The French side swept Valencia aside in convincing fashion in Round 33
Nando De Colo made history on an extraordinary night for ASVEL
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne produced an outstanding display at La Fonteta on a special night for Nando De Colo, with the visitors dismantling Valencia Basket’s defense and grabbing a dominant 69-98 road victory in Round 33.
This may have been the second-largest win in ASVEL’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague history after a 65-99 triumph at Scavolini Pesaro back in 2002, but Thursday’s clash against Valencia was anything but easy for the French side. While ASVEL had nothing to play for, its Spanish counterpart needed the victory to stay alive in the final push for the Play-In Showdown.
A special game for De Colo
However, De Colo pulled off an incredible display against his former team and managed to make history by celebrating a couple of milestones at La Fonteta.
ASVEL was forced to dispute the game without its leading scorer, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, who has averaged 13.3 points this season. In his absence, De Colo stepped up and it took him just a few minutes to open his account from the free-throw line. By making 3 of 3 from the charity stripe, the veteran guard moved passed Vassilis Spanoulis into second place all-time in points scored with 4,456.
De Colo was cooking from the off and finished the first quarter with 6 points and 3 assists for a PIR of 12. A no-look pass set up Youssoupha Fall for a powerful slam and another two extraordinary dishes saw the ASVEL center and Deshaun Thomas convert from inside in the second quarter.
ASVEL took a 38-52 lead into the second half and outscored Valencia 7-27 in the third quarter to head into the final period up by 34 points, 45-79. That’s when De Colo’s second milestone came as the ASVEL captain recorded his second steal of the night, meaning he is now tied with Theo Papaloukas in fifth all-time with as many as 335 steals.
The 36-year-old finished the game with 19 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 5 drawn fouls in 19 minutes for a PIR of 25. Come the final buzzer, his overall points tally stood at 4,472.
“I’m always happy to come back here and I’m always ready to do a great game against Valencia,” De Colo said afterward. “Tonight, we had a great game, more than what we expected. We were ready to fight and win this one and we did it.”
In the city where he played for three years, from 2009 to 2012, helping Valencia win the 2010 EuroCup, making his EuroLeague debut and meeting his wife, De Colo pulled off a stunning display to help his team cruise past Las Taronjas.
Meanwhile, with this victory on De Colo’s historic night, ASVEL ensured that it won't finish bottom of the standings. Most importantly, Pierric Poupet’s revived squad showed that they are going to compete until the end of the season, despite having just pride to play for.