Paris (AFP)
Monaco made an important step towards its second consecutive final of the French Basketball Championship by winning on Monday 84 to 75 on his floor of Gaston-Médecin against Dijon in the match 2 of the semifinal for the best of the five meetings.
The Roca Team leads the series 2 to 0 and has three qualifying balls for the Elite final: Thursday night in Dijon (20:45), Saturday still in Dijon (18:30) or Monday at home.
In the other semifinal, Villeurbanne, the first of the regular season and a big favorite for a 19th French league title, dominated Nanterre at the Astroballe on Sunday and faces the Parisians at home on Tuesday in match 2 of the semi-final. final.
In the Principality, the Monegasques had resorted to the extension to get rid of Dijonnais (82-77) in the match 1, after having led by 16 points during the 3rd quarter.
In the second act, the men of Sasa Obradovic again dominated the debates, but did not know the air hole of match 1, avoiding cold sweats.
Yakuba Ouattara, decisive for the first victory of the WSA on Saturday, was again untenable in the key moments, with 23 points, the best scorer of the match just ahead of Paul Lacombe (22).
"It's a pleasure, but the most important thing is that we took the game seriously, we did the job, the trap would be to project ourselves, but there is still a game to win and it's not going well. not easy, "said Yakuba Ouattara at the microphone of RMC Sport.
Monaco is the team in form of this second part of the season in Elite, with only one defeat against the Asvel of a point on the floor of the Astroballe. An almost perfect return phase that allowed him to win the 2nd place of the regular season, with the advantage of the ground until the semi-final.
Last year the red and white had approached the final against Le Mans in the position of favorites, but had failed in the game 5 decisive, in their room Gaston-Médecin (76-74).
In case of a duel against Asvel for the title in the final, they will not have this pressure, facing the only hexagonal basketball club engaged next season in Euroleague.
? 2019 AFP