Monaco's star guard had another strong effort against his former team
Mike James remained Baskonia's nightmare
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Regular Season
Round 10 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Outstanding first-half defense, hustle and a balanced offense were AS Monaco's three pillars in its 75-87 road win at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. Monaco used an early 1-17 run to take full control of the game. It outrebounded Baskonia 6-14 in the first quarter, dishing 7 assists and causing the hosts to miss all of their 5 shots from beyond the arc.
The second quarter was not much different, as Monaco found easier baskets in transition, finishing the first half with 14 assists and 6 turnovers. It also made 6 of 13 shots from beyond the arc (46.2% 3FG), much better numbers than Baskonia, which only hit once from downtown in 12 attempts (8.3%). The teams' PIR said it all. At halftime, Baskonia had a PIR of 16 against Monaco's 65.
"The results shows how satisfied I can be," Monaco head coach Sasa Obradovic said at halftime. "But satisfaction is always short-term. In our job, this can change very fast. And could go very fast in another direction. It is very important to start well in the third quarter, not to give their shooters an option to come back, use some smart fouls to stop them. This is one of the keys to win, and play our game. Offensively, we were very good."
Predictably, it didn't happen. Pushed by a great crowd, Baskonia found a go-to guy in Chima Moneke, who scored all of his 16 points in the second half. It got plenty of help from Nikos Rogkavopoulos to bring Baskonia within 55-60. That's when Monaco went to its core players, finding answers on offense, and its great hustle did the rest.
Elie Okobo and Mike James combined for 31 points – and 17 of those came in the fourth quarter. James finished the game with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists against his former team.
Monaco ended up winning in all hustle stats, getting 37 rebounds, 10 steals and 6 blocks. Baskonia had 34 rebounds, 8 steals and 2 blocks. James and Monaco have won their last five EuroLeague games against Baskonia.
"We got off to such a hot start and obviously, in the third quarter, we just relaxed a little bit too much and didn't keep our foot on the gas. We are still growing, it is a learning lesson," James said after the game.
"We just tried to stay composed [when Baskonia came back]. We have been together for a while, some of us. We just tried to weather the storm and stand tall at the end."