By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Mike James scored a game-high 28 points including an impressive four-point play to force overtime as Monaco defeated Real Madrid 95 – 94 on the road in one of the most thrilling EuroLeague games this season. Τhis result snapped a six-game winning streak of Real, now 10-4, while bringing Monaco to 9-3.
With Monaco down 84 – 88 and three seconds left in regulation, James hit the 3-pointer in front of Edy Tavares and won the foul by the reigning DPOY to make the game-tying free throw. On the other end, Real leading performer Dzanan Musa (24 points) misfired from long range as his team, that was up by eight points with four minutes to play in the final quarter was forced to head to overtime.
I saw JB [Jaron Blossomgame] get the ball, I kind of yelled at him to come to me. I knew I was going to shoot before I got it and [Walter] Tavares kind of got close and hit my arm, and it went in. James said. “”It’s Real Madrid. If you can’t get up for Real Madrid, there ain’t really any other game to get up for. I’ve got a lot of respect for this club. We’re a club that’s trying to build, so we’re trying to take every game a little more serious, especially on the road, and prove that we belong. I’m just happy that we won, really.”
Monaco took and retained a small advantage in the extra period, going ahead 92 – 95. Real missed multiple opportunities to tie the score, including two wide-open 3-pointers by Sergio Rodriguez in the last minute and Musa made free throws for the 94 – 95 with 27 seconds remaining. Real didn’t foul any Monaco players to pause the clock and, after a missed attempt by James, didn’t even have time for a good shot to win the match.
Jordan Loyd dropped 19 points for Monaco before he exited the game on a stretcher late in the final seconds of regulation after receiving an accidental elbow hit by Guerschon Yabusele, which caused his nose to bleed. Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic confirmed that his player suffered a broken nose.
Tavares finished with 17 points plus a career-high 18 rebounds for Real Madrid. His team took a 38 – 28 lead in the second period and held it until the third period, which Monaco finished ahead 62 – 65.
Yabusele (12 points, six rebounds), Llull (12 points) and Musa lifted Real towards going up 81 – 73 down the stretch but Monaco wasn’t done yet. Loyd scored four points for the 84 – 81 and then Elie Okobo hit a big triple to make it 86 – 84. Tavares answered with a pair of free throws but James sent the game to overtime where his team prevailed.
“When we got the game under control at the end [of the fourth quarter], we did a foul on the act of shooting [against Mike James],” Real coach Chus Mateo said. “This was probably the key point, and also we turned over the ball too much.”