They put their great friendship to the side for 40 minutes
Chima Moneke stepped up to stop best friend TJ Shorts and Paris
Article
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 18 of 34
Group Regular Season
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It was a special game at Buesa Arena on Friday night. Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz legend Tiago Splitter returned to the arena as Paris Basketball head coach, barely seven months after seeing his No 21 retired by the Spanish club. In another storyline, Chima Moneke of Baskonia and TJ Shorts of Paris have known each other for almost a decade, having been college teammates at UC Davis in the 2017-18 season.
Both players had to make their names the hard way, grinding their way up the European basketball ladder before establishing themselves as Turkish Airlines EuroLeague stars. Of course, both of them are fierce competitors and once the ball went up, it was go time.
Moneke was a dominant force in the game. Despite fouling out and leaving the game with an injury, all at once, Moneke was everywhere in Round 18, finishing the game with 29 points on 6-of-9 two-pointers, 4-of-8 three-pointers, 10 rebounds, 5 fouls drawn and a block on Shorts that should give him bragging rights for the rest of the season. He also recorded the highest-scoring double-double in the current EuroLeague season.
Shorts was limited to 14 points and 4 assists in a 94-81 losing effort. He had just 5 points and 2 assists in the second half, which was one of the biggest keys to this game. After a 57-point first half, tying a EuroLeague season high, Paris was outscored 53-24 in a second half that saw Moneke join forces with Markus Howard to lead Baskonia to an important victory.
Moneke was absolutely ecstatic after the game and revealed a special motivation for this particular game.
"This is my favorite game that I have ever been a part of in my life. It has been a tough season," Moneke told EuroLeague TV. "I have been dealing with a lot personally on the court. We have been going through a lot.
"It was my birthday three days ago. I'm never with my family during these breaks and one of my brothers is able to be here; playing against my best friend in the absolute world. He's going to win MVP still, but everything just happened. We're down 16, down 18, whatever it was [19, actually]. And we just keep believing in ourselves."