With Mike James unavailable due to injury in Round 30 of the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, AS Monaco had to fill the gap left by its main playmaker. On Friday night, against a Valencia Basket side looking to stay alive in the playoff race, the 20-year-old Matthew Strazel was one of the main players to come to the fore at Salle Gaston Medecin.

Matthew Strazel stepped up for Monaco against Valencia

With Mike James unavailable due to injury in Round 30 of the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, AS Monaco had to fill the gap left by its main playmaker. On Friday night, against a Valencia Basket side looking to stay alive in the playoff race, the 20-year-old Matthew Strazel was one of the main players to come to the fore at Salle Gaston Medecin.

Monaco has now been without James in Rounds 28, 29 and 30 due to a mix of injury and suspension, yet Sasa Obradovic's team still found a way to win its fifth game in a row.

One of the backcourt players that was given a bigger opportunity in terms of minutes was Strazel, who averaged 6:49 and just 1.1 points and -0.4 PIR coming into this round. Nevertheless, Strazel came up big against Valencia, finishing with a season-high 13 points and 3 assists, shooting a perfect 3-of-3 from downtown, and recording a PIR of 15.

The best plays of Matthew Strazel in AS Monaco's 90-79 victory against Valencia Basket on March 24, 2023.

Matthew Strazel's best plays vs. Valencia

It was not just about the numbers, though, as it was more to do with how and when he made his shots. Strazel was the solution for Monaco’s struggles from long distance in the first half, drilling the hosts' first three to nudge ahead, 33-32, in the second quarter. That preceded a 12-point run that allowed Monaco to build its first double-digit lead of the night. And later, early in the third, Strazel showed up again with a timely assist for Donatas Motiejunas's dunk, before scoring back-to-back triples to establish a 17-point margin and put Valencia on the ropes.

All of this came in his most minutes on the floor this season, as he stayed on the court for 19:26 minutes. His previous best took place only a couple of games ago, when he played 16:31 minutes in Spain against Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. In James's absence, Strazel has averaged more than 16 minutes per game over the last three contests, and it seems as though the young Frenchman is going from strength to strength.

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AS Monaco v Valencia Basket (2023-03-24T18:00:00.000Z)

EuroLeague Live Blog: Fenerbahce vs. Zalgiris, Virtus vs. Real Madrid, Monaco vs. Valencia, Partizan vs. Olympiacos, Milan vs. Bayern

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Live Blog: Monaco to playoffs; Partizan, Real, Fener and Milan win

Virtus Segafredo Bologna v Real Madrid (2023-03-24T18:00:00.000Z)

Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade v Olympiacos Piraeus (2023-03-24T19:00:00.000Z)

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan v FC Bayern Munich (2023-03-24T20:00:00.000Z)

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul v Zalgiris Kaunas (2023-03-24T17:45:00.000Z)

Mathias Lessort, Partizan: 'We can beat any team in Europe'

### Zeljko Obradovic, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade head coach

“If you beat the leader of the EuroLeague, it is a great victory, of course. Congratulations to my players. Except the third quarter, we played really good. Good aggressiveness. We allowed them to score easy points under our basket. This was the only problem, but generally \[it was\] a good game.

“I believe that we have a lot of reasons to be proud of how we played. We controlled nearly all the game by playing smart defensively. The key was sharing the ball. Every time we shared the ball it led to good shots. Sometimes we missed, but generally we had very good shot selection. Thanks to the people of Partizan for one more incredible night.”

### Christos Pappas, Olympiacos Piraeus assistant coach

“We didn’t match up the energy, we didn’t match up the physicality, we didn’t match up the speed. And it shows in \[their total of\] 90 points.

“Congratulations to Partizan. Great basketball today with big desire. Even in the first quarter when the game was still tight, we were one second behind everything. With 3 out of 20 three-point shots, playing a EuroLeague game is very difficult, even if you have 72% for two-pointers. We move on. We still have games \[left\] to fight for first position.”

