Mathieu Warnier, Media365, published on Wednesday December 17, 2025 at 10:55 p.m.
While Monaco conceded a second defeat in a row in the Euroleague on the floor of Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (85-73), ASVEL snatched a narrow victory against Bayern Munich (76-74).
The duel of the bad students returns to ASVEL. On the floor of the LDLC Arena, the red lantern in the Euroleague standings had the last word against Bayern Munich, penultimate in the standings. But it wasn’t easy for Pierric Poupet’s players. Indeed, if the Villeurbanne team took the lead at the start of the match thanks to Nando de Colo (8 points), who took advantage of the opportunity to exceed the 5000 points registered in the competition, the Germans quickly took control. A 9-2 at the very end of the first quarter allowed Bayern to take the lead by seven lengths. After turning their backs, the ASVEL players raised their voice at the start of the second quarter but without managing to take more than two points in advance. But finishing stronger, they scored the last six points to reach halftime with a margin of four units. Except that the Rhone machine seized up on its return to the floor.
With only nine points scored in the third quarter, Glynn Watson Jr’s teammates (14 points, 6 assists) opened up an avenue for the Bayern Munich players. After seeing a five-point lead disappear, Spencer Dinwiddie’s teammates (15 points, 5 assists) inflicted an 11-0 on ASVEL to enter the last quarter in front of the score. However, if they were able to maintain this advantage, the Rhone residents were able to gradually get closer to come back to just two lengths with a little more than two minutes still to play. Facing the Bavarians who then became imprecise, Armel Traoré (11 points, 6 rebounds) and Thomas Heurtel (15 points) came out of their box to allow their team to take the lead. A final free throw from Shaquille Harrison (8 points) ended the suspense. ASVEL won by two points (76-74) for its fourth victory in sixteen Euroleague matches and returned to a victory for Bayern, beaten for the seventh time in a row on the continental scene.
Two down for Monaco
Five days after the setback against Fenerbahçe, Monaco had the opportunity to react. But, on the Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz floor, Vassilis Spanoulis’ players were unable to raise their heads. A meeting which initially saw both teams not giving up. Thus, the gap never exceeded three points first for the Basques then for the Monegasques. But an “and one” from Matteo Spagnolo (9 points) allowed Baskonia to lead at the end of the first quarter. The teammates of a very prominent Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot (19 points) then continued to race in the lead during the ten minutes leading to half-time. But it was only late that their advantage reached ten points before settling at nine by the time they returned to the locker room. When it was time to return to the floor of the Buesa Arena, everything was going well for Paolo Galbiati’s players.
The latter were thus able to push their advantage up to sixteen points before experiencing a gap. Silent for four minutes, the Basques conceded a 14-0 led by Mike James (21 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) to see Monaco come back to two points. Except that the “Roca Team” then gained eight rank points only to see itself pushed back to ten units. The last quarter initially saw the two teams respond to each other, with the Monegasques coming back to seven lengths after having been trailing by fourteen. However, it was the Basques who managed the end of the match better to win by twelve points (85-73), at the same time returning to success in the Euroleague. A second setback in a row, the seventh in sixteen matches, which sees the Principality club in sixth position, the last directly qualifying for the play-offs.
