The club from the Principality clinched fourth place and home-court advantage for the playoffs
Monaco secures its spot in the playoffs for the fourth straight year
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AS Monaco made it four for four in playoff appearances after defeating LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on Thursday night 78-83 to clinch its spot in the quarterfinal round. Coach Vassilis Spanoulis's side follows Olympiacos Piraeus, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens as the teams that have already secured their spots in the playoffs.
Moreover, Monaco will have home-court advantage in the best-of-five playoffs after claiming fourth place in the regular-season standings with a 21-13 record. It will have to wait until the end of Friday's games to learn its playoff opponent, with FC Barcelona, Anadolu Efes Istanbul and Real Madrid the potential foes.
Monaco aims high with Spanoulis at the helm
Monaco had some early-season struggles as it opened the season with a 5-4 record. That eventually led to a coaching change, with Vassilis Spanoulis – a three-time champion as a player – taking the reins in November. A victory at Panathinaikos in his first game in charge was a positive sign, but Monaco lost three straight games in January to fall to 13-9. However, the team bounced back with three consecutive victories and finished the regular season with four wins in its last five games to climb the table and finish fourth.
This marks the third season in a row in which Monaco will have home-court advantage in the playoffs. It defeated Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in Game 5 in 2023 and fell to Fenerbahce in the same spot last season. In the club’s playoff debut in 2022, Monaco lost in five games to Olympiacos with the fifth game played in Greece.
Mike James is the heart of the team
Mike James, who is joined by Alpha Diallo and Donatas Motiejunas as the only three players to play for Monaco in all of its four EuroLeague campaigns, was once again the go-to player for Monaco. The victory over ASVEL was just the latest example of his importance to Monaco as he scored 20 points – including the go-ahead free throws among his 5 points in the final minute – to lead the way. The 2024 EuroLeague MVP was one of only to players to play every game this season (the other being Matthew Strazel) and leads the team in scoring (15.8 ppg.), assists (5.7 apg.) and PIR (17.1).
With mid-season signing Daniel Theis powering the frontline and Elie Okobo, Jordan Loyd, Strazel and Nick Calathes giving the team a deep and dangerous backcourt, Monaco promises to be a dangerous team in the playoffs.