The future looks bright for the Roca Team after a thumping win over Efes
Monaco enjoyed perfect end to 2024
Article
3 Mins read
If you could design the perfect way to end the calendar year, snapping a direct rival’s three-game winning streak with a comprehensive 19-point home victory would be a pretty good way to go.
And that’s exactly what AS Monaco enjoyed on Thursday night, celebrating its final piece of action of an eventful 2024 by sweeping aside Anadolu Efes Istanbul 94-75, performing with focus and execution at both ends of the floor to lead by double digits for more than 30 minutes.
Roca Team coach Vassilis Spanoulis certainly had no complaints with those efforts, immediately concluding that it was his team’s best performance since he joined the principality club a month ago.
Game Videos
- 00:36
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Poirier’s poster dunk! Motorola Magic Moment of the Night
- 00:35
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Jordan Loyd: 'When we play defense like that, we're a great team'
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/48467a4d-aed6-4609-acdb-bbbf1357a8b8.jpg]()
AS Monaco-Anadolu Efes Istanbul | RS Round 18 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:10
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Blossomgame’s reverse slam! Magic Moment
- 00:16
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Thompson feeds Oturu! Magic Moment
- 01:43
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Ercan Osmani: 'Coach Mijatovic believes in me'
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/0484a215-4f6a-45a1-bea0-61135bac2874.jpg]()
Anadolu Efes Istanbul-Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade | RS Round 17 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:09
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Nwora stops Bonga! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:13
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Osmani's huge dunk! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:18
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Efes turns defense into offense! Motorola Magic Moment
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/b871ca12-2711-45b0-b272-090fb02dc562.jpg]()
Real Madrid-AS Monaco | RS Round 17 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:16
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James finds Cornelie! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:21
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Larkin and Poirier light it up! Motorola Magic Moment of the Night
- 01:58
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Dan Oturu: 'I'm thankful to be on a team like this'
![https://img.youtube.com/vi/cY9Spu0NvE8/maxresdefault.jpg]()
Anadolu Efes Istanbul-Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade | RS Round 16 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:58
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Vassilis Spanoulis: 'Every time, we are better and better'
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/498c0a39-cdd1-46f2-a999-8c5cc288b0b2.jpg]()
AS Monaco-FC Bayern Munich | RS Round 16 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:13
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Okobo to Papagiannis alley-oop! Motorola Magic Moment
- 01:23
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Rodrigue Beaubois: 'When we play like this, we're very difficult to beat'
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/66cd8665-3775-41cf-b901-f70822433973.jpg]()
Anadolu Efes Istanbul-Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens | RS Round 15 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:31
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/a969d3d4-8ae1-426d-bbc4-8dc5e76bef91.jpg?crop=1080%3A607%3Anowe%3A47%3A44]()
Oturu dunks over Lessort! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:09
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/8d60cc90-b061-4bb2-8e5a-abda058af8c1.jpg?crop=1080%3A608%3Anowe%3A138%3A116]()
Poirier posterizes two defenders! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:13
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Thompson's half-ending block! Motorola Magic Moment
- 01:45
![https://dve-images.imggaming.com/original/p/2024/12/12/sp3r1qGWt02KUJLMca8xyHwbr1u6bhP3-1734036776412.jpg]()
Vassilis Spanoulis: 'We have patience'
- 01:32
![https://dve-images.imggaming.com/original/p/2024/12/12/ft0MuWM1T6KrXG46qA2051tZ3SXW9Dn5-1734036611545.jpg]()
Mike James: 'Just happy to get a win'
![https://img.youtube.com/vi/OfHCSqoHz70/maxresdefault.jpg]()
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul-AS Monaco | RS Round 15 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:14
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Okobo on the buzzer! Motorola Magic Moment
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EuroLeague & Friends: Spanoulis's start, the play of Maledon and Shorts...
- 00:34
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What a chasedown block from Loyd! Motorola Magic Moment of the Night
- 01:23
![https://dve-images.imggaming.com/original/p/2024/12/06/We55GCyb95aRS9VcKbak1ymk1vDiTGxr-1733519741283.jpg]()
Vassilis Spanoulis: 'The sky is the limit for Juhann Begarin'
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/14d39f0b-6aa5-43c3-b6df-b2345f29f683.jpg]()
AS Monaco-ALBA Berlin | RS Round 14 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:30
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What a block from Jordan Loyd! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:18
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Papagiannis dunks after a brilliant pass from James! Motorola Magic Moment
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/0ff530da-db2f-4dea-b72e-3f1aeb202f4f.jpg]()
Zalgiris Kaunas-Anadolu Efes Istanbul | RS Round 14 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/7e18fc91-7b10-458b-ac54-e73b637e0544.jpg]()
AS Monaco-Olympiacos Piraeus | RS Round 13 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 01:08
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Darius Thompson: 'Whoever came in competed'
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Anadolu Efes Istanbul-FC Bayern Munich | RS Round 13 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:20
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Nwora's huge slam! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:27
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Bryant beats the buzzer! Motorola Magic Moment
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LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne-Anadolu Efes Istanbul | RS Round 12 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 02:52
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Vassilis Spanoulis: 'You can tell this is a good team'
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/d6554e25-d46b-48d9-be89-9f220016aadb.jpg]()
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens-AS Monaco | RS Round 12 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:12
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Papagiannis blocks the way! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:09
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Bryant bullet-pass feed for Poirier! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:15
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Blossomgame’s explosive slam! Motorola Magic Moment
- 01:02
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Elie Okobo: 'We were sharing the ball way more than usual'
![https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/a909d165-7207-424a-9be5-85eea4e3b986.jpg]()
AS Monaco-LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne | RS Round 11 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
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Anadolu Efes Istanbul-Paris Basketball | RS Round 11 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:10
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Okobo with the reverse layup! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:12
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Willis throws it down! Motorola Magic Moment
“I’m very happy,” the Greek icon told EuroLeague.TV. “Maybe we played the most solid game until now for 40 minutes, to keep this [Efes] team to 75 points. We shot with great percentages, two-point (65%), three-point (50%) and free throws (85%). And we say it one more time: 23 assists. This is great to play like this. It’s nice to watch this team playing like this.”
It must also be nice to play for a team like this, and Jordan Loyd enjoyed his contribution against Efes by recording a game-high PIR of 18 on 14 points, 4 assists and 6 rebounds in nearly 30 minutes on the floor.
Loyd preferred to focus his attention on his team’s ability to limit Efes’s dangerous offense, saying: “When we play defense like that and we’re physical, we’re a great team.
“Everybody did their job tonight and obviously I’m happy with the win. We’ve got to hit at the right time, the right moment, and at the end of the season I think we’ll be there.”
Another strong performance was delivered by big man Mam Jaiteh, who hit 12 points without a miss alongside 4 boards and 2 steals, and he underlined the confidence flowing through Monaco as he observed: “We need to enjoy this time.
“Everything is positive to make us even more ambitious. Overall we played the way we would like to play, but we’re conscious of the small mistakes that we need to improve. If we have the good mindset we will do better soon and we have everything to reach our goals.”
And considering the emphatic all-round nature of Monaco’s final performance of 2024, it’s easy to argue that a glorious 2025 lies ahead.