Monaco escaped with a narrow win in Piraeus
AS Monaco recorded a very impressive and important win yesterday evening in the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus against Olympiacos in a matchup that has started to become a new rivalry in the EuroLeague. The two teams had some memorable games against each other in the past few years in the playoffs and Final Four, and yesterday’s game was also very intense.
After trailing at halftime, Monaco took control of the game in the third quarter and even led by double digits. In the end, the Monegasque team won 92-87. Alpha Diallo had an amazing game for the winning side and was the top performer of the game, recording a career high 27 points, shooting 8/9 from 2 point FG, 3/4 from the three point line and finished with a PIR of 32. Mike James also had another great performance with 23 points and 10 assists for Monaco. Tyler Dorsey was the top scorer for Olympiacos with 23 points. In comparison, Nikola Milutinov (14 points, 8 rebounds) and Sasha Vezenkov (17 points) also put up some good performances, but that wasn’t enough to avoid the defeat.
With this result, the two teams are now tied in the standings with four other teams that also have a 4-3 record. Tomorrow, Olympiacos will stay in Piraeus as they will host red-hot Hapoel Tel Aviv. The Israeli team is on a 7-game winning streak in all competitions and is the top team in the EuroLeague so far in their debut season. As a result, Georgios Bartzokas’s team will face a tough challenge in trying to avoid two straight home defeats.
Meanwhile, Monaco will travel home as tomorrow they will host the other Greek giant, Panathinaikos Athens. It would be a huge win for Vassilis Spanoulis to defeat both Greek teams in the same week, and it would also confirm Monaco’s status as a serious title contender this season.
Imre Halasz
Image: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY9sLB4b8H4
