AS Monaco and Real Madrid gave Turkish Airlines EuroLeague fans another thriller on Friday night. Following Monaco's improbable Round 12  victory in the Spanish capital, the second overtime game between them in two seasons, this time Real managed to hold onto a 91-95 win in regulation time.

Both games this season featured almost-identical situations in the final minute of fourth quarter, with Mike James holding decisive shot opportunities –  one he took and one he didn't.

In Round 12, James did the seemingly impossible. With Monaco down 88-84 and 6.8 seconds on the clock, he launched a three-point shot with a near-vertical trajectory to send it over the outstretched arms of 2.20-meter Walter Tavares, the EuroLeague's shot-blocking king.

Not only did James make that shot, miraculously, but he drew a foul on Tavares. His four-point play tied the game, which ended up going into an extra session where Monaco claimed its only victory ever over Real, 94-95.

Monaco needed four points to tie the game, and up stepped Mike James, who drained a deep three-pointer while being fouled by Walter Tavares. He then went to the line tie the game.

7DAYS Magic Moment: Mike James comes up clutch for Monaco!

That was not the first time that James conjured a clutch four-point play in a game's final seconds, but on Friday he did something perhaps even more unexpected for arguably the league's top clutch player  – pass up a wide-open three-pointer.

Monaco was down 88-91 and had possession and with 37 seconds left. James screened for ball-handler Elie Okobo who took both of their defenders into the paint. James, left alone at the top of the three-point arc, called for the ball and Okobo delivered it. But with everyone anticipating the Monaco superstar's game-tying shot attempt, James quickly redirected the ball to teammate Jarron Blossomgame, who had a defender nearer to him on the right wing.

Blossomgame, also expecting James to shoot, was starting to run toward a possible rebound and not even looking for the pass. The ball bounced off Blossomgame's shoulder and out of bounds.

Mike James passes on a wide-open three

Blossomgame was credited with the turnover, but James was very critical of himself on social media right after the game. His teammates and head coach were just as eager to jump to James's defense.

"Without Mike we would never get in this situation to do something," coach Sasa Obradovic said at the post-game press conference. "He put us in the situation to win against such a big opponent. Usually, he would shoot it, but it is not a big deal. That's basketball; a decision here, a decision there."

James led the team with 23 points and had 7 assists and just 1 turnover. But he was 0-for-4 from three-point distance on Friday, which likely played a role in his decision.

<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bro we wouldn’t even be in that situation if it wasn’t for you. That one play doesn’t make the difference fam. Hell, how about I do a better job and help you out 😂. Head up and next game. We with you 💯 <a href="https://t.co/fgIFH9xIIv">https://t.co/fgIFH9xIIv</a></p>&mdash; Jordan Loyd (@mrjloyd) <a href="https://twitter.com/mrjloyd/status/1621635730962370561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Monaco still found itself down 4 points and inbounding the ball with 4.3 seconds to go, a nearly identical situation to the one in Madrid. This time, Okobo shot and missed, but in any case Real did not challenge the shot, so there was no possibility of a four-point play.

"It was not an easy defeat against them on our home court," Real's Dzana Musa said after the game. "We were thinking about it \[when they were\] down 4 on the last possession."

Real learned from its past mistake by making sure not to risk another game-tying four-point play.

Rest assured that James will learn from Friday night's game, too.

A tale of two Mike James moments

AS Monaco v Real Madrid (2023-02-03T18:00:00.000Z)

[Nigel Hayes-Davis](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/nigel-hayes-davis/008962/) has grabbed his first-ever MVP of the Round accolade in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague after shining in Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul's 101-86 win over ALBA Berlin on Friday evening. Hayes-Davis had a career-high PIR of 37, the most of any player in Round 23. He tied his career high with 24 points, making 6-of-8 two-pointers, 2-of-5 threes and 6-of-8 free throws, while he also set a new career-best total for rebounds with 11. In addition to that, Hayes-Davis had 3 assists, 3 steals and 8 fouls drawn.

The second-best PIR, 34, belongs to [Mario Hezonja](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/mario-hezonja/003108/) of Real Madrid. In a 91-95 road win over AS Monaco, Hezonja recorded a career-high 30 points on 6-for-10 three-point shooting, along with 6 rebounds and 6 assists. [Bonzie Colson](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/bonzie-colson/009783/) of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv had a PIR of 32, the third highest in Round 23. During his team's 93-94 win at Valencia Basket, Colson had a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double. He also amassed 3 assists, 1 steal and 6 drawn fouls. Monaco star [Mike James](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/mike-james/005985/) had 24 PIR after finishing with 23 points and 7 assists. Rounding out the list of Round 23 top performers are Valencia guard [Jared Harper](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/jared-harper/011970/) and Olympiacos Piraeus forward [Sasha Vezenkov](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/sasha-vezenkov/003469/), both of whom had a PIR of 21.

