A tiny principality on the Mediterranean Sea was the talk of the basketball world last spring when AS Monaco made history by becoming the 2021 7DAYS EuroCup champion.
Best of 2021: Monaco's march to the title
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It was an improbable run in which Monaco played the role of a Cinderella to perfection, doing little to impress early in the season, but then going on an ever-stronger run that extended all the way to the final buzzer of the final game.
Monaco opened its EuroCup campaign with a modest 4-4 regular season record before going on to win 13 of its last 15 games. Monaco won its last two regular season games, topped its Top 16 group with a 5-1 record, then won its last six games out of seven over three playoff rounds.
None of it was easy.
Indeed, Monaco was shocked in the quarterfinals opener on its home floor against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica, but won Game 2, which was played on the road in Ljubljana, 64-74. That turned out to be Monaco's only double-digit playoff win, as its last five games – all victories – were each decided by 5 points or fewer.
That final run included the EuroCup Finals, too, where Monaco pulled out a pair of thrilling wins over UNICS Kazan. Finishing strong became the team's modus operandi, so it was only fitting to get to seize the trophy in such fashion, too.
Monaco won Game 2 by scoring the game's final 5 points. After UNICS took 83-81 lead with 15 seconds left, J.J. O'Brien had a basket-plus-free throw to put Monaco in front with 10 seconds left, then Marcos Knight made 2 of 2 free throws with 4 seconds remaining to seal the victory and the crown.
Guard Rob Gray, a midseason addition to the roster, was named the EuroCup Finals MVP after leading all scorers in both games of the series. Gray had 23 points in Game 1, then followed it up with a 25-point performance in Game 2 to lead Monaco to a sweep.
Monaco became the second team to sweep a best-of-three final series in the competition, and the first French League team ever to win the 7DAYS EuroCup title, re-writing history books in more than one way.