Euroleague: Monaco Bid for Panathinaikos After Olympiakos

The Roca Team, which now has five victories for three defeats, was very solid defensively against the American leader of +Pana+, Kendrick Nunn, MVP of the last regular season and still author of 26 points. But it was also very collective and efficient offensively, with seven players with nine points or more.

From now on, Vassilis Spanoulis’ men are preparing to experience three complicated trips, all in Belgrade, against Macccabi Tel Aviv on November 6, Partizan on November 11 then Red Star on the 13th.

Friday, Monaco defended very well from the start, with two-handed holds on Nunn, who took 5 min 21 sec to score his first points (11-9 for Monaco). Even if, subsequently, he was the best on his team, he did not resist the well-oiled collective put in place by Spanoulis.

Mike James catches fire in the 2nd quarter

Indeed, Monaco shared the ball like never before this season. The 19 assists at the end of the third quarter (the usual total since the start of the season) bear witness to this.

That didn’t stop some from showing off, like Mike James, who set the game on fire in the middle of the second quarter. While he had not yet scored a single point, the American leader scored eight in two minutes (41-32, 16th).

Monaco won the first three quarters (27-20, 23-21 and 18-17), before managing the end of the match. Tempers heated up a little between Elie Okobo and Kostas Sloukas 50 seconds from the end, but the match was already over (91-78). And the referees only called a simple foul against the Frenchman, the best scorer of the match on the Monegasque side (15 points).