The "Roca Team", guaranteed to finish in the top eight teams with four days to go, clinched its ticket to the finals for the second consecutive season, after being eliminated in the quarter-finals last year.

Without its star leader Mike James, yet reinstated by the club to the Monegasque group but absent from the room, Monaco has, in sequences, delivered a meeting of very high level, interspersed with air holes that could have been fatal.

Fortunately for Sasa Obradovic and his men, the end of the match was perfectly controlled, while Valencia had come back to four lengths.

This 20th victory allows ASM to remain anchored in fourth place, now the main objective.

Donta Hall (10 points, 13 rebounds) was impressive in the air. Elie Okobo (12 points, 7 assists), Jordan Loyd (9 points, 5 assists) and young Matthew Strazel (13 points, 3 assists) were game leaders. And the evening would have been perfect without John Brown III's foot injury.

Valencia tried a lot from behind the arc with a very average success (6/20) in the first half. Also, after leading for a long time - by eight points (14-22, 8th) - the Spaniards saw a Monegasque team, sure of its strength, come back.

Jaron Blossomgame, one of the shadow men of this team, had a very good first half. Solid defender, Monaco's top scorer at the break (13 points), he was often at the end of magnificent collective actions such as the equalizer (30-30, 14th) or the sequence where Monaco took the lead before half-time on a nice award-winning shot (40-34, 16th).

-7th consecutive victory without James-

Without James for the seventh game in a row, Monaco's collective game was once again more fluid. By tightening the defense, Monaco went on an 18-4 run to the Valencians, punctuated by two three-point baskets from captain Yakuba Ouattara (48-36, 19th).

At the break, Monaco led 48-41. But Obradovic's men continued their undermining work as soon as they returned from the locker room. Result: 10-0 and 17 points ahead (58-41, 23rd).

Valencia, 10th in the standings before the match, gradually found its address from afar (4/9), making some chills go through the stands of Gaston-Médecin.

Seven minutes from the end of the game, Valencia, voluntary, counted only four points behind (71-67). Obradovic then asked his players for a more aggressive defense. The match did not turn, and Monaco won.

© 2023 AFP