By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Mike James posted 18 points and a season-high 11 assists to lead AS Monaco to the 82 – 76 away win over Crvena Zvezda. The Monegasque side celebrated its first EuroLeague victory this season while Red Star dropped to 1-2.
Among James’ 11 dimes was the pass to Alpha Diallo (12 points) who drained the dagger from downtown for the 72 – 79 with 54 seconds remaining. Donatas Motiejunas then secured the win for Monaco, scoring in the fast break to make 74 – 81 after Zvezda cut the margin to five.
“They [Zvezda] are very good at home running and make easy baskets,” James said. “Not turning the ball over helped us a lot.”
“Actually that was the key point,” Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic agreed. “We did much better in controlling the game and finding the better shots. That’s an amazing win in this atmosphere. I believe not many teams are going to win here
Four-time NBA All-Star guard Kemba Walker made his Monaco debut in the game, playing 10:19 minutes off the bench and scoring two points with free throws. He shot 0-3 from the field.
Rokas Giedraitis had 20 points for Zvezda, 18 of them in the first half which his team closed up 44 – 38. Nemanja Nedovic produced 15 points and six assists, hitting a triple for the 70 – 66 with 6:16 to play.
Monaco responded with a 2 – 13 run, with John Brown (11 points) making key plays on both ends and Diallo hitting the key 3-pointer to hand his team a 7-point lead, into the final minute.
“It was all about especially the last three minutes,” Zvezda coach Dusko Ivanovic said. “We had three-four situations, bad plays. They gained advantage to win the game.”