It tied a club record for most points scored in a first half, just two days after struggling at Virtus
Monaco bounces back with stellar offensive first-half display against Valencia
Game Report
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Regular Season
Round 5 of 38
Regular Season
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Just a couple of days after being held to just 73 points on the road at Virtus Bologna, AS Monaco showed it had learned its lesson by hitting the ground running at home against Valencia Basket.
Before Friday’s clash, Monaco forward Jaron Blossomgame explained in detail what needed to change for the team to get back to winning ways.
“What didn’t work [on Wednesday] was that I think we started slowly,” he said. “We didn’t start the game well. We weren’t incisive enough on offense. We showed a side of ourselves that we sometimes show, but it’s not our best side. And we have to avoid that as much as possible. We have a lot of talent on offense, but when we don’t move the ball around enough and it gets stuck sometimes, we’re very limited and we don’t score points.”
Those words clearly resonated in the locker room, as Monaco checked every box with its first-half performance against the Spanish side.
A small tactical tweak by coach Vassilis Spanoulis helped the home team find consistency throughout the opening 20 minutes. His starting five featured Monaco’s core from last season: Matthew Strazel, Mike James, Blossomgame, Alpha Diallo and Daniel Theis.
There were no more lineup experiments. Spanoulis went with the trusted group that led Monaco to the 2025 EuroLeague Championship Game. The team started strong on both ends of the court, jumping out to a 14–6 lead behind 8 quick points from Strazel.
Valencia answered with a 2–8 run sparked by Josep Puerto, who scored 5 early points.
That’s when summer signing Nikola Mirotic entered the game off the bench – the first time this season he hasn't started – and gave Monaco’s second unit a boost. He brought balance and consistency, scoring 5 straight points and helping Monaco take a 27–22 lead after the first quarter.
Mirotic became the first player to reach double digits after hitting a corner three, capping off an 8–0 Monaco run to start the second quarter.
After scoring just 34 points in the first half against Virtus, Monaco dropped 57 on Valencia – tying the club’s record for most points in a first half. Coach Spanoulis's men shared the ball well, recording 12 assists, just five fewer than their total in Bologna, and shot 20 of 30 from the field in the first half alone.
“It was a good game for us,” Spanoulis said at the post-game press conference. “We responded after a not [that] good game at Virtus. Especially in the first half, we played maybe our best game.”
Valencia coach Pedro Martinez, who was coaching his 200th game for the club, admitted that Monaco’s strong start left his team no room to breathe before halftime.
“It was a very good first half for them,” he said. “They played with a good intensity, beating us in a lot of one-on-one situations, making a lot of easy baskets.”
Valencia didn’t back down and managed to outscore Monaco in each of the final two quarters (14–25, 19–22). But the hosts had the experience to close it out, with Diallo stepping up late.
The Monaco forward delivered 7 points and 2 rebounds in the final six minutes, making plays on both ends. He shot 6 for 8 from inside the arc and finished with a season-high 16 points, along with 5 rebounds.
After scoring 90 points against Valencia, Monaco can now move past its poor offensive showing at Virtus. And if they use that first-half performance against Las Taronjas as a model for the rest of the season, they’ll have every reason to dream big again.