### Mathias Lessort, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade center

“Great win against probably the best team in the EuroLeague. So, it’s a statement win. When we play at home, when we play our games and are focused, we can beat any team in Europe. We did a great job and congratulations to the whole team. (Lessort dances) That’s how I feel!”

### James Nunnally, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade forward

“Mathias can do the dancing, that’s his thing! It’s a big victory, but we’ve got more games on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, and we’ve got to move on from this. A good win, the fans were excellent, we played hard and tough and we’ve got to keep this up. We’ve got four more games in the EuroLeague to get our spot in the playoffs. I think our defense was key – we set the tone, we were physical and aggressive. That set the tone early.”

Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade strengthened its playoff hopes with a dominant victory, 90-75, over Olympiacos Piraeus at Stark Arena on Friday night. Partizan improved to 17-13 with the win, while Olympiacos dropped to 22-8 and must wait to secure home-court advantage in the postseason.

 

Partizan set a tremendous early tempo, racing to a double-digit advantage in the second quarter with a game-high lead of 16 points. Olympiacos fought back to within 4 points after the break, but Partizan found fresh resolve to pull clear in the final period. James Nunnally led the way with 19 points, and Kevin Punter added 17. Mathias Lessort had a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Dante Exum with 15 and Ioannis Papapetrou with 10 also scored in double digits. Shaquielle McKissic led all scorers with 21 points, and Moustapha Fall added 13 for the Reds.

Yam Madar scored the first 4 points, before Thomas Walkup netted twice to push Olympiacos ahead, 9-10. Fall blasted 8 fast points, but Zach LeDay and Nunnally – twice – hit triples to make it 27-22 after 10 minutes.

Another Nunnally triple stretched the lead to double digits, then 5 points from Exum and a trio of triples from Punter made it 48-34 at the break.

Isaiah Canaan scored twice in a 2-12 run as Olympiacos got closer, 50-46. Exum’s three-pointer ended Partizan’s four-minute drought, and the hosts led 60-52 after three quarters.

Exum continued to shine with a dunk and a layup, 71-60, and 8 points from Punter, including a deep three, made it 79-63. A pair of McKissic triples gave Olympiacos hope, but Papapetrou struck two triples to seal the win.

Partizan blitzes leader Olympiacos, 90-75

AS Monaco has made it to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs for the second time in as many seasons. Monaco became the fourth team to clinch a playoff spot by downing Valencia Basket 90-79 at home in Round 30. The French side now has a 20-10 record and, as a result of its playoff berth, only the 2022-23 7DAYS EuroCup champion will gain access to the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. 

Monaco punches another playoffs ticket! 

[AS Monaco](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/teams/as-monaco/mco/) has made it to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs for the second time in as many seasons. Monaco became the fourth team to clinch a playoff spot by downing Valencia Basket 90-79 at home in Round 30. The French side now has a 20-10 record and, as a result of its playoff berth, only the 2022-23 7DAYS EuroCup champion will gain access to the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. 

If Virtus Segafredo Bologna doesn't make it to the playoffs, Monaco, will automatically have a guaranteed spot in the 2023-24 EuroLeague. If both Virtus and Monaco make the playoffs, however, the team ranking higher at the end of the season will get that spot. Monaco is now focused on gaining home-court advantage in order to increase its chances of making it to the Final Four for the first time in the club's history.

### Road to playoffs

Monaco had a really strong start of the season, winning four of its five games in October. It registered road victories against Virtus (66-83), Panathinaikos Athens (80-83) and Olympiacos Piraeus (76-81), which allowed Mike James to be chosen as the EuroLeague MVP for October. Monaco remained solid at Salle Gaston Medecin, and it got two prestigious road victories in the French derby against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (75-84) and in overtime against Real Madrid (94-95) to improve to 9-3 in the standings. Coach Sasa Obradovic's team went through a quieter period but managed to get three narrow home victories in the next eight games to keep its playoff hopes alive. Power forward Chima Moneke joined the team midway through the season, replacing Adrien Moerman and providing Monaco with an extra boost at the 4.

