Ambitious Monaco takes itself and French basketball to new heights
When AS Monaco first arrived in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague at the start of last season, few expected the 2020-21 7DAYS EuroCup champion to get to where it is now – among the top four teams in Europe. But, following Wednesday night's Game 5 triumph against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in the 2023 EuroLeague Playoffs, Monaco can begin its preparations for its first-ever trip to the Final Four.
Behind Monaco's project, ambition has been the key. Just eight years ago, in the 2014-15 season, Monaco won the French Second Division title and ended its long wait to return to the French top flight. In the last couple of years in particular, however, the club's rise has been meteoric.
After becoming the first team from the French League to win the EuroCup in 2021, beating UNICS Kazan 87-89 and 83-86 in the best-of-three Finals, Monaco set its sights on its next target: the EuroLeague. The team didn't simply want to compete in Europe's premier club basketball competition. No, it wanted to make noise and shake up the establishment.
First came the signing of the 2019 Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy winner, Mike James, just 13 days before the start of Monaco's debut season in the EuroLeague. James had spent the final part of the previous campaign playing alongside the likes of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden with the Brooklyn Nets, so it was some coup for Monaco. Yet, the 2021-22 season didn’t get off to the best of starts for the principality side.
Monaco began the season with Zvezdan Mitrovic on the bench, the coach who had led the team to EuroCup success in the previous season, but in December 2021, a decision was made to part ways with the Montenegrin. At that point, Monaco was 5-9 and had lost its last five games. In came Sasa Obradovic, who previously coached Monaco in the 2019-20 campaign, and the team never looked back. By the end of the regular season, with games against Russian teams having been wiped away due to the invasion of Ukraine, Monaco sat 15-13 and had wrapped up the No. 7 seed in the playoffs.
That set up a playoff matchup against Olympiacos Piraeus, the No. 2 seed. The Reds won convincingly in Game 1, 71-54, but 23 points from James, 19 from Danilo Andjusic and 17 from Dwayne Bacon saw Monaco steal Game 2, 72-96. Two tight games followed back in the principality, with Olympiacos winning 83-87 before Monaco forced a Game 5 with a 78-77 victory in Game 4 – a game that saw Durant appear at Salle Gason Medecin as one of Monaco's supporters. Durant also made the trip to Piraeus for Game 5, but Monaco came up short, losing 94-88.
Fast-forward one year and Monaco's emotions are completely different. Coach Obradovic's squad ended the season with the fourth-best record, 21-13, which meant that this time it would have home-court advantage in a hypothetical Game 5. And, once again, it all came down to a Game 5 contest. Monaco lost Game 1 to Maccabi, 67-79, but responded by winning Games 2 and 3, 86-74 and 78-83, respectively. In Game 4, it was the turn of Maccabi to force a Game 5, blowing out Monaco 104-69 in Tel Aviv. With everything on the line, though, Monaco came out on top in Game 5, downing Maccabi 97-86 to reach the Final Four.
Not only is Monaco's Final Four appearance a huge moment for the club, which has never reached these heights before, but it is also fantastic news for French basketball. In fact, the last French League team to make it to the Final Four was LCLC ASVEL Villeurbanne back in 1997, when it finished in fourth place after losing to FC Barcelona in the semifinals and Olimpija Ljubljana in the third-place game. Aside from ASVEL, the only other French League club to play in the Final Four is Limoges, which came third in 1990, was the 1993 champion and placed fourth in 1995.
Speaking after Monaco's Game 5 win against Maccabi, guard Jordan Loyd stated that he wants to see his side get more credit: "Nobody had this team in the Final Four at the start of the season, nobody had this team winning this series. I'm just happy that this club can get some respect, some much well-deserved respect."
Coach Obradovic, meanwhile, was keen to pour praise on his players and the club for this accomplishment. What's more, he highlighted how traditional powerhouses like Olympiacos and Maccabi, Monaco's opponents in the last two years, spend years trying to achieve what the principality side have been able to do in two years in the EuroLeague.
"This is a historic night for me, a historic night for Monaco, a historic night for most of the guys," said Obradovic during the post-game press conference. "[We did] an amazing job, like last year, by reaching the top eight; now we upgraded on that in just two years. Teams like Maccabi, like Olympiacos wait for this for a long time. French basketball, too, to be honest. What can I say? Two more games to play. Let's still keep dreaming."
Just one player on the Monaco roster has made it to the Final Four before – James with Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2016 – but Coach Obradovic's squad will head to Kaunas in under a week's time with the goal of shaking things up even more. A rematch with Olympiacos awaits in the semifinals before a potential championship game with Barca or Real Madrid, but for Monaco, this is all part of the experience. To be the best, you have to beat the best.
With France's last EuroLeague champion being Limoges in 1990, 33 years ago, Monaco has the chance to make even more history at the 2023 Final Four. But, for now, everyone will be following the advice of Coach Obradovic: "Let's still keep dreaming."