Round 23 MVP: Nigel Hayes-Davis, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul

[Mario Hezonja](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/mario-hezonja/003108/) of Real Madrid led all scorers with 30 points in Round 23. [Dwayne Bacon](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/dwayne-bacon/011286/) of Panathinaikos Athens leads the league with 19.2 points per game. 

[Bonzie Colson](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/bonzie-colson/009783/) of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv had 12 rebounds, more than any other player in this round. [Mathias Lessort](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/mathias-lessort/003842/) of Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade and [Walter Tavares](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/walter-tavares/005791/) of Real Madrid are tied as the league leader for rebounds with 7.2 per game.

No player in Round 23 dished more assists than Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz point guard [Darius Thompson](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/darius-thompson/011078/), who had 10. Olympiacos Piraeus guard [Kostas Sloukas](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/kostas-sloukas/001926/) is the league leader with 6.6 assists per contest.

Three players had 3 steals: this round's MVP [Nigel Hayes-Davis](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/nigel-hayes-davis/008962/) of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, [Isaia Cordinier](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/isaia-cordinier/009549/) of Virtus Segafredo Bologna and [Elijah Bryant](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/elijah-bryant/009846/) of Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Olympiacos's [Thomas Walkup](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/thomas-walkup/008855/) tops the charts, averaging 1.9 steals per night.

ALBA Berlin center [Christ Koumadje](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/christ-koumadje/010791/) led all players in Round 23 with 4 blocks. Tavares is the league's top shot blocker with 2.5 per game. 

There were three double-doubles this round: Colson with 17 points and 12 rebounds, Hayes-Davis with 24 points and 11 rebounds, and [Zach LeDay](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/zach-leday/008987/) of Partizan with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Round 23 individual highs: Bonzie Colson, Maccabi, 12 rebounds

Things did not look too good for Real Madrid in the middle of the third quarter against AS Monaco on Friday evening. Los Blancos had just surrendered a 12-1 run to the hosts and had been held to a single free throw, while they had committed an eye-watering 8 turnovers in the opening five minutes after halftime.

Mario Hezonja's 20 points in the first half felt like a distant memory at that point. To add to Real's misery, after only 3:32 of play in the third quarter, Walter Tavares picked up 2 more personal fouls. That took him to 4 in the game, so he went straight to the bench.

Despite Vincent Poirier being available once again, having missed the Round 22 win over Panathinaikos Athens, the French big man picked up 3 more fouls of his own in the following three minutes, which resulted in him fouling out with 3:44 left in the third quarter.

That forced head coach Chus Mateo to turn to a small lineup, as Guerschon Yabusele and Gabriel Deck joined Hezonja in the frontcourt, with Dzanan Musa and Sergio Llull occupying the two spots in the backcourt.

In the next 11 minutes, the only substitution made by Real saw Adam Hanga come in for Llull to give the veteran Spanish guard a break. The other four held the fort. That turned out to be a game-changer for Real, as it restored control of the boards.

Meanwhile, it did not take away from what worked offensively for Los Blancos: the team's three-point shooting. Real hit all 5 of its three-point attempts in the remainder of the third quarter, and was 3-of-5 in the fourth, of which those 3 makes came in the final 5:24 of the game. Hanga provided 2 and the other came from Hezonja, who made his career-high sixth three-pointer of the night with 1:55 left in the game.

"We were patient and kept working," Coach Mateo stated after the game. "We found open shots and we scored from the outside. We had 22 assists, which is very important: to pass the ball to become a team."

Tavares returned to the floor in the final 3 minutes, but it was the efforts of Deck (9 rebounds), Hezonja (6) and Yabusele (5) that allowed Real to outrebound the hosts 36-26 and grab a big road win.

Game Videos

Game News

Real Madrid small-balled its way to another win

Turkish Airlines EuroLeague fans, we have our 23rd winner in the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge, powered by Ardu Prime! Dimitrios Lagos beat everyone else in Round 23 as his team Curayo vallecano had a whopping Fantasy Challenge score of 215.8.

 

Dimitrios used the following lineup: Mike James of AS Monaco, Dante Exum of Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, Bonzie Colson (team captain) of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, Matt Costello of Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and his teammate Rokas Giedraitis, all as starters. Nigel Hayes-Davis of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul was his sixth man.

 

The bench featured Carsen Edwards also of Fenerbahce, Charles Kahudi of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, Johannes Thiemann of ALBA Berlin and his teammate Malte Delow. His coach was Dimitris Itoudis of Fenerbahce.

 

The prize for finishing first in Round 23 is a free subscription to Euroleague TV for the 2023-24 season!

 

Ilias Kosmas is the new leader atop the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge overall standings. Ilias leads everyone else with a score of 3,880.8 fantasy points.

 

Trades are now open for Round 24. Remember, three trades are allowed before each round until the end of the regular season, and you can also trade your head coach.

 

The first game in Round 24 is ALBA vs. Olympiacos Piraeus, scheduled on Wednesday, February 8 at 20:00 CET, making that the next round's deadline for trades.

