Crucified in their room (84-85), from midfield, by a miraculous shot from William Howard in the first leg on November 26, Monaco had to react to the Astroballe to continue dreaming of a top 8. Howard didn’t was not there on Tuesday (injured) for this late meeting of the 19th day, and the Monegasques made sure not to see history stutter by offering themselves an authoritarian revenge (100-75) in a rare duel without suspense between the two big cars of the French Championship.
From halftime, Sasa Obradovic’s men had shown their muscles (51-41), dominant in the racket (33 rebounds to 20 in the end!) and on all lines. There was point guard Mike James (20 points, 7 assists, 4/7 at 3 points), who has become himself again since the dismissal of Zvezdan Mitrovic, chaining high-level shots, between rainbow floats and shots at 3 points at the buzzer with the board; the winger duo Alpha Diallo (17 points-10 rebounds) – Dwayne Bacon (21 points, 6 rebounds); and the Lithuanian pivot Donatas Motiejunas (22 points, 10/12), already author of 28 points against Asvel during a victory in the Championship (84-82), on December 7.
5
You have to go back almost five years, during the 2017 play-offs, to find traces of a villeurbannaise defeat at home against Monaco. Before Tuesday, the champions of France remained on 7 successes in a row against ASM in their lair. A first also for Sasa Obradovic at the Astroballe.
At the heart of a sequence of twelve matches in twenty-four days, the Villeurbannais, non-existent in defense, let themselves embark on a high-scoring match (23-27 after 10 minutes), relying too much on Elie Okobo (8 of his 10 points in the first quarter) at the start of the match, never finding a collective rhythm. The 11-1 inflicted from the start by ASM on the return from the locker room left the champions of France behind for good (43-62, 24th).
The men of TJ Parker, in whom only Marcos Knight (19 points, 9 rebounds) and Dylan Osetkowski (15 points) showed up, spent the rest of the evening chasing after the score. The hope of seeing the play-offs has not quite died out, but the mission promises to be difficult for a still diminished Villeurbanne -Lighty, Howard, Morgan…-, who slips to 11th place (8 v .-11 d.) and saw his Monegasque executioner go past him (9 v.-11 d.). Tony Parker’s club will have no room for error, at home against Red Star Belgrade and against Munich next Friday and Tuesday.
100
It is the first time this season, in all competitions, that Asvel concedes 100 points
The Roca Team, whose defense has been on the rise for a few weeks, still believes in it, after this second victory in a row outside (in Munich, 83-78). And intends to confirm its revival in Saint Petersburg, from Thursday.
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