Mike James ran the show as Monaco downed Milan
On Thursday night, AS Monaco guard Mike James pulled the strings as his team beat EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 101-88 at Salle Gaston Medecin. James finished with an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double, which is his first double-double of the season and the 10th in his Turkish Airlines EuroLeague career.
After starring with his shooting early on, it was his playmaking that did the damage in the latter stages. In the first quarter, James went on an 8-0 run by himself to put Monaco in the driving seat, 10-3, just over three minutes into the contest. By the end of the opening 10 minutes, the 32-year-old already had 10 points and 2 assists to his name.
While his second quarter was a little more understated, adding 3 more points and 2 extra assists to his tally, he helped Monaco stave off a Milan comeback attempt after the interval. During the third quarter, James increased his number of points to 18 by scoring a couple of free throws and draining a deep, off-balanced three-pointer, but he also dished 4 assists – taking his total to a season-high 8 – to ensure that his teammates remained involved on offense.
James was able to take more of a backseat role in the fourth, but he got his double-double after first helping Alpha Diallo score a dunk and then finding Jordan Loyd for a three-pointer. Speaking afterward, James recognized the importance of Monaco's players all sticking together:
"We needed a win, so we tried to play together, play hard, fix some things from the last game. I still think we didn’t play that well on defense, but I think we shared the ball and we won. We haven’t been playing that well lately in terms of wins and losses, so we're just trying to get back on the right foot and try to start a streak of our own."
Monaco was on a two-game losing streak coming into Thursday's game, but James appeared to tweak his approach following successive defeats. After scoring 26 points and 23 points against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, respectively, James seemed to place an emphasis on sharing the rock after his 10-point first quarter. In the end, that decision – in addition to scoring some timely buckets in the second and third quarters – helped his team come away with a much-needed win.