This Friday, June 20, Monaco won the third game of its final against Paris Basketball (81-78). After a successful second half, Vassilis Spanoulis’s men controlled the end of the game to beat Paris. Game 4 will take place on Sunday at 4:30 PM.
Third meeting between the Roca Team and Paris Basketball in this Betclic Elite final. After a completely failed second match, the Monegasques had to win to avoid granting the title to Paris. A Roca Team still without Mike James, absent from the group since early June. Petr Cornelie, Alpha Diallo, Matthews Strazel, Mam Jaiteh, and Elie Okobo made up the starting five for Monaco.
Monaco dominated
The last-chance match begins poorly for Monaco. In barely two minutes, Paris scores eight points against zero for the Roca Team. The Monegasque five falls back into their bad habits by allowing the Parisians to shoot openly. Three long-distance shots out of three attempted by Paris Basketball.
To make matters worse, the Roca Team struggles in offense. The players are not aligned and lack confidence. Vassilis Spanoulis tries to change some of his men: Terry Tarpey and Juhann Begarin enter in the first quarter. But it doesn’t change anything; the long-distance shots fail to hit the basket. Monaco is trailing (12-23) at the end of the first ten minutes.
In the second quarter, Monaco still has not resolved its offensive issues. And even when there’s improvement for Vassilis Spanoulis’s men, Paris raises its game again. The Roca Team never manages to breathe. The ten-point gap remains constant. TJ Shorts (fourteen points in the first half) is causing trouble for the Monegasques, especially in the final seconds before the end of the first period. Monaco is trailing by twelve points as they head to the locker room (33-45).
Monaco’s resilience
During the first minutes of the second half, Monaco wakes up. Matthew Strazel is on the rebound, and Jaron Blossomgame makes crucial shots. There’s much more intensity from Spanoulis’s players. The intentions are also better.
Midway through the third quarter, the Monegasques have come back to four points. There’s movement in Monaco’s off-the-ball play, making a difference against Parisians who suddenly find no solution. Less than four minutes before the end of the third quarter, Monaco takes the lead for the first time in the game. The tempo imposed by the Roca Team is unbearable for Tiago Splitter’s players.
The hall erupts in reaction to Monaco’s rally. Blossomgame (17 points in the third quarter) carries his team in offense. Paris is in the penalty, unable to foul to stop the offensives. The score is (63-60) (30-15 for the quarter) after thirty minutes of play. Paris has faltered defensively while Monaco has regained its offensive dynamism.
Ten minutes to secure the game
Monaco doesn’t slow the pace. The aim is to put Paris under pressure. But TJ Shorts’s teammates don’t give up, exemplified by Nadir Hifi’s driving play. Five minutes before the end of the game, only two points separate the two teams. If Monaco loses, Paris becomes the French champion for the first time in its history. The atmosphere is electric at Gaston Médecin.
The end game is chaotic. The two teams follow each other without creating a gap. The Monegasques are still supported by an omnipresent Jaron Blossomgame on offense. Monaco has a one-point lead as the final minute of play begins. The tension in the hall is palpable, and everyone is standing. After a bad foul, TJ Shorts receives a second unsportsmanlike foul and is excluded for the final seconds. Jordan Loyd scores two free throws, giving Monaco a three-point lead. But Paris has the last possession: they can take the game to overtime with a three-point shot. Paris’s coach calls a timeout with eight seconds remaining. The tension is at its peak.
Monaco defends and prevents the Parisians from setting up the best shooting conditions. Time runs out, Paris shoots, but the ball doesn’t go in. Monaco takes a deep breath and wins the game with a score of 81 to 78. A strong second-half response from the Roca Team. “We put a lot more intensity. We had to show a better side. I’m happy, but we need to do even more on Sunday, and we have to keep this level of intensity,” said Elie Okobo. Jaron Blossomgame (twenty-six points), the MVP of the game, also praised the victory. “We showed character; we didn’t want to lose tonight. We applied what the coach told us. I didn’t want to lose; I gave it my all; I played well.”
See you Sunday afternoon (4:30 PM) for the fourth game between the Roca Team and Paris Basketball.
