The other three meetings postponed due to Covid-19, AS Monaco and Maccabi Tel Aviv were the only teams to play this Wednesday evening. And despite another card from Scottie Wilbekin (31 points), the Roca Team finally won against the Israelis (82-76).

After their victory at Fos-sur-Mer on Sunday, Monaco also regained success in the Euroleague. The Roca Team made their collective talk to beat Maccabi Tel Aviv (82-76), with five players having scored 10 points or more. They are Donatas Motiejunas (16 points), Alpha Diallo (16 points), Mike James, author of a new double-double (12 points, 13 assists), Dwayne Bacon (11 points) and Léo Westermann (10 points). The latter also returned to the Euroleague this evening, a month after his adductor injury contracted against… Maccabi Tel Aviv.

However, the match had started on a bad offensive pace. We had to wait a minute and 40 seconds before seeing the first basket of the meeting, scored by Derrick Williams. The former NBA interior was still struggling to get into his meeting, like the rest of the two teams, which produced a lot of technical waste (7-8, 6th). In a match that is played more physically than at address, there was only one player with 10 points or more after 20 minutes (35-33): Maccabi Tel-Aviv point guard Scottie Wilbekin (11 points to 3/4 to 3 points at half-time).

The Monegasque collective resists Scottie Wilbekin’s new box

Fortunately, the second period offered more play and spectacle, in particular thanks to the American leader of the visitors. If the Roca Boys took a slight advantage thanks to Donatas Motiejunas, author of 10 points in 5 minutes (52-46, 25th), the Maccabi remained in contact. First thanks to his interiors, Derrick Williams and Ante Zizic, but it was Scottie Wilbekin who was the architect of his team’s return. The one who had achieved the best performance of the season in the first leg, scoring 37 points, thought he was doing it again for the Monegasques.

With 16 points in the fourth quarter, he alone recalled his team a few minutes from the end (67-66, 36th). But if on that Monaco would once again crack at the end of the match, the Roca Boys were able to convert their free throws with five faults whistled in the last minute. Scottie Wilbekin will have tried everything (31 points at 10/19 on shots, 4 assists and 31 evaluation in 34 minutes) but the Monegasque team has been up to it, better defensively and improving for a few games already. With its victory, Monaco joined Maccabi Tel-Aviv in terms of record (7 wins, 11 losses) by inflicting on the Israelis an eighth defeat in a row in the Euroleague. However, the Roca Team remains at the bottom of the standings (14th) before finding its French counterpart in Europe, ASVEL, for its next match (January 7, 8 p.m.).

AS Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic: “The defense is definitely better. You could see it, the guys are really fighting and are united. I’m happy with this game. We needed a big win to gain confidence and I think that’s exactly what happened. We will see what the future holds for the future. “

Ioannis Sfairopoulos, Maccabi Tel-Aviv coach: “I think that in the second half our defense was not good and we did not play like in the first half. This is the reason why Monaco took the advantage. We had a couple of chances to come back, say 3-4 minutes before the end, good, quick counterattack that we missed. I think we could have done better. “

Boxscore AS Monaco – Maccabi Tel-Aviv / Euroleague standings

Photo credit: Donatas Motiejunas (Euroleague)