EuroLeague: Impressive Baskonia beat Spanoulis’ Monaco 85-73 in Vitoria
EuroLeague: Baskonia – Monaco 85-73
Baskonia produced one of their most complete performances in this year’s EuroLeague on Wednesday night, beating Monaco 85-73 at the Buesa Arena and ending a seven-game losing streak against the Monegasques.
The Vitoria side celebrated their first victory over Monaco since October 2021, proving that in the EuroLeague form and league position often take second place.
Forest is decisive, Luavu-Cambaro is top
The return of Forrest immediately changed the image of Baskonia. In just his second game back from the injury that kept him out for nine games, the guard was the absolute game changer, finishing with 17 points (5/7 shooting), 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks.
It is no coincidence that in the 24 minutes he was on the floor, Baskonia had a total of +30, an element that captures his influence on both sides of the field.
The leading scorer of the game was Timote Luavou-Cambaro with 19 points, providing crucial solutions every time Monaco tried to close the gap. Gitis Radjevicius continued his good form with 12 points, earning positive comments for his adaptability.
Reaction to the Monaco outbreak
Baskonia even got to +16, but in the third period Monaco responded with a 14-0 run, narrowing the gap noticeably. The Basques responded immediately with a Forrest – Luavou-Cambaro collaboration for a nail, a three-pointer by Clement Fris and a difficult shot by Matteo Spaniolo at the end of the attack, regaining control.
From that point on, the home team managed with maturity every counter-attack attempt by the visitors, and justly reached the victory.
Disappointment Spanoulis and reflection in Monaco
For Monaco, Mike James scored 21 points, Daniel Tice added 10 and Alfa Diallo 9, but the Monegasques had serious trouble from the perimeter, shooting just 21.1 percent from three.
After the end of the match, Vassilis Spanoulis did not hide his disappointment, pointing out the problems of his team.
“We are in a bad period. We are not a playoff team, we need to find our identity. We don’t have a big rotation, we don’t have enough players and we have to find solutions,” he initially said.
In the press conference he added: “We are not playing good basketball, we are playing without energy. Everything is going wrong and it’s time for the experienced players to step up so we can get back to our basics.”
The score and the sequel
With the win, Baskonia improved to 6-10 while maintaining their six-game home unbeaten streak, although they remain winless away from Vitoria. Monaco dropped to 9-7 and now turn their attention to the home game against Bayern Munich.
For its part, Baskonia is preparing for a difficult away mission against Barcelona, with the aim of transferring the image of Vitoria away from home.
