The Roca Team was beaten (71-54) in Greece on Wednesday for its first in the playoffs of the main European basketball competition.
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Learning the hard way for Monaco. The formation of the Rock logically lost (71-54) in the first match of the quarter-finals of the Euroleague on the floor of Olympiakos, Wednesday, April 20. Sasa Obradovic’s players are not yet mortgaging their chances of qualification, best of five games. But this painful introduction sets the tone against a regular at major European meetings.
⚔️ In a boiling Peace and Friendship Stadium, the Roca Boys bow the@olympiacosbc and his defense #RocaTeam has the opportunity to equalize in this series on Friday, still in Athens pic.twitter.com/Sl0jupJBCT
— AS Monaco Basket (@ASMonaco_Basket) April 20, 2022
However, the Monegasque rookie was not unworthy at the start of the match. Effective defensively, Mike James’ teammates played almost against nature, while ASM was the best offense of the regular season. The visitors left Olympiakos with just eight points after a quarter, a small feat that could call for another evening of great discovery for the Roca Team. “We managed to control the game well thanks to a big defense in the first quarter and that’s the only way to have a chance to win the game here.“, remarked the Monegasque coach, Sasa Obradovic.
But it didn’t take long for the Greek team to find their DNA and make their experience speak. With players experienced in these crucial meetings in the Euroleague like Kostas Sloukas (10 points, six assists) or Georgios Printezis (12 points in 13 minutes, best scorer for his team), Olympiakos dictated its law in a second quarter. fatal in Monaco: 25-11. Seven points difference at the break.
The Monegasques were locked in the impeccable defensive net of their opponent, stumbling over the centimeters of the French international Moustapha Fall near the circle and chaining the lost balls (18, against only eight for the Greek formation). Mike James was productive (10 points, six rebounds, four assists) but these figures mask all his difficulty in being the usual maestro of his training. “We gave too many easy balls. We gotta be smarter“, slice Sasa Obradovic. A point to correct absolutely to keep his chances of qualifying for the Final Four intact.
.@olympiacosbc celebrated its first Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs game in four years with a defensive masterpiece, downing AS Monaco 71-54 on Wednesday.
Highlights…#EveryGameMatters pic.twitter.com/FAGattTsVu
—Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) April 20, 2022