The meteoric rise of AS Monaco reached new heights on Thursday when the club clinched a spot at the 2023 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four. Coach Sasa Obradovic's squad won Game 5 to take the best-of-five playoff series against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on its home floor.
The victory meant that Monaco will play in European basketball’s pinnacle event in just its second season in the competition. Monaco hadn't even played in the EuroCup before 2018. It won that competition in its third season in the EuroCup and now could be two wins away from rocking the basketball world with the continental crown. When Monaco lands in Kaunas, Lithuania, for this season’s Final Four, it will face top-seed Olympiacos Piraeus in the semifinals.
Journey to the Final Four
Monaco was in the playoff hunt all season after winning five of its first six games, including triumphs over outgoing champion Anadolu Efes Istanbul and Olympiacos. The club lost back-to-back games only twice all season. The second time was in the final two games of the regular season after Monaco had clinched a playoff berth. It finished the regular season in fourth place with a 21-13 record.
Then Monaco stumbled out of the gate in the playoffs, losing the series opener to Maccabi 67-79 and with it the home-court advantage. It bounced back to take the second game 86-74 led by Jordan Loyd, who posted 33 points.
"Roca Team" then recaptured the home-court advantage with a 78-83 Game 3 victory. Monaco never trailed in that game, riding Mike James's 18 first-half points to take control and then holding off all of Maccabi's comeback attempts in the second half. Maccabi responded in Game 4, dominating from the start of the second quarter en route to a 104-69 victory.
In a back-and-forth Game 5 one year after Monaco had lost the same opportunity on the road, this time experience counted as Jordan Loyd's 8 points in a row turned around a one-point deficit with under 4 minutes left to preserve a 97-86 victory as he and Mike James tallied 21 points each.