Mike James and Nikola Mirotic shined bright in Round 2
Monaco superstar duo led way against Dubai in ‘terrific’ display
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Regular Season
Round 2 of 38
Regular Season
AS MonacoASM
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Last season's EuroLeague runners-up looked every bit the contender on Friday night. After a disappointing opening-round loss at home to Zalgiris Kaunas, AS Monaco responded in emphatic fashion, rolling past Dubai Basketball 103–81 at Salle Gaston Medecin to pick up its first win of the season.
“I think we played much, much better – especially defensively,” said Nikola Mirotic, comparing the opening loss to Monaco’s bounce-back performance.
Leading the charge were Monaco’s superstar duo of Mirotic and Mike James.
Mirotic delivered a dominant all-around effort with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in just 20 minutes and 18 seconds. James ran the offense smoothly, dishing out 8 assists to go along with 14 points and 5 rebounds.
While the game was still close early in the second half – Monaco led 50–46 just seconds into the third quarter – the hosts completely took over from there. A pair of dominant runs, first 9–0, then 17–0, blew the game open, and Monaco ended the quarter up 79–54.
“The second half was terrific,” Mirotic said. “The way we played defense, the way we played offense, the way we were committed – this is how we want to play: from defense to offense.”
It was the first time Monaco hit triple digits in a EuroLeague game at home since last December, and head coach Vassilis Spanoulis had no shortage of reasons for why everything clicked.
“We were much better: our mindset, our approach, our defense, our offense,” Spanoulis said. “We shared the ball. We had 27 assists and just 8 turnovers. And we forced Dubai into 16 turnovers and only 12 assists. We played smart and unselfish basketball. We were locked in on both ends.”
Monaco also locked down Dubai’s perimeter attack, holding the visitors to just 5-of-24 shooting from three-point range. That came just two nights after Dubai had lit up Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade with 11-of-20 shooting from deep.
All in all, it was a strong response and a comfortable first win of the season, one that Mike James believes is only the beginning.
“Getting Niko settled helped a lot,” James said. “I think we’re gonna be OK.”