Monaco got on the right track with back-to-back high-scoring victories against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan (101-88) and ALBA Berlin (84-102), with Donatas Motiejunas taking center stage in the German capital with 22 points and a PIR of 25. Its last loss came in Round 25 against FC Barcelona at Palau Blaugrana, 80-70. Monaco has since gone on a five-game winning streak, getting quality victories even in the absence of James. Monaco beat Baskonia 93-102 at Buesa Arena behind 19 points from Jordan Loyd, before downing Virtus 81-68 in Round 29 in a critical battle to stay in the EuroLeague next season. Elie Okobo led the way with 21 points. That triumph also saw Monaco secure the tiebreaker over Virtus.

### Playoff experience

Monaco took part in its first-ever playoff series last season, losing against Olympiacos in an epic five-game series that went down to the final minutes. James, Motiejunas, Yakuba Ouattara, Alpha Diallo and Donta Hall were all with the team in that series, as was Coach Obradovic. As for the rest of the team, Jordan Loyd is going to the playoffs for the first time with his fourth team in the competition. Elie Okobo and Matthew Strazel did not have the chance to be in the playoffs with ASVEL, nor did John Brown with UNICS Kazan. China Moneke and Jaron Blossomgame are in their first EuroLeague seasons. James is the only Monaco player to have won a playoff series, as he advanced with Baskonia after beating Panathinaikos in 2016. Apart from last season's exit with Monaco, James lost two other playoff series, both of which came with Panathinaikos: against Fenerbahce in 2017 and Real in 2018.

### Playoff history

Monaco made its EuroLeague debut last season and went all the way to the playoffs. Olympiacos had home-court advantage and took Game 1, 71-54. But, Roca Team bounced back in Game 2, thrashing Olympiacos 72-96 behind 23 points from James. In Game 3, Paris Lee hit a three-pointer for an 80-79 Monaco lead in the penultimate minute of the game, yet Thomas Walkup, Sasha Vezenkov and Kostas Sloukas sealed the outcome from the foul line, leading the Reds to a 83-87 lead.

Two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant traveled to Monaco for Game 4 and definitely enjoyed the experience, so much so that he changed his plans and attended Game 5 in Piraeus, Greece, too. Monaco took Game 4, 78-77, on a go-ahead basket by Dwyane Bacon and a missed shot at the buzzer by Kostas Sloukas. The Reds prevailed in Game 5, 94-88, in an outstanding atmosphere at Peace and Friendship Stadium in what was arguably one of the best games in EuroLeague history. James had 24 points and 10 assists, but he could not prevent Monaco from being eliminated.

AS Monaco became the fourth team to book their spot in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs after beating Valencia Basket 90-79 at Salle Gaston Medecin on Friday evening. The hosts used a 12-run late in the second quarter to build a 48-41 halftime advantage, and another 10-0 spurt to start the third period to open a 17-point lead that Valencia could never erase. Monaco improved to 20-10 after chaining together five wins in a row, while Valencia slipped to 14-16.

Elie Okobo and Jaron Blossomgame led five Monaco players in double figures with 14 points apiece. Okobo also added 7 assists. Matthew Strazel scored 13 points on perfect shooting from downtown (3-of-3), while John Brown provided 10 points and Donta Hall finished with a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds for a PIR of 26. Chris Jones paced Valencia with 17 points, Bojan Dubljevic contributed a double-double of 15 points and 11 boards. Josep Puerto and Jared Harper also went for 11 and 10 points respectively, in the losing effort.

