Slapped in front of their audience in match 2 (72-96), Olympiakos took their revenge on the Monaco floor on Wednesday evening (87-83) and pushed the Roca Team to the brink of elimination in the quarter-finals of the Euroleague. Sasa Obradovic’s men will have to leave the Gaston-Médecin room with a victory on Friday (9 p.m.) to offer themselves a decisive match 5 in the boiling atmosphere of Piraeus.
Mike James and his teammates could have avoided this penalty if they had not let go in the third quarter. After an award-winning shot from Dwayne Bacon (51-51, 23rd), Olympiakos passed a devastating 12-0 to the Monegasques, led by Sasa Vezenkov (17 points). The Roca Team could even have finished the quarter without Bacon, their best element of the evening (23 points). The former Charlotte player in the NBA escaped exclusion after a scuffle with Kostas Papanikolaou whom he had thrown to the ground (56-71, 28th).
Bacon, spearhead of an unfinished revolt
Bacon returned his attention to the floor to sound the revolt on the Rock, well supported by Will Thomas (15 points, 8 rebounds) and Paris Lee (8 points). Gaston-Médecin woke up when the American back chained a winning shot, an interception and a double step in a few seconds to regain possession (74-77, 36th). And after a superb one-on-one defense from Bacon on Tyler Dorsey, Lee restored the advantage to Monaco with a new long-range shot (80-79, 38th).
But Monaco ended up paying for their aggressive defense. The co-leader of Betclic Elite found himself very early in the penalty and two faults in the money-time offered four gift points to the Greeks (80-83, 39th). Worse, Mike James (13 points, 1 of 9 shooting, 8 assists) committed his fifth foul and had to observe the end of the game on the bench.
Leo Westermann missed a crucial left-handed double step. Despite a miraculous last shot from Bacon (83-85, 39th), the Roca Team had to surrender against the address of Kostas Sloukas (21 points) on the free throw line. The road to Belgrade, where the Euroleague Final Four will take place, is seriously complicated for Monaco. The winners of the Eurocup 2021 must now win twice, once at home, the other away, to overturn the series and continue their crazy European epic.