President Tony Parker’s players squandered their lead by conceding a fatal 12-0 in the final minutes this Thursday, in Belgrade, against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
So close, so far… Asvel began its Euroleague campaign with an away defeat against Maccabi Tel Aviv (89-82) on Thursday in Belgrade, from where it will leave with regrets after having collapsed in the last minutes.
The Villeurbannais believed they were getting off to a good start following their second part of last season, where they got their heads back up despite the penultimate final place: after having been in the lead for most of the match, they led by five lengths (82-77) 4 min 30 sec from the buzzer after a basket from Joffrey Lauvergne (17 pts, including only two in the second half).
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Loss of bullets and forced shots
But then they no longer scored a single point, multiplying ball losses and forced shots to concede a 12-0 mainly administered by long-distance shooters John Di Bartolomeo (8 pts to 2/3 to 3 pts) and Tamir Blatt (21 pts at 4/4 behind the arc, 12 assists for 36 final evaluation).
The latter, son of legendary coach David Blatt, then twice served French international Jaylen Hoard (15 pts and 4 rebounds for his first Euroleague match) for two consecutive alley-oops which broke Asvel.
She suffered her first defeat of the season before receiving Monaco – who dominated Milan earlier this Thursday – on Sunday in the championship then receiving Virtus Bologna next Thursday in the Euroleague, where she had to wait until the 6th day last year to open its counter.
