Basketball is a game of runs, but AS Monaco was not ready for what Olympiacos Piraeus did to it in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague semifinal - a history-making third quarter that wiped out Monaco’s title hopes.
"That third quarter wasn’t easy. They did everything right and we didn’t," said Monaco’s Donta Hall about his team scoring just 2 points in the third quarter in a 76-62 loss.
The 27-2 quarter tied for the fewest points scored in a quarter in EuroLeague history.
It happened three other times: Benetton Basket in 2004-05, Maroussi in 2009-10 and Zalgiris Kaunas in 2014-15.
"In the moment, it was a tough feeling. They were picking us apart a little bit. But that’s what they do," added Hall.
Monaco made just 1-of-14 shots and was forced into three shot-clock violations in the third quarter, which turned a 12-point Monaco lead, 29-41, into a 56-43 Olympics advantage after 30 minutes.
"Tactically, we weren’t focused. We didn’t have composure to sustain their runs. We knew it was a game of runs. A 12-point lead is nothing. We wanted to expand it, but when you have a quarter like that it’s gonna kill you in the end," said Monaco’s Jordan Loyd.
When asked what makes it so difficult to get out of that type of run, Loyd said: "It takes composure from everyone. When teams make a run, you have to know you are always in the game. It’s frustrating because we know we could have done something special here. And we didn’t."