Thursday evening, in the sports hall of Pau, the players of Sasa Obradovic beat Elan Béarnais, winner of the Coupe de France in mid-April, 85 to 83, to conclude the series in the semi-finals 3 to 1 and avoid a decisive match 5 trap at Gaston-Médecin on Sunday.

The Monegasques will above all be able to take advantage of a few days of rest to recharge their batteries, while Asvel have already validated their place in the final for three days.

Against Pau, Léo Westermann's teammates were led in the first quarter, before tightening the game in defense to stifle Elan in the second quarter, led by their American star Mike James, his team's top scorer with 21 points.

The 18-5 inflicted in seven minutes in the third quarter allowed Monaco to calmly approach the last ten minutes, but after leading 77-61, the players of the Principality saw Pau come back to six points (77- 71) five minutes from the final buzzer.

Defeat the Asvel Curse

Thanks to the tremendous performance of pocket leader Brandon Jefferson (34 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds), the Elan recovered to two points (83-81).

Jefferson had the match point with seconds remaining, but his three-point shot missed the target to leave Monaco two points ahead.

Monaco, a new big car in the French championship with a budget of 14.1 million euros just behind Villeurbanne (15 M EUR), will try to grab a first title of champion of France after two failures in the final in 2017/18 and 2018/19, beaten first by Le Mans then by Villeurbanne.

Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic during match 5 of the Elite championship final already against ASVEL in Villeurbanne, June 25, 2019 ROMAIN LAFABREGUE AFP / Archives

After two seasons disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic (2019/20 stopped before the end of the season and 2020/21 with play-offs arranged in Final 8 on one match), the National Basketball League offers itself a final between the two largest budgets of Elite, representatives of France in the Euroleague.

Since its return to the elite of French basketball, Monaco has won the Leaders Cup three times (2016, 2017 and 2018), a mid-season competition between the first eight of the first leg, as well as the Eurocup, antechamber of the Euroleague, last year, but has always failed in the French championship.

In the play-offs, out of five defeats, Monaco lost three times against Asvel: in the quarter-finals in 2016/17, in the semi-finals in 2015/16, and in the final in 2018/19.

This season, Asvel will have the advantage of the field in the final, thanks to their first place at the end of the regular season, a defeat more than Monaco (9 against 8).

The first two rounds and the eventual decisive match 5 will thus be played at the Astroballe.

© 2022 AFP