Mike James saves Monaco against Orleans on Betclic Elite
Of course, there is a world between this team from Orléans, a squad under pressure which is fighting to maintain it, and the Monegasque leaders, freshly qualified for the quarter-finals of the Euroleague after their success in Milan (72-63 ) . However, there was a real possibility of seeing this Roca Team yield, Sunday evening, under the effect of a decompression and a drop in tension after the exploitation and the maintenance acquired in the European elite. Germain Castano’s men, defeated, at the end of the suspense (84-90), were aware of this during their visit to the Principality and did everything, in a sparse Gaston-Médecin room, to take advantage of it.
Monaco, deprived of its coach Sasa Obradovic, suffering, and who had rested several executives – the former Orleans Paris Lee, Donta Hall or Alpha Diallo -, was trained by assistant Mirko Ocokoljic. The Roca Team worked in spurts, delivering a decent first quarter, going behind (34-48 at the break), then inflicting a 14-0 on the way back from the locker room to pick up, before surrendering (56- 69 after the third quarter).
Kept afloat by Donatas Motiejunas (17 points, 8 rebounds) the defense of Yakuba Ouattara (8 points) on Chris Warren and the game intelligence of Léo Westermann (9 points, 5 assists), ASM was still lagging behind six minutes from the gong (66-76), dominated by the impact of LaMonte Ulmer and Youssou Ndoye (21 points each). It was the perfect moment to revive Mike James.
And where the game changed as dramatically as the clinical strikes of the American leader, who put his hand on the meeting, and scored 12 of his 24 points in five big minutes. A festival – a shot after an aerial reception on a throw-in, two very high level 3-point shots, one from 8 meters giving the advantage to his team, 82-80, the other on the head of Chris Warren to close the debate, 88-82, an unsportsmanlike foul caused on a decisive ball stolen from Marcus Paige… – in the heart of a 21 to 4 where the game changed hands. Dominated for three quarters, Monaco reactivated the steamroller mode and finished on a 34 to 15 in the last period.
Enough to chain a seventh victory in the last eight games in the Championship and join Boulogne-Levallois at the head of the Betclic Elite (18 wins-7 losses), a length ahead of Asvel (17-8), winner earlier of Portel (85-65). Defeated for the sixth time in the last seven meetings, now shares 16th place with Fos-sur-Mer (8-17), and is in great danger before his trip next week to Villeurbanne.