Everything is taking shape for the Roca Team under new coach Vassilis Spanoulis
Monaco made a statement with huge win at Fenerbahce
Article
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 15 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Winning by 30 points on the road is always a statement-making victory in the ultra-competitive environment of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. When that success comes against the team placed second in the league, it’s even more impressive. And when the thrashing is achieved in only the new coach’s fourth game in charge, it’s time to really sit up and take notice.
That’s exactly the scenario that AS Monaco enjoyed on Thursday night, cruising past Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul with a stunning 69-99 outcome following an extremely solid performance which saw Vassilis Spanoulis’s team win the second half 31-56.
Across the board, Monaco excelled. Paced by 5 helpers apiece from Mike James and Elie Okobo, the Roca Team dished 20 assists while committing only 7 turnovers. Led by 11 rebounds from Donatas Motiejunas, Monaco edged the battle of the boards. Shooting stats were strong in all departments: 27-of-43 from two-point range (62.8%), 8-of-17 from deep (47.1%), and 21-of-24 from the foul line (87.5%). An outstanding perimeter defense held Fenerbahce to just 4 three-point conversions on 21 attempts, with the usually deadly accurate Nigel Hayes-Davis making only 1-of-9.
Game Videos
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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
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FC Barcelona-Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul | RS Round 16 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:58
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Vassilis Spanoulis: 'Every time, we are better and better'
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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
- 01:45
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Vassilis Spanoulis: 'We have patience'
- 01:32
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Mike James: 'Just happy to get a win'
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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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Bonzie Colson brings his skills to the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge Podcast
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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
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Vassilis Spanoulis: 'The sky is the limit for Juhann Begarin'
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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
- 01:27
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Nigel Hayes-Davis: 'I learned a valuable lesson'
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Real Madrid-Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul | RS Round 14 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
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AS Monaco-Olympiacos Piraeus | RS Round 13 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
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Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz-Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul | RS Round 13 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 02:52
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Vassilis Spanoulis: 'You can tell this is a good team'
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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
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Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul-EA7 Emporio Armani Milan | RS Round 12 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:15
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Blossomgame’s explosive slam! Motorola Magic Moment
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EuroLeague & Friends: Monthly MVP candidates, Milan impressing, and more
- 01:02
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Elie Okobo: 'We were sharing the ball way more than usual'
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AS Monaco-LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne | RS Round 11 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:10
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Okobo with the reverse layup! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:09
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Blossomgame goes from defense to offense! Motorola Magic Moment
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Virtus Segafredo Bologna-Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul | RS Round 11 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 01:28
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Marko Guduric: 'I don’t know how we pulled this one out'
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EuroLeague & Friends, ep. 4: The Belgrade derby, Paris's form and much more
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EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge Podcast: Time to rebuild
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Zalgiris Kaunas-Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul | RS Round 10 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 01:27
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Marko Guduric: 'Since 2019, we hadn't won here!'
- 00:21
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Colson stops Mitchell! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:15
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Zagars's acrobatic layup! Motorola Magic Moment
- 01:01
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Elie Okobo: 'It’s time to start a winning streak'
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Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz–AS Monaco | RS Round 10 highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
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AS Monaco-Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade| RS Round 9 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 01:25
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Nigel Hayes-Davis: 'His negativity is what fuels me'
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Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul-FC Bayern Munich| RS Round 9 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 01:07
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Saras Jasikevicius: 'We have a great group of guys'
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LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne-Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul | RS Round 8 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 01:26
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Georgios Papagiannis: 'It was a team effort'
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Anadolu Efes Istanbul-AS Monaco | RS Round 8 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:24
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Papagiannis seals the win! Motorola Magic Moment
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Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul-Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade | RS Round 7 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
So yes, this was an all-around excellent performance, which inflicted Fenerbahce’s fourth-highest home losing margin in EuroLeague history and fourth-highest points tally allowed.
Motiejunas, who missed a double-double by 1 point after netting 9 to go with his 11 rebounds, believes it should serve as a blueprint for his team’s progress throughout the season.
“We showed very good team basketball,” said the veteran Lithuanian big man. “The physicality was there, we didn’t stop playing together until the end. We shared the ball, everyone got involved and fought like hell. I’m extremely happy, and this win should really show us how we should be playing all the time, and what kind of team we can be when we share the ball and play together.”
James led the offense with the best scoring performance of Spanoulis’s short tenure, netting 21 points including 3 triples on 6 attempts, and he added some detail of exactly how Monaco is starting to click under its new boss.
“We wanted to play with pace and move the ball,” he explained. “They like to key in on me and Elie a lot, try to trap us and stronghold us, so we tried to move the ball and get it out of our hands faster so they had to react. [In our] last system we had a lot of late shot clocks, so you had to live with whatever you got. I think I get the ball earlier now, I get an opportunity to move the ball and more seconds on the back end of the play.”
Spanoulis himself was also encouraged by what he saw, especially praising his player’s efforts at the other end of the floor as he said: “We changed our defense and our mindset, we were focused for 40 minutes and we won the game against a really good team and really good coach.”
Of course, scoring 99 points on the road suggests the offense was also working pretty well, and Spanoulis acknowledged: “We wanted to pass the ball, share the ball, play together, and we had patience. We tried always to find the best solution. We are not in a hurry, and when we have patience we’re a really good team in offense because we have the right players.”
The right players, the right coach, and a bright future. Monaco’s win on Thursday sent a clear message: Watch out, because this team is for real.