The last step was ultimately too high for Sasa Obradovic's Roca Team, forced to win in Piraeus in this ax match to get their ticket to Belgrade and the Euroleague Final 4 on May 19 and 21.

French basketball will have to wait at least another season to see a club playing in its Elite championship again climb into the last four of the Euroleague.

The last time was in the previous century, in 1997 with Villeurbanne, one of the only two clubs in France with Limoges (1990, 1993 and 1995) to have played in a Final 4.

The scenario of this decisive match will leave some regrets to the Monegasques who dominated for more than twenty minutes, counting up to eleven points in advance (30-19).

But the match was finally played in the last five minutes, with the awakening of Kostas Sloukas, winner of the Euroleague with Olympiakos in 2012 and 2013 and with Fenerbahçe.

Mute for 32 minutes, the Greek leader chained the baskets to allow the Piraeus team to take control, before the last moments of the game took place in confusion, the Olympiakos supporters anticipating the end of the match with smoke bombs and going up on the floor, when the match was won (94-88).

Marking course

The course of the Roca Team will however have marked the spirits, especially during the second half of the regular season, when the players of the Principality have won thirteen of their last sixteen regular season matches.

To the point of scaring off some big teams qualified for the quarterfinals and not unhappy to avoid Monaco.

And the series of quarter-finals confirmed the impression of collective and mental strength of this team which never gave up, except for a first match in the form of a learning lesson and a welcome gift offered by the 'Olympiakos, triple European champion (1997, 2012, 2013) and used to these European games.

This presence of Monaco in the C1 play-offs, a first for a club in the French championship since Villeurbanne in 2001, is a new stage in the dizzying rise of the Roca Team, which was playing ten seasons ago in the 4th division.

In just over eight years, the Roca Team has experienced an irresistible and dazzling rise in the European big leagues, this season among the top eight.

This crazy race had already reached a first intoxicating peak at continental level the previous season, with the coronation in the Eurocup, which had opened the doors to the Euroleague.

By reaching the top 8 of the C1, Monaco for the second consecutive season won its place in the Euroleague the following season, proving that its team had the level to compete with the biggest teams in Europe.

In its quest for a long-term license in the Euroleague, like the one possessed by thirteen of the eighteen teams entered at the start of the season, including Asvel, this course will play in favor of the Monegasques, who have attracted thanks to Mike James the NBA star Kevin Durant, who came to support his friend James - they played together for the Brooklyn Nets in 2021 - during game 4 in the Principality and Wednesday in Piraeus.

© 2022 AFP