'The Bald Eagle' is back in a key veteran role
Nick Calathes's return made Monaco even stronger
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3 Mins read
AS Monaco kept first place in the standings with a 90-105 road win over ALBA Berlin in Round 19. Nick Calathes made his Monaco debut and everyone saw what head coach Vassilis Spanoulis expected from him.
Spanoulis and Calathes were Panathinaikos Athens teammates in the 2009-10 season as well as on the Greek national team. They also played against each other many times while Spanoulis was starring for Olympiacos Piraeus. The big question was how would Spanoulis integrate a veteran like Calathes into a backcourt that was working very well, led by Mike James, Elie Okobo and Jordan Loyd?
The answer is simple: Calathes offers what he has always been good at: outstanding defense, court vision and vocal leadership. His numbers against ALBA were not spectacular but spoke volumes. Calathes only took one shot, which he missed, but he had 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 1 block for a PIR of 6 in less than 19 minutes. He was on the court when the game was decided.
After trailing 35-55 at halftime, ALBA managed to get within 86-92 on a put-back layup by Gabriele Procida. That's where Calathes provided silent leadership, dishing 4 assists in the last 4 minutes to make sure Monaco cruised to a comfortable victory. He found James for a three-pointer, collected a steal and allowed James to score again, fed Jaron Blossomgame for the game-clinching triple and still had time to find James again for an easy basket.
It is no surprise that Monaco's offensive flow was better with Calathes around. James finished the game with a season-high 23 points. Matthew Strazel fired in 5 of 6 three-pointers on his way to 18 points, his highest-scoring mark this season. Blossomgame's 17 points matched his EuroLeague career high. Okobo and Loyd finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
James praised Spanoulis's adjustments after the game: "He hasn't really changed my game. I think that's just a little bit different pace that we play, with a little bit different plays, a little bit more off-screen plays, more plays to get me in movement instead of his [Sasa Obradovic, Monaco's former head coach] attacking in isolation all the time from the top. So it's just different," James said.
"I think he's got different rules on defense, so that changed a lot for us. We are playing with confidence. We are trying to pick it up, he has done a great job."
Calathes is aware that he doesn't need to score to be a key piece in this team. He just needs to play excellent defense as always and put the ball in the right place. With so much scoring talent around him, his off-the-charts basketball IQ makes him shine even more.