By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Not having any problems against Maccabi Tel Aviv – which took Game 1 of last year’s EuroLeague Playoffs series on this court -, AS Monaco found his second straight victory of the Regular Season, blowing out the Israeli powerhouse 107-79 in front of his home crowd in the Principality.
Breaking the 4.000-point wall with 3:11 minutes to go in the first quarter by banking in from deep, Mike James joined an exclusive club composed also of Juan Carlos Navarro (4.152 points), Nando De Colo (active with 4.278 points), and Vassilis Spanoulis (4.455 points). Against the Israeli team, he led his team with 24 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists, shooting 4/7 from beyond the three-point line in 21:23 minutes.
“It was a lot of fun, we shot the ball extremely well. We played one of the best games since I came here, probably. It helps that we didn’t really see the real Maccabi today, they’re going through a lot”, he commented in the post-game interview. “I knew it because we’ve been talking about it. It’s nice, the win is good too tho”, he added about his historic accolade.
Scoring 17 points while dishing 6 assists, his backcourt partner Elie Okobo also contributed to the Monegasque team. Since moving overseas, Kemba Walker found his best scoring night in the EuroLeague thus far, delivering 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. Alpha Diallo added 18 points with 8/12 inside the area.
John Brown, instead, gave a glimpse of his UNICS Kazan season, providing an all-around performance of 11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. “It’s always a good feeling to beat a good team like them. We’re trying to put more emphasis on playing together, and we’ve got one of the best players in the league which makes it easier for us”, he shared by referring to Mike James.
“That was a great team effort, everybody was contributing. With these kinds of games, we can build our confidence from game to game, growing and being better. A win is a win. We played great defense, we found easy things in fast-break situation”, Sasa Obradovic said after the big victory of his team.
Going close to a double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds, Josh Nebo was one of the best on Maccabi Tel Aviv’s side tonight, followed by Antonius Cleveland, who led the yellow-and-blue powerhouse in scoring with 14 points – alongside Lorenzo Brown, who had the same amount – and 6/10 from two-point range. The 17-year-old Israeli guard Omer Mayer had his first-ever EuroLeague minutes, stepping on the court in the fourth quarter.
“We need to sit and talk about it”
Oded Kattash was disappointed after the final buzzer. “I think we lost the game the way we approached this game: we weren’t aggressive, it’s not our level. You can lose games, but not in this way. You can be down at halftime, but not the way we played. Nothing was there, we’re better than that on both sides. We need to sit and talk about it to make sure it won’t happen again”, he said in the post-game interview.
Having difficulties since the very beginning, Maccabi Tel Aviv scored its first field goal in the second quarter after 4:17 minutes of playing time and went to the locker room at halftime down by 14 points (52-38) following John Brown III’s buzzer-beating layup.
Things didn’t change in the second half, where AS Monaco ran away to escape with the final victory, even completing an 11-0 run after entering the third quarter. Generally, this surely wasn’t Maccabi Tel Aviv’s best night from the three-point range (7/27, 25.9%), while AS Monaco shone in that specific category (12/23, 52.2%). Sasa Obradovic‘s team found the biggest lead of the game at 33 points (96-63) with five minutes left.
In Round 6, AS Monaco (3-2) will visit Olimpia Milano (1-3) on November 2 at 20:30 CET, while Maccabi Tel Aviv’s clash against Real Madrid has already been suspended. The Israeli team (2-2) will recover its Round 2 game against the Italian side on the road on October 31. They’re scheduled to play their home games in the EuroLeague at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague