Vassilis Spanoulis and Saras Jasikevicius, who won the 2009 EuroLeague title together as players, come head to head as coaches for the second time
Monaco vs. Fenerbahce: A playoff rematch with postseason implications
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Regular Season
Round 30 of 34
Group Regular Season
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The 13th installment of AS Monaco versus Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague has all the makings of a blockbuster.
After their five-game playoff series last year, Thursday night’s meeting will be the latest that they have ever met in the regular season. By taking place so late in the campaign, it is a fixture that could have a big impact on this year’s playoff race.
Fenerbahce confirmed its place in the postseason by beating LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne last week, so its next goal will be to lock up a top-four finish – and home-court advantage – as soon as possible. Sitting pretty in second place with a 20-9 record, three wins ahead of fifth-placed FC Bayern Munich, the odds are certainly in favor of coach Saras Jasikevicius’s side.
Having gone 10-2 over its last 12 games, Fenerbahce is one of the hottest teams in the EuroLeague and has recently been bolstered by Wade Baldwin’s return from injury, as well as the mid-season addition of Errick McCollum. Importantly, a victory for the Turkish powerhouse could see it join Olympiacos Piraeus in guaranteeing a top-four finish, so long as one of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, Bayern or FC Barcelona suffers defeat in Round 30.
It is a different story for Monaco. Despite being almost certain to secure the tiebreaker in this fixture, having beaten Fenerbahce by 30 in Istanbul back in Round 15, Vassilis Spanoulis’s fourth game in charge, Monaco has stumbled of late by losing three of their last four games. Last time out, it fell 91-88 to an already-eliminated Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, a result that left a bitter taste in the mouths of many, particularly Spanoulis.
“In this part of the season, to play with this soft mentality is unacceptable,” the Greek play-caller said in the postgame press conference after the loss at Maccabi. “To give up 17 offensive rebounds, we lost 50-50 balls, we missed a couple of big shots at the end.
“We were up 88-82 with 1:40-something on the clock and we couldn’t make one stop, then they went on a 9-0 run. Everybody has to take responsibility and understand the situation. This is not the way I want my team to defend. This is bad defense; we gave up 91 points. Everybody needs to take responsibility, myself and the players, to understand what it takes to win games.”
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Just a few days later, Monaco was dumped out of the French Cup semifinals by Le Mans having lost 99-102 in a game that didn’t go to overtime. More improvement is therefore needed on the defensive end if the principality club is to get back on track, but with just five games remaining in the regular season, time is running out.
Coach Spanoulis will be praying and hoping that new signing Daniel Theis is able to play after suffering a scary fall in Round 29, as the German big man has made a telling impact across his first three games with averages of 14.3 points and 5.7 rebounds. It’s a small sample size but Theis has already demonstrated that he has what it takes to be a pivotal player for Monaco, which is looking to make its second Final Four appearance this year.
What is clear is that, regardless of whether Theis can play or not, Monaco will lean heavily on its excellent quartet of guards: Mike James, Elie Okobo, Jordan Loyd and Matthew Strazel. All four have the ability to cause a lot of damage to Fenerbahce, and they will be eager to close the season sweep against the Turkish side, a bit of payback after losing 3-2 in the playoffs last season.
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Fenerbahce gets contributions from a number of guys on a night in, night out basis, something that was evident last week as nine players netted 8 points or more in the win over ASVEL: Baldwin (15 points), McCollum (10), Bonzie Colson (10), Nicolo Melli (9), Sertac Sanli (9), Marko Guduric (9), Jilson Bango (8), Nigel Hayes-Davis (8), and Devon Hall (8). On the other end, its third-ranked defense (80.4 PPG) will fancy its chances of containing Monaco’s fifth-ranked offense (86.5 PPG), despite what happened in Round 15.
The previous 12 meetings between Monaco and Fenerbahce have resulted in five wins for the Monégasque club and seven for the Turkish side, but who will triumph on Thursday night? Monaco knows it requires a win to keep its top-four hopes alive, while Fenerbahce has the chance to lock up home-court advantage with a win (and if other results go its way). It should be a cracker, so make sure to tune in via EuroLeague TV.