ASVEL-Monaco, a shock at the top of basketball français
Ten days after their opposition in the Euroleague concluded in a dramatic way to the buzzer ASVEL and Monaco find themselves in Betclic Elite. The stake is simple: national supremacy.
A reunion between the two giants of French basketball. This Tuesday, December 7, ASVEL, the reigning double French champion, found her Monegasque rival. Villeurbanne won the first round of this season (84-85) by winning in the Euroleague on an incredible buzzer from William Howard. For Monaco, beaten in this cruel way in front of their audience and while the validity of the basket is doubtful (triggering of the late stopwatch and shoot at 0.1 sec), the feeling of revenge will animate the meeting.
Two big names in conquest
Flag bearers of the English basket on the European scene, the two clubs are the big arms of this Betclic Elite. Respectively 2e and 3e of the championship (behind Vincent Collet’s amazing Mets 92) everyone wants to go for the throne. Without a win for 4 matches (in the Euroleague), Monaco returned to success by winning at home against Châlons-Reims (90-83) this Saturday. Same dynamic for the ASVEL, still effective in Elite and well in legs with the promoted Fos-sur-Mer (88-67).
The keys to the match
During the previous confrontation, it was ASVEL which had to deal with several absent, between the selections for the national team and cases of Covid (Wembanyama, Osetowski, Knight, Lacombe). This time the situation is reversed. Villeurbanne recorded all his returns while La Roca Team was deprived of his superstar Mike James (contracture), his captain Léo Westermann (adductors) and Boutsiele (hand). The Monegasques therefore only have two pure leaders, Paris Lee and the young Rudy Demahis. They manage to face the fantastic ASVEL base with Chris Jones (13.4 pts, 50% at 3-pts) and Elie Okobo (12.1 pts, 3.9 assists). A match that promises between the two top names, tonight at 6 p.m. at Gaston-Médecin.