The Roca Team became only the second visitor to win at Valencia’s Roig Arena this season
Monaco wins at Valencia to extends win streak to five
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 21 of 38
Regular Season
Valencia BasketVBC
92101
AS MonacoASM
Overview
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High-octane, high-scoring excitement was pretty much guaranteed when Valencia Basket hosted AS Monaco at the Roig Arena on Thursday night.
After all, Valencia came into the game as the league co-leader, looking for a fourth straight victory, just one win ahead of a Monaco team that was already on its own four-game win streak. And the only team that had scored more points than Valencia’s average of 90.2 per night was, you guessed it, Monaco with 91.2.
So it was all set up to provide a memorable encounter, and the game did not disappoint – except for Valencia fans, who saw their team suffer just its second home defeat of the season as Monaco deservedly prevailed, 92-101.
The initial action unfolded in a blur, with a lightning-fast pace maintained by both teams. This is the way Valencia always plays, but Monaco was unafraid to keep pace with the hosts, and the 14-14 scoreline midway through the opening period was a fair reflection of the unrelenting tempo.
But that changed in the second quarter, when Monaco maintained more or less the same offensive pace, but married it with hard-working defense, which suffocated Valencia, holding the home players to just 14 second-quarter points while forcing them into 8 turnovers in less than 7 minutes.
That proved decisive, because the rest of the game reverted to the same kind of back-and-forth pattern as the opening minutes, with both teams enjoying brief bursts of momentum but on the whole baskets traded evenly.
Try as hard as they might, Valencia could not find the run required to seriously narrow the gap. And Monaco’s grip on the game was visibly evident after Mike James made his second three-pointer of the night, making it 58-72 just past the third quarter’s midway point. The previously boisterous Roig Arena crowd fell quiet; soon after Matt Costello was called for a technical foul after protesting a no-call. A palpable sense of frustration all around for the hosts, with Monaco getting under Valencia’s skin.
And although Valencia kept on fighting for that elusive route back into the game, Monaco always had the answer. Whether it was Nemanja Nedovic draining 11 points in less than 2 minutes to start the fourth quarter, Kevarrius Hayes patrolling the paint with power and precision, Alpha Diallo covering every inch of the court or James scoring and orchestrating in his usual dominant fashion, the visitors had enough contributions from throughout the roster to ensure its lead never dropped below 6 points throughout the second half.
Coach Vassilis Spanoulis was rightly proud of that effort, telling EuroLeague TV after the game: “We played good basketball.
“We fought for every ball. The players understood where we are, what is the situation now in the second round [of the regular season], and they made an unbelievable effort. Everybody is ready to contribute to the team; I count on everybody. Everybody knows this and is ready to accept this role, and be the star of his role.”
This was the second consecutive impressive road win for Monaco in Spain, having also triumphed at FC Barcelona, 74-90, with an equally eye-catching performance on December 30. Bridging the old and new years by winning at a pair of opponents whose combined home record reads 16-5 (with two of those five wins taken by Monaco) is a pretty good way to demonstrate title credentials.
That precise point was made by Nedovic, who emphasised the significance of the victory as he told EuroLeague TV. “This was a statement win for us.
“Valencia was playing the best basketball in this part of the season, and we wanted to come in here and make a statement win. We did it, so I’m very happy. The good teams are making a run now, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
A statement win it certainly was. And around the rest of the league, that message has surely been received, loud and clear.