Valencia was the first team to take control of the game by making the most of its possessions, as they completed 4 three-point plays in the first five minutes to take an 8-14 lead. Monaco leaned on Hall and Blossongame to bring some energy to the paint, reducing the gap to 14-16. Claver and Jones added another couple of three-point attacks for Valencia, but an 8-0 run for the home team made it all square, 22-22, after 10 minutes.

The visitors kept producing from behind the arc to regain a short advantage, 26-30, when the game resumed, but Monaco managed to find some momentum when Strazel provided the first three of the night for the hosts. Hall and Blossongame then kept the train rolling, before Yakuba Outtara capped the run with back-to-back triples to ensure that Monaco went into the halftime break ahead by 7 points, 48-41.

Strazel was again the catalyst for Monaco after the break, feeding Motiejunas inside and drilling a couple of threes that allowed the hosts to build a 10-point run and escape, 58-41, early in the third period. A technical foul called on Valencia head coach Alex Mumbru seemed to make his team react, as Jones and Dubljevic took the reins on offense with a combined 15 points that brought the guests within 67-62. Monaco managed to stop the rally thanks to Hall and Okobo, as the hosts retained their 7-point lead entering the last stanza, 71-64.

Valencia didn’t want to stop, though, and made it even tighter when Xabi Lopez-Arostegui scored a layup to trim the deficit to 4 points, 73-69. Jordan Loyd came to the rescue with a timely three-pointer that calmed down any nerves for Monaco, as Valencia went scoreless for the next four minutes. A four-point play by Okobo returned a double-digit margin for Monaco, 80-69, soon after, and even though the visitors never gave up, the difference proved too big.

Monaco downs Valencia 90-79 to clinch playoff berth

Real Madrid delivered a major blow to Virtus Segafredo Bologna’s playoffs hopes with a 79-96 road victory. Mario Hezonja drained 6 of a career-high 8 three-pointers in the fourth quarter to help Real improve to 21-9. Hezonja finished with 26 points, Guerschon Yabusele evened his career-high of 24 points and Gabriel Deck chipped in 11 points. Virtus has now lost four of five games for a 13-17 record and really need a miraculous finish to reach the playoffs. Marco Belinelli poured in 26 points with 6 three-pointers and Semi Ojeleye had 18 points in the loss.

 Real puts Virtus away late for 79-96 win  

Yabusele drained 2 corner threes and Real grabbed 5 offensive rebounds for 8 second-chance points in building a 6-23 advantage midway through the first quarter. Ojeleye stopped a 0-13 Real run with a three-pointer for Virtus and added another triple for a 12-26 scoreboard after 10 minutes. Belinelli came out and hit 3 free throws and back-to-back triples to pull Virtus within 23-32. Hezonja answered with 2 three-pointers and the gap was 23-38. Belinelli followed with 3 more free throws and another triple and Virtus closed within 31-38. Real got its offense going again to lead 33-50 at halftime on Yabusele's buzzer-beater from the opposite foul line.

Belinelli inspired his team to get within 43-52, but Yabusele and Deck helped Real weather the storm and make it 43-58. Toko Shengelia and Belinelli got Virtus as close as 55-62. Real pushed the lead to 58-68 after 30 minutes. Hezonja started the final frame with 4 three-pointers in the first 3 minutes for a 61-80 lead. Hezonja added 2 more triples and the advantage was 71-94 with 2 minutes left to finish the game, ending any suspense.

Real puts Virtus away late for 79-96 win 

 Chus Mateo, Real Madrid: 'We played together today' 

### Chus Mateo, Real Madrid head coach 

"We moved the ball really well and played as a team. We played together today. On defense we played smart. We didn't help too much on the big guys. Except for \[Marco\] Belinelli, who is an amazing shooter – how he shoots it's difficult to stop when he plays like this – we played really good defense as a team. I am very happy with the performance. It was a hard game where we had to pay attention from the beginning to the end.

