Monaco once more fell once morest a big Euroleague on Friday during the 25th day of the Euroleague, beaten and 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 once morest 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.
The men of Serbian coach Sasa Obradovic 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 following 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 Blaugranas found themselves without a solution once morest an intractable block, as it had never been earlier in the meeting.
But the machine then jammed once more: Mike James, the star of the Red and Whites, author until then of a solid match (14 points, three assists), lost his nerves once more, as once morest Bourg-en -Bresse a week earlier, this time following 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 know the last much quieter than they might 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.