 

Try to improve your teams and challenge for more prizes at the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge, powered by Ardu Prime!

EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge: Round 23 winner!

Virtus Segafredo Bologna rounded out a fantastic double-round week by topping LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 64-77 in Round 23. Playing physical and taking advantage of its athleticism was critical in Virtus making it two wins from two this week. 

Virtus outrebounded ASVEL 27-32, pulling down 11 offensive rebounds and allowing ASVEL to get just 9. Virtus grabbed 70% of all rebounds under its rim, doing better than ASVEL (62.1%). Virtus was more active in the passing lanes, too, getting as many as 9 steals, almost twice as many as its opponent (5). Isaia Cordinier finished the game with 3 steals, while Kyle Weems and Daniel Hackett collected 2 apiece.

As always, Virtus turned hustle and good defense into offense, and it ended up shooting the ball better than ASVEL from all distances. Virtus sank 18-of-31 two-pointers (58.1% 2FG), 9-of-26 three-pointers (34.6% 3FG) and 14-of-16 free throws (87.5% FT). ASVEL couldn't catch up with those numbers (51.5% 2FG, 27.3% 3FG, 80% FT), paying a high price for not matching Virtus's physicality.

Virtus's hustle paid off at ASVEL

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne v Virtus Segafredo Bologna (2023-02-03T20:00:00.000Z)

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul topped ALBA Berlin 101-86 at home on Friday evening. Lately, Fenerbahce had struggled to score early in its games, but it fixed its problems in Round 23.

Fenerbahce led 31-27 at the end of the first quarter, by far its best scoring performance in a while. Coach Dimitris Itoudis's team was coming off consecutive losses in which the team had struggled early, trailing 25-12 after 10 minutes in Round 21 against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and being down 10-24 against Olympiacos at the end of the first quarter in Round 22. The last time it got a 4-point lead or higher after 10 minutes was against ALBA in Round 12.

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul scored 31 points in the opening 10 minutes of its Round 23 game against ALBA Berlin.

Fenerbahce's high-scoring first quarter

Its first-quarter scoring record this season was 26 points in Round 5 against Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Johnathan Motley had 11 of his team's 31 first-quarter points against ALBA. Fenerbahce continued playing with a lot of rhythm, as its 57 first-half points are the club's best mark since scoring 62 it recorded against Darussafaka Istanbul in 2016. It got 81 points after three quarters, its highest score in the opening 30 minutes since the 2020-21 season.

All that led to a comfortable lead, and Motley talked about it after the game. "We just wanted to focus on starting better that we have been. Lately, we have been losing games based on bad starts, and our second and third quarters are pretty good," Motley explained after the game. "So we just really wanted to start good today, and I think we did a good job at that."

Fenerbahce caught fire early against ALBA

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul v ALBA Berlin (2023-02-03T17:45:00.000Z)

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul defeated ALBA Berlin 101-86 at Ulker Sports and Event Hall in Round 23. Being able to play at a higher rhythm than its opponent made the difference in this game.

Fenerbahce was more aggressive in this game, attacking the rim more often. The hosts drew 23 fouls and went to the free-throw line more often, hitting 20-of-24 attempts (83.3% FT). On the other hand, ALBA drew just 17 fouls and struggled from the charity stripe, burying just 8-of-13 attempts (61.5%).

The hosts also managed to stop ALBA's ball circulation after the break. ALBA recorded as many as 19 assists before halftime and was on course to set a new all-time Turkish Airlines EuroLeague record; Real Madrid holds it with 36 assists against Strasbourg on December 17, 2015. Fenerbahce, however, only allowed ALBA to dish 8 assists in the second half. ALBA finished the game with twice as many turnovers, 16, as Fenerbahce, 8, in another important key to this game.

Fenerbahce stopped ALBA's fluency

Virtus Segafredo Bologna downed LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 64-77 at the Astroballe in Round 23. Virtus was without Milos Teodosic, but Marco Belinelli stepped up to remind everyone why he is a legendary scorer.

Belinelli came off the bench and immediately missed his first shot, allowing Youssoupha Fall to score at the other end for a 14-13 ASVEL lead. However, that proved to be the hosts' last lead in the game, as Belinelli took over right after that. He had 4 points in a 0-10 run, capping it with a jumper. Belinelli soon added 3 shots from downtown and a jumper to make it a double-digit game, 27-37.

Marco Belinelli had a season-high 21 points to lead Virtus Segafredo Bologna past LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne.

Belinelli stands out against ASVEL

He remained a steady threat throughout the game, forcing ASVEL to change its defensive strategy. Belinelli led all scorers with a season-high 21 points, hitting 4-of-6 two-pointers and 4-of-8 shots from beyond the arc. "It is a very big win for us. We played well from the beginning until the end, together. Everybody was aggressive. We prepared the game in a good way. We knew that, for us, it was an important game to win, and we did that," Belinelli said after the game. "It is not easy to play on the road but we did. We bring the win to Bologna and just need to keep going and stay positive, for sure." 