By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Dwayne Bacon scored a game-high 21 points including the winning jumper to lead AS Monaco to a 78 – 77 victory over Olympiacos Piraeus in Game 4 of the EuroLeague playoffs. This result tied the series 2-2 and everything between the two sides will be decided in a Game 5 that will be hosted by Olympiacos.
Kostas Sloukas, who had hit the go-ahead 3-pointer for the 76 – 77, took a tough shot to win the game for Olympiacos but missed at the buzzer after going 3-3 from beyond the arc. The Greek guard finished with 19 points while Sasha Vezenkov posted 17 points, eight rebounds plus five assists for the Reds.
Mike James completed the game with 18 points (on 5-18 shots) along with six rebounds while his former teammate on the Brooklyn Nets Kevin Durant was watching him from the courtside seats and celebrating some of the buckets. Will Thomas dropped 16 points and Donta Hall – another former Nets teammate of KD – notched 14 points plus 10 rebounds.
“We were just trying to fight,” James said. “Before the game, me and [Dwayne] Bacon talked, and we were just like: If we are gonna go down, we are gonna go down swinging. Talked to the whole team, we wanted to show our best face and come out here fight for what we felt like we deserve. So, I knew it was gonna be a good series before we started, but it is turning out to be even better than I thought.”
Over a 10-minute stretch in the second half, Monaco erased an 11-point deficit to go up 70 – 61 early in the fourth period, after an 8 – 0 run. Olympiacos made a strong response with 10 unanswered points to regain the advantage and the two teams traded blows as the game reached a dramatic finale.
It was a showdown between Bacon and Sloukas in the last four minutes as their baskets made the lead switch sides. Bacon scored for the 78 – 77 with 53 seconds to play and then Sloukas turned the ball overall before his team’s last offense.
“We have to analyze the game,” Bartzokas said. “It was a tough game, tough loss for us. We had an opportunity to win the game but we missed three crucial offenses at the end. We are going to get back in the next game in Piraeus.”
A major difference in comparison with Game 3
Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic saw his players adjusting and increasing their intensity after the Game 3 loss to stay alive in the series.
“From a coaching point, I can analyze this game, Obradovic said. “I can maybe say I didn’t like this or that, but end of the day, a win is a win, and that is the most important thing in this kind of a series. I think the energy of this game, first of all of my players, was on completely another level what we showed tonight. We have to use more situations, change the pace of the game in some moments. but I am not complaining. The win, and mental pressure, goes now to Olympiacos. We already beat them there, but this will now be different. Somehow, we found a way to give more energy in Games 2 and 4, but to beat Olympiacos there you can’t just have energy; you also have to be patient. Everyone will have to give a contribution, like we did today; I am happy with that. And we won this game with the biggest heart today.
“Maybe it is unfair to give a role of being the best to someone, but for me Will Thomas, and not just in this game; he is the heart of this team,” Obradovic added. “Sometimes you cannot see in his statistics the job he does on defense, grabbing the rebounds, supporting the teammates. An unbelievable professional, a guy who is leading by example every day. One of the few in my career who is behaving this way. Somehow it was clear, from day one, that this guy, with his experience, basketball IQ and his character, will be the character guy and give us stability. And he did, today and in other games.”