galron flew to Paris from Israel where he took a couple of vacation days from his job working with an after-school program in Jerusalem. He’s been a Bucks fan since he lived in Milwaukee from the ages of 5 to 8. Now 21, his Bucks ardor has not waned despite living so far away.

Wearing a game-worn Michael Redd jersey he got while still in Milwaukee, Galron waited to buy a more up-to-date Bucks shirt but walked away disappointed when a woman at a merchandise trailer outside the arena told him all the Bucks souvenirs had already sold out. She told him he could get a Hornets jersey or buy something inside the arena.

Sakis Nikakis flew to Paris from Greece to see one player. Nikakis had never been to Paris, had never seen an NBA game in person. When he heard last March that the Bucks were traveling to Europe for a regular-season game he got “I guess goosebumps?” he said.

Nikakis wore a tan fedora on his head and a camelhair coat over his Giannis jersey and tried to get high-fives from his favorite player and other Bucks players as they trotted on and off the court for warmups.

Antetokounmpo is more than a great basketball player to the good folks of Greece. “For us, he’s a Greek god. He’s phenomenal,” said Nikakis, who owns five pairs of Antetokounmpo’s signature sneakers plus five of his jerseys.

Chris Pell saw the Bucks in 2015 in London, their last overseas game. He has followed the NBA since it was really hard to watch games in England years ago. Now fans can purchase NBA League Passes to livestream games. In fact, France is the No. 2 market in Europe for League Pass subscriptions and tops in NBA merchandise sales.

“I like the Bucks’ logo, I like their jerseys, I like supporting someone different,” said Pell, who also follows the NFL. He took the Eurostar train known as the Chunnel from London to Paris on Thursday for Friday’s game.

His favorite player is Antetokounmpo, an athlete he’s watched grow into a great player. “I saw him in 2015 but I didn’t think he’d go as far as he has,” said Pell.