Two teams in playoff territory meet again when Virtus Segafredo Bologna (16-9) hosts AS Monaco (15-10) in Round 26 on Friday at 20:30 CET.
Monaco visits Virtus in critical showdown
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5 Mins read
Home streak vs. road warrior
Virtus enters this game on an 11-game home winning streak. It lost its season opener against Zalgiris Kaunas and has been undefeated at Virtus Segafredo Bologna ever since. Virtus's run includes victories against teams like FC Barcelona, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, Olympiacos Piraeus and most recently, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade. One more win would give Virtus its longest home winning streak in competition history. Virtus previously had 11 consecutive home wins from April 19, 2001 (Game 2 of the finals) to April 3, 2002, when it registered a 71-82 loss against Real Madrid at Palamalaguti.
On the other hand, Monaco is one of the strongest teams on the road this season, winning 6 of its 13 games away from the Principality. Only Real (9-3) and Baskonia (6-6) have a winning road record. Monaco managed to get road wins in front of strong basketball enviromente like Belgrade, Kaunas, Istanbul or Vitoria-Gasteiz. Moreover, Monaco should be extra motivated to bounce back from its Round 2 loss at home. Virtus downed Monaco 59-83 behind 14 points from Iffe Lundberg. It was Virtus's first victory of the season, and the start of a five-game winning streak. A loss would leave Monaco two wins behind Virtus and in a bad situation in multiple-way ties involved both teams.
James and the scoring record
Monaco combo guard Mike James is on the verge of becoming the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague's all-time top scorer. He currently ranks second with 4,406 points, only trailing three-time Final Four MVP Vassilis Spanoulis. By being 50 points away from the record, James is presented with a rare, really difficult opportunity to make history twice. Shane Larkin holds the single-game EuroLeague scoring record with 49 points with Anadolu Efes Istanbul against FC Bayern Munich on November 29, 2019. As such, James could break both records in the same night: his biggest scoring night in the EuroLeague were 37 points, and he averages 19.3 points per game this season. It is unlikely, but somehow possible.
Of course, there is much more to Monaco's backcourt than James. Jordan Loyd did not play against Virtus in Round 2 and is set to join forces with James and Elie Okobo, who has been really solid lately. Okobo averaged 15.0 points of 13 of 21 two-pointers and a PIR of 17.0 in the last three games. Monaco should keep all of its backcourt power against a deep Virtus team led by veteran guards Daniel Hackett and Marco Belinelli. Virtus head coach Luca Banchi can use several players to guard James. Hackett and Iffe Lundberg were his teammates with CSKA Moscow, plus Isaia Cordinier has the quickness and athletisim to go against either James, Loyd or Okobo.
Stellar matchup at power forward
Two of the best power forwards in the competition are set to go against each other. Monaco's John Brown comes off a monster perfomance in Round 25 against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, leading his team's comeback win. He drew 7 fouls in the game and 6 of them were charges on the defensive end. Brown did much more than that, finishing the contest with 15 points on 7-of-9 two-pointers, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and a PIR of 26. His anticipation, energy and high-level physicality will definitely be needed in this stellar matchup against Virtus power forward Toko Shengelia, who returned from injury and is ready to go against Brown.
Shengelia is having a career-best season and shows his credentials to make it to the All-EuroLeague teams night in and night out. He is averaging 14.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and a PIR of 18.5, hitting 58.4% of his two-point shots despite taking 7.3 attempts inside the arc per game. Shengelia already played well against Monaco in Round 2, getting 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for a PIR of 18 in less than 26 minutes. Brown went scoreless in that game and amassed a PIR of -2. Last season, Brown held Shengelia to just 2 points and a PIR of 1. Both players know each other well, so get ready for a very interesting, very tactical matchup!
As you see, the game has a lot of interesting storylines which will be solved at Virtus Segafredo Arena on Friday at 20:30 CET. Don't miss it!