“In general, we did a very good job. We played very good as a team. We controlled the rebounds, we controlled the turnovers and we played our rhythm on offense, finding open shots and good options. Going to the paint and passing the ball outside, creating. In the end, we finished with 15 \[made\] threes – that is good for us. And only 10 turnovers. The only bad thing is we missed 11 free throws. Probably if we had scored those free throws, we wouldn’t have suffered so much in the third quarter. But \[Marco\] Belinelli is a good player and we couldn’t leave him alone. He scored 2 threes in a row. I am very happy, because we had a very good performance as a team.”

### Sergio Scariolo, Virtus Segafredo Bologna head coach 

"They played a great game. Every time we got close they had two or three big shots or big plays in the air. You have to accept that they are a super, top-level team. But at the same time, I think in the second half we showed less fear. In the first half, I think we were less convinced that we could play. We were trying difficult things that typically don't work against size and top teams.

"I have to take my hat off to Real Madrid tonight. They played a great game at both ends of the floor. They were really filling the paint defensively and forcing us to take bad shots, which we didn’t want to do. That was our mistake in the first half. We were 4-of-18 on two-pointers and we had 40% on threes. We knew it would be almost impossible to shoot under their rim, especially when \[Walter\] Tavares was on the floor. But we still managed to get back to 8 points \[down\]. Then we had the crazy last minutes. But we fought. We played with pride, with commitment. We had some very good minutes in the second half. We were a couple of times very, very close to opening up the game completely. But the class of Real Madrid players – in this case, Mario Hezonja – killed the game with three-pointers. Some were not well defended, some were absolutely well defended. But he proved that he played many years in the NBA. And we have to accept that and shake his hand. In general, I think in the second half we showed our real face when we are committed, when we are together, when we play defense, when we share the ball. But our start was a little shy. I understand that Real Madrid is imposing in a lot of respects and of course we owe them respect, but you've got to try to use your weapons. Of course, we were short-handed tonight, but congrats to Real Madrid. They are a top team and good luck to them in the playoffs."

### Guerschon Yabusele, Real Madrid forward 

"When we came out in the second half we came out really strong to make the difference and secure the win. That was the key of the game. We were feeling good. We shared the ball and found the open man. Everybody was knocking down the threes today. It was pretty good for us, a good win."

### Mario Hezonja, Real Madrid forward 

"They are a great team and are very well organized. It looks like we beat them with our individual talent. We were all finding open shots. Chacho \[Sergio Rodriguez\] was penetrating and doing what he does. \[Guerschon\] Yabusele was having a great game. We were just sharing the ball and it just so happened that I was the open one who scored. But this is not enough. If we want to do something serious we need more than just individual talent. We are loaded with that. We know that we have some of the best players in the competition, but we need more than that."

Chus Mateo, Real Madrid: 'We played together today'

 Donta Hall, Monaco: 'We burned it tonight' 

### Sasa Obradovic, Monaco head coach 

"I feel very good for players like Elie Okobo and Jordan Loyd, who will play the playoffs for the first time. I think we did a great job. I also think the way this team played deserved a playoff spot. We don't know which position -- it depends also on the next games -- but the first goal is achieved. This is what be talked about before the season, and I'm very happy for the players, the group and all the people here in Monaco."

### Alex Mumbru, Valencia head coach

"They did better in defensive rebounding. We missed some easy shots, they scored some tough shots. Congratulations to Monaco. We have to continue."

### Donta Hall, Monaco player

"Honestly, after a win we feel great. We knew, coming into this game, what we needed to do, what kind of energy we needed to bring, and I think that we burned it tonight. I do my thing, I come out and fight, like the other 12 or 13 guys do, no matter what."

### Elie Okobo, Monaco player

"It's feels great. We are officially qualified for the playoffs. That was our goal when I came in, when I signed here, for the whole group. It was the first step, now we have four more games. We want to get the home-court advantage for the playoffs, and we have to stay locked in, play hard and play as a team, like we did tonight. Let's see what happens next."