Monaco suffered on the floor of Bayern Munich but ended up winning (91-80) to bounce back in the Euroleague basketball where Asvel fell again against Olympiakos (85-73), Friday during the 16th daytime.
Crucified on a winning basket at the buzzer on Wednesday against Panathinaikos, the Roca Team brought back from Germany a victory which could have been easy to validate if the Monegasques had not experienced a long slump in the third quarter.
While they led by 19 points (60-41) after a basket from Mike James four minutes from the end of this act, they experienced a veritable deluge of shots from Bayern which ate away at the deficit. Under the leadership of French leader Sylvain Francisco, author of three long-distance shots in a row, the Bavarian team came back 7 lengths (60-67, 30th).
With the energy of despair, Sasa Obradovic’s men pulled themselves together in the wake of Mike James, in a state of grace. It was he who stopped the bleeding by making a relaxed 3-point basket, in response to that of Francisco who achieved his benchmark mark in the Euroleague in this match (21 pts).
This shot, followed by another in the wake of Jaron Blossomgame, seemed to knock out the Bavarians, a little dulled by their riot of energy. Especially since James, with a basket plus the mistake, gave an advantage which proved definitive for the Monegasques.
Bayern Munich, which remained on a series of four home victories in a row, took a blow to the back of the head, as evidenced by this return pass into the zone from Devin Booker, a beginner’s error.
Thanks to this success, the Roca Team moved back to 5th place with 9 wins for 7 losses and relegated Bayern to 12th place (7v-9l) in a very volatile ranking.
Mixed fortunes for the other French representative, Asvel, whose negative spiral does not seem to be stopping. The Villeurbannais fell at home against the Greeks of Olympiakos (85-73) and remain at the bottom of the standings. With only two victories for fourteen losses, Tony Parker’s team, which cherished the dream of securing a place in the play-in, must now focus on its recovery.
In other matches of the evening, Real Madrid continued its almost flawless performance by easily winning Partizan Belgrade (91-75) for its 15th success of the season in sixteen matches and remains leader. Valencia (8th, 9V-7L) dominated Virtus Bologna (79-71) but the latter remains on the podium. Red Star, the other club from Belgrade, won (98-92) at Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
