Monaco’s EuroLeague charge stalled in Spain as Baskonia dished out an 85–73 defeat in a roaring Fernando Buesa Arena on the evening of Wednesday, December 17. The Roca Team, miles off their usual standard and shooting at a dreadful 21% from deep, never really threatened to spoil the Basque party. They’ll try to shake this one off quickly, with Bayern Munich visiting Gaston Médecin on Friday night.
Monaco arrived in Vitoria-Gasteiz hoping to recover from their loss to Fenerbahçe. Baskonia may be near the bottom of the table, but they were unbeaten at home in Europe and bursting with confidence. Coach Vassilis Spanoulis sent out Mike James, Elie Okobo, Alpha Diallo, Jaron Blossomgame and Daniel Theis to start, but from the opening minutes Monaco’s offence looked like it had woken up on the wrong continent.
The defence at least kept things competitive early on — Theis threw down a dunk to get Monaco going, Diallo and Okobo hit from long range, and the visitors traded blows with Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot’s Baskonia. But the finishing was sloppy, both sides missed sitters, and Baskonia edged the first quarter 17–14.
Okobo tried to drag Monaco forward in the second, creating chances and scoring himself, but foul trouble chopped the legs from under him. Monaco kept the gap manageable at the free-throw line while Baskonia failed to fully capitalise on their dominance, yet the hosts still stretched their lead to 43–34 at half-time, whipped on by a crowd that sounded ready to lift the roof off.
After the break, Nikola Mirotić and Kevarrius Hayes sparked a Monaco revival, dominating the offensive glass and triggering a blistering 14–0 run to make it 54–52. For a fleeting few minutes, it looked like the Spanish fortress might crack. Baskonia, though, simply reset themselves and pushed the lead back out to seven heading into the final quarter.
Monaco’s offence then collapsed. Baskonia pounced on every error, Forrest ran riot, and it took nearly five minutes for the visitors to score in the fourth — Juhann Begarin finally getting them on the board as the score drifted out of reach. James, Theis and Strazel engineered a late push to close to within five, but it was too little, too late. Baskonia held their nerve, their intensity and their accuracy, while Monaco ran out of ideas. Theis scored their final basket, and the curtain fell on a forgettable night.
Forward Juhann Begarin didn’t sugar-coat the performance afterwards: “We struggled tonight. We missed easy baskets and forced the game because we couldn’t set up our offence. Defensively, we lacked physical presence. In these games you have to play with the will to destroy the opposing team, and we didn’t have that intensity. We were chasing the score the whole way against a confident team.”
Monaco now need a fast reset. Bayern Munich are up next on Friday, December 19, and another performance like this will be greeted with far more groans than flamenco.
