Monaco qualified for the final Four of the Euroligue for the second time in three seasons, overcoming Barcelona on Tuesday evening, in a fifth intense match (85-84) which put an end to a very disputed series (3-2).
The Greek pivot Georgios Papagiannis, who had not played a single minute in the series, was the man who woke up his team after a complicated first quarter. He split 17 points, with the best Monegasque evaluation (21).
As two years ago in Kaunas, Monaco will once again be opposed, in the semi-finals, to the Greeks of Olympiakos on May 23 in Abu Dhabi. For his first season as a coach in Euroligue, Vassilis Spanoulis therefore took his men in the Final Four, where he will find the club with which he became a legend.
It took a lot of heart to his players to win a torn off victory after two defensive stops in the last 50 seconds. Led 83-84, it was a penetration of Mike James, solid captain (20 points, 5 assists and 19 evaluation), which gave the final victory in Monaco (85-84, 40th).
However, the Roca Team never led during the first quarter, where Barcelona was very good defensively. Well taken by Kevin Punter (5 points) and Justin Anderson (8 points), the Catalans were dominators. Only Alpha Diallo (9 points) was illusing.
After this failed quarter (15-19), Mike James and his family reacted forcefully. Spanoulis, for this, came out Papagiannis of the fridge. Beyond his seven points, the Greek pivot was impacting in the racket where he put in difficulty the giant Youssoupha Fall.
-Spanoulis, faithful to his principles according to which an meeting is first won with an aggressive defense, ended the first half with four defenders (Strazel, Tarpey, Blossomgame and Papagiannis) to accompany James.
Papagiannis, X factor
While the Principality team went ahead for the first time from the meeting in the 17th minute, on a tap in Papagiannis (32-31), the Monegasque captain made it possible to reach the break with the biggest advantage since the start of the match, in particular thanks to a award-winning shot at the end of the quarter (45-39).
From the start of the second half, two new penetrations of the MVP of the season in Euroligue offered ten units ahead of Monaco (49-39), where, however, the flagship recruit of winter, Daniel Theis, was in difficulty and chained the faults.
As a large Europe, Barcelona has not let go. And gradually, Fall and Hernangomez propelled the ascent of the Blaugranas (61-60, 30th). If two free Jordan Loyd throws allowed the Monegasques to start the last quarter with three points ahead (65-62), a award-winning Dario Brizuela shot, then a Fall tap gave the advantage to Barça (65-57, 31st).
The end of the meeting became suffocating. Each possession was a fight. And Papagiannis, back to business, was still excellent. Effective in shooting, he replaced his own in front and made his confidence in Spanoulis (on a Dunk 76-74, 35th, then on a long distance basket 79-77, 36th).
The rest was even dense. The Monegasque defense was perfect. And James has taken responsibility for winning a new Final Four.
