Monaco is scared on the floor of Panathinaikos
Short victory for the “Roca Team” on Greek soil (80-83), after a frustrating defeat in Tel Aviv earlier this week.
Inconstant, Monaco narrowly won on Friday evening on the floor of the Greek club Panathinaikos 83 to 80, during the 4th day of the Euroleague of basketball.
After two successful successes against Bologna (83-66) then above all against Efes Istanbul (95-92), double defending champions, the “Roca-Team» had suffered a frustrating defeat in Tel Aviv on Tuesday when she had a lead of up to 19 points.
Read alsoEuroleague: first defeat for Monaco, beaten in Tel Aviv
Friday evening, with a lead up to 18 points and a smoothly led first quarter (29-13) against the Athens club, the Monegasques, who are planning the Final Four after having narrowly missed it last season for their first participation in the competition, seemed to have taken cover.
But the men of Serbian coach Sasa Obradovic were quick to fall back into the wrongs of their match in Tel Aviv, like their American leader Mike James, author of avoidable faults and gestures of humor against an arbitration decision, allowing Panathinaikos to return to 6 points after the second quarter (40-34).
Monaco even got scared in the third quarter, which saw the Greek club come back to the top, carried by a high-flying Derrick Williams, author of the best score of his career in the Euroleague (28 points, 6 rebounds) .
In particular, it took a reaction from the same Mike James (27 points) to allow Monaco to win their third success in four European meetings.
Monaco will have to be more consistent to hope to win on the 5th day, which will offer him a new trip to Greece next Thursday against Olympiakos, victorious at FC Barcelona (80-70) and Real Madrid (89-87 ), and who narrowly eliminated him in the quarter-finals last year.
Undefeated leaders of the French championship after five days, the Monegasques have meanwhile defeated Bourg-en-Bresse on Sunday.