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Familiar faces await Monaco in Belgrade

Familiar faces await Monaco in Belgrade

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3 January 20234 Mins read

AS Monaco travels to Serbia to face Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade on Thursday. Monaco's lightning quick rise from 7DAYS EuroCup champion to Turkish Airlines EuroLeague contender was cemented in the last two-and-a-half seasons, and two of the players that made it possible – center Mathias Lessort and sharp shooter Danilo Andjusic – will welcome the Roca Team to Stark Arena in the Serbian capital.

Lessort, 27 years old, had a breakout 2020-21 season in leading Monaco to the EuroCup title as the team's main frontcourt pillar. He was named to the 2020-21 All-EuroCup First Team, averaging 12.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 23 games. He also earned the EuroCup Quarterfinals MVP honor after averaging 18.7 points on 60% field-goal shooting, 7.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks in his team's playoffs series comeback against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica.

A native of Martinique, a French island in the Caribbean Sea, Lessort began his career in the youth system at ES Chalon-sur-Saone and made his professional debut with the club when he was 19. He also played for Nanterre 92 in France, as well as for Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade of Serbia and FC Bayern Munich of Germany, appearing in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague with each of the latter two. After winning the EuroCup with Monaco, Lessort briefly played for Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv before joining Partizan.

Lessort has kept growing as a player and arrives to this game in arguably the best shape of his career. He is leading the EuroLeague this season in rebounds per game (7.8). He also ranks second in average PIR (21.4), third in blocks (1.2), fourth in two-pointers made (4.9), and 14th in two-point accuracy (68.4%).

If Lessort led Monaco to the EuroCup title, paving the way for Roca Team to play in the EuroLeague, the 31-year-old Andjusic helped it lay the foundations to become a Final Four contender in the 2021-22 campaign.

After two very successful seasons with Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse, Andjusic took the chance to return to the EuroLeague with Monaco. He had previously played in the competition with Partizan and UNICS Kazan among other career stops in Serbia, Italy, Spain, Poland and Russia.

In Monaco, Andjusic proved to be much more than an elite shooter. Of course, he kept making it rain, hitting 42.5% of his attempts from downtown (34-for-80), but also found ways to drive to the basket and get to the foul line, where he hit 62 of 71 free throws (87.3%) last season.

Andjusic's finest moment with Monaco came in the best-of-five playoffs against Olympiacos Piraeus last spring. Having missed Game 1, Andjusic came out ready to make the difference in Game 2. He led Monaco to a stunning 72-96 road victory with 19 points, making 3 of 4 three-pointers and 6 of 6 free throws in less than 22 minutes to finish with a game- and career-high PIR of 23.

Monaco could not win that series, losing a classic Game 5 in Piraeus, but proved itself more than capable of competing at the maximum level in European basketball. Both Lessort and Andjusic have plenty of reasons to smile when they think about their time in Monaco, but their main goal will be leading Partizan to its eighth win of the season.