Euroleague : Monaco bounces back at Olympiacos, Maccabi sinks in Madrid

Monaco was able to steal home advantage against Olympiacos (96-72) while Real Madrid powered through Maccabi Tel-Aviv (95-66).

Despite suffering an opening 11-0 run in this Game 2, Monaco was able to pull a collective answer led by their star Mike James (23 points). In the second half, the point guard erupted with 21 units helped by Dwayne Bacon (17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) and Danilo Andjusic (19 points, 5 rebounds) off the bench. On the Greek side, Sasha Vezenkov led the pack with 14 points but the 20 turnovers from Giorgos Bartzokas were fatal for Olympiacos.

“I think we were completely different and mentally ready for this game. From the first minute, we knew what we want. We drew good mismatches. We defended much better giving us the opportunity to run. The high-scoring game best suits us.”
Sasha Obradovic, AS Monaco coach

Next game : AS Monaco (1) – Olympiacos Basketball (1) on April 27, 9:00 P.M CET

Clueless Maccabi falls hard in Madrid

The Spaniards started with their foot on the gas pedal to gain a quick 19-8 lead. The two detonators were center Vincent Poirier (16 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 31 PIR) and veteran Sergio Lull (17 points shooting 5/9 from three). Pablo Laso’s men kept pounding it inside with great success. Poirier’s fellow Frenchman also had a good night with 16 points. Israeli team did not have any answer on both sides of the court as no player was able to be in double-digits which led to the 29 point loss (95-66).

“It’s pretty simple. We played consistently. Our second and third quarters were, defensively, great. Our bigs got 22 points and 17 rebounds. That speaks well about them but also about the team – when to find them, how to find them. And we moved the ball very well offensively. Today, Llull stepped up. And what gave us confidence in the game was that we were solid defensively for 40 minutes. That was the key today.”
Pablo Laso, Real Madrid coach