By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After a big test against Olympiacos, Monaco had a much easier task against ALBA Berlin.
And when all was said and done, Monaco got the 100-80 win over the Germans who have a 3-11 record, just one win over dead last Virtus Bologna.
On the contrary, Monaco with 9-5 is just one step behind the top spot of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings.
Coach Vassilis Spanoulis, who is still missing Nick Calathes, Furkan Korkmaz, and Mem Jaiteh, had the chance to rest his key players giving time to his reserves.
“It was a great reaction from our team to show character as all the guys responded the right way,” Spanoulis said in a courtside post-game interview.
“We shared the ball well and had 24 assists, which is a great number in the EuroLeague. Today we played great defense and it’s important to work hard on both ends of the floor.”
Vitto Brown with 17 points and seven rebounds stole the show and had his best EuroLeague game yet, while Giorgos Papagiannis scored 12 points, and the duo of Matthew Strazel and Elie Okobo scored 10 points each.
Yanni Wetzel and David McCormack with 16 points each were the top scorers of ALBA.
A walk in the park
Monaco didn’t have any pity for ALBA, leading 34-18 after the first quarter. Monaco’s lead jumped to 40-20, and the best ALBA did was trim the lead to 49-34.
The hosts’ answer was a 5-0 run (54-34), and the halftime score was 62-44, with Vitto Brown scoring 15 points.
The game had already become a glorified practice, with ALBA trailing by 22 (68-46) and unable to close the gap more than 14 (81-67) at the end of the third period.
Monaco opened up the last quarter with an 8-0 run (89-67) and restored order.
Photo credit: EuroLeague