Monaco was pushed to a fifth and last decisive match by FC Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the Euroligue after his defeat in match 4 (79-72) Friday in Catalonia. Like last year and in 2023, the Monegasques will play their place for the Final Four on a single meeting, in Gaston-Médecin: they won it against Maccabi Tel Aviv the first year (97-86) then lost last year, against Fenerbahçe (80-79 AP).
They nevertheless arrived in a position of force at the Palu Blaugrana, leading two victories to zero after two demonstrations of force (97-80 and 92-79). But they took the water on Wednesday (100-89) before being too short this Friday. They experienced a catastrophic start, in line with the previous meeting, where they had been dominated in aggressiveness.
The “Roca Team” was thus led 15 to 3 (5th) then 21 to 6 (8th), before gradually resurfaced (14-23 at the end of the first quarter, then ironed in front of 38-35 at half-time), putting itself at the level of the required intensity. In particular, under the effect of the entries of Matthew Strazel and Vitto Brown, confined to the end of the bench since the start of the season but out of the hat of Vassilis Spanoulis. In the wake in particular of Alpha Diallo and Mike James, again at the rendezvous, she even counted six lengths in the middle of the third quarter (52-46).
-“Not the same criteria”
But she failed to dig the gap, before miscarriage of the last period, losing far too many balls (19 in total) against the Catalan pincer. “We fought well, but in the second period it was not the same criteria,” said Laconic Spanoulis at the microphone of Euroligue TV, seeming to aim for arbitration.
Diallo (13 pts), James (16 pts) and Strazel (10 pts) were too lonely, Daniel Theis (7 pts and 6 rebounds) and Mam Jaiteh (3 pts and 4 rebounds) suffered in the racket, while Élie Okobo (6 pts at 0/4 to 3 pts and 2 lost balls) and Jordan Loyd (7 pts at 1/5 to 3 pts, 4 lost bullets) did not exist.
Distributed from the start of the fourth quarter (60-64, 33rd) after a “2 + 1” by Dario Brizuela (17 pts), the Monegasques ended up losing to the address of the Francs de Jabari Parker (22 pts). Below in defense Wednesday, at the level in this sector but approximate in attack two days later, the Roca Team will have to deliver a complete performance on Tuesday to live its second final oven after that of 2023.
