Basketball / Monaco – Elan Béarnais: I almost want to believe it
Béarnais, with a gap week and a thrilling playoff series, competed against an already rich red and white armada (€14.1 million budget).
In the summer, the turns of the two clubs were different, they were opposite.
When Elan, weighed down by CSG’s debts, tried…
Béarnais, with a gap week and a thrilling playoff series, competed against an already rich red and white armada (€14.1 million budget).
In the summer, the turns of the two clubs were different, they were opposite.
Encumbered by CSG’s debts, Elan reshuffled its sails (budget cut 32% to 5.3 million) and its management sought to avoid shipwreck and administrative decline, but Monaco was buoyed by the fortunes of its new president. Alexey Fedoritsev, also the senior director of FEDCOM, became the first team in the history of French basketball to pass the highly symbolic milestone of a budget of 20 million euros!
Officially 20.7%, a 47% increase with a wage bill of around €12 million against €1.1 million for the Pau club.
The Tenors would renew James, Hall, Diallo and Motiejunas, but also poach Elie Okobo from ASVEL, who was his executioner in the last national final, or sign Andrien Moerman, a two-time Euroleague champion with Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Sasa Obradovic from the group for inconsistent performance (2.9 points with 24%).
three in a row
One example is enough to highlight the galactic difference between the two teams, their common search for a defender to bolster their squad. Monaco has a suitcase of 1.25 million, the amount that Tyler Dorsey would have been offered before he refused the offer, when Elan needs to find a rare pearl with a purse at least thirty times lower!
Two clubs, two atmospheres. In his eyes, he dreams of the top 8 in Europe, which guarantees the Final Four of the Euroleague or at least the renewal of his lease for the next season, while the latter prefers to leave his ticket for Basketball in the Champions League of Strasbourg. only one main goal: to stay in the top league of France.
For this purpose, a big step was taken by Palois before the holidays. After going through two months of great turmoil until they reached the bottom of the rankings on December 9 after a sad comeback defeat from Fos (83-75), the eighth of the previous nine days, they reacted at the moment we expected. The least, but the situation demanded it the most: with Le Mans (89-85), Roanne (75-94) and Dijon (76-64), the three teams at the top of the table.
Vitalis Chikoko, who had a complete game (20 points, 8 rebounds) against Dijon at the Palace on December 27th, will again play a key role against Motiejunas and Donta Hall.
Nicola Sabatier
A revival of form, 11, a direct result of Elan being placed back into the heart of the reactore as well as in the top 8, they were tied in the relegation positions with two wins.
A deployment that allows Elan to tackle this trip to the Mediterranean coast with the desire to take a bold chance, hoping to defy all odds. The window is narrow, but it exists!
Dijon and Le Mans did it
Rocher’s side are not immune to tough odds, with megastar Mike James named “the competition’s most decisive, outstanding player and leader” by EuroLeague club general managers last week. road trips on the national stage. We’re obviously thinking about this start (22-0!) to the match in the socks, rather than the final margin (89-81) of this almost grotesque failure at Portel on December 18th.
In its Salle Gaston-Medecin, renovated during the last season where the capacity is now increased to 5,040 seats, the Roca Team was also surprised twice in the league in November, by Dijon (84-95) and then by Limoges (80-84). , proof that the fort is not impregnable unless the natives put all the necessary ingredients into the pot.
The two exits from the road are partly due to Monaco’s doomed schedule, with twelve matches taken in December, which is mentally and physically draining and leaves little or no time to prepare for national deadlines.
And so it is this week. After a failed recovery, on Thursday, Partizan suffered the heaviest defeat of the season (100-80) in the volcanic atmosphere of Belgrade, and with the version of Mike James completely upside down, the co-chairman of the Euroleague follows two important meetings on the European front. : Reception of Olympiakos (4e) Tuesday, before returning to Belgrade on Thursday, Red Star (10e)!
Zone, a lethal weapon?
With a squad reduced to “only” ten players following Moerman’s dismissal and Jordan Lloyd’s injury (he returned after ten days), will Monaco have the will to put their stomachs down against Momentum next week as they promise to be potentially indigestible? In addition to the European double, he has a header at Cholet on Sunday 15? The first minutes of the game will tell a lot about the mood of the day and the chances of Pau returning the maximum bonus.
Who knows if the magical zone defense that worked so brilliantly against the first (Roanne) and third (Dijon) attacks of the championship at the end of December, will again irreparably damage the ranks of the second offensive attack force of the division? ? The shock deserves a thorough test without fear of tomorrow.
