Euroleague: ASVEL defeated by a short header against Efes Istanbul, Monaco falls to Barcelona

ASVEL pushed Efes Istanbul, the reigning double European champion, to its limits but ended up losing (90-89) on Friday during the 25th day of the Euroleague. The Villeurbannais remain in 17th place in the standings while the Turks, who played in black to pay tribute to the victims of the earthquake that affected their country, are back in the race for the play-offs.

After presenting the Leaders Cup trophy won on Sunday against Bourg-en-Bresse to their audience, ASVEL delivered a great performance against a big European player, holding up the shock at the start of the match to be trailed only four points at the break. The Villeurbannais were left behind by the Stambouliotes yielding several lengths at the end of the third quarter by conceding a terrible 11-0.

But without their captain Charles Kahudi and interior Amine Noua, injured, the players of TJ Parker showed enormous resources to come back in the last minutes thanks to high class actions from Retin Obasohan and Nando De Colo (20 points). ASVEL even went ahead after a three-point shot from leader Dee Bost (89-86) one minute from time, but Efes Istanbul made their experience speak in “money time”, before a wasted match point by the Rhodanians.

Monaco fell again against a big Euroleague. This Friday, the Principality club was dominated in the game by FC Barcelona (80-70). The bad patch continues for the first of Elite, eliminated in the first match in the Leaders Cup a week ago by Bourg-en-Bresse, an opponent against whom he had fallen in the league five days earlier. The “Roca Team”, with a record of 15 wins and ten losses, finds itself outdistanced by Barça, which has two more successes and a much more favorable point-average.

Sasa Obradovic’s men are now fifth in the Euroleague while the Barcelonans have consolidated their third place. Dominated in all areas of the game for three quarters, the Monegasques took a lesson in collective play from the Catalans with their polished offensive animation, in the wake of class players like the Czechs Jan Vesely (12 points, seven rebounds ) and Tomas Satoransky (15 pts). The Barcelonans took advantage of the clumsiness of the teammates of the Frenchman Elie Okobo (6/15 from two points in the first quarter) to fly away and lead by 11 points after only 12 minutes.

A gap which then stabilized (50-39 at halftime). Led by eight points at the start of the last quarter (65-57), the Roca Team changed its face to send a shiver through the spans of the Palau Blaugrana. By tightening the screw in defense, Monaco managed to prevent Barça from scoring for almost five minutes to come back to just three points (65-62, 35th). The Blaugrana found themselves without a solution against an intractable block, as it had never been earlier in the meeting.

But the machine then jammed again: Mike James, the star of the Red and Whites, author until then of a solid match (14 points, three assists), lost his nerves again, as against Bourg-en -Bresse a week earlier, this time after a heated exchange with his coach. Lost balls, improbable shots attempted… Monaco’s end to the match was not up to this Euroleague shock, which allowed Barça to fly away to experience the last minutes much quieter than they could not have been. The Monegasques will have to revive themselves when they receive Maccabi Tel-Aviv, ninth, Thursday evening (9:00 p.m.) on the Rock.