By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona put on a brilliant and very physical defensive performance for the vast majority of the game to beat AS Monaco 69 – 63 on the road and return to wins after setbacks on both domestic and EuroLeague level. This result created a tie at 9-4 between the two teams.
Nikola Mirotic scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Barcelona. He was the only player of the Blaugrana in double figures and hit the buzzer-beating 3-pointer to bring his team up 29 – 34.
“I feel great, with more energy,” Mirotic said. This was just his third game this EuroLeague season after coming back from an Achilles tendon injury. “It’s been two weeks since I am back, and I am finding my rhythm, especially getting more in shape. Today was a great team performance, especially defensively in that first half. I think we really stepped up and were showing them why we came here. There are a lot of things also to improve, but I’m very happy because this is a great road win for us and hopefully we can build from this.
Sarunas Jasikevicius’ players had managed to shut down most of Monaco’s weapons, containing Mike James and Elie Okobo in particular. The former was limited to four points on 1-8 shots at halftime before finishing with 16 on 6-17 while the French guard finished with just five points, shooting 1-7 from the field.
Barcelona proceeded to also pump up its offense after the break to grab an 18-point advantage, 40 – 58, with 10 minutes remaining. James picked up his game and tried to push his team to a comeback with eight consecutive points in the fourth period but the only thing the hosts managed was cutting their deficit to single digits in the last minutes.
“They took us out of our offensive rhythm,” Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic acknowledged. “All the offenses we play, we had a big struggle to execute. At the end, it looks like the result could have been different, but with the way the game went, we didn’t have good control of this game.”
Adrien Moerman scored 12 and Donta Hall had 11 for Monaco that was visibly affected by the absence of starting combo guard Jordan Loyd. Cory Higgins pitched in nine points for Barcelona while Nicolas Laprovittola had eight assists (plus seven turnovers) to go with his seven points.
“I thought that we really broke the game in the third quarter with some much better decisions offensively,” Saras said. “We hit some shots, finally. I thought we were good, and then we held onto the win. At the end, it was very difficult to guard them one-on-one, both Mike James and Elie Okobo. But in the end, we should be happy leaving here with a very good win. Every win is good for the spirit.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball