Virtus beaten, no feat: Monaco wins

Virtus deceives for 25′ then slowly slips towards defeat. Monaco reigns in the Principality and rules Segafredo 81-68, with a tough score in the end but which punishes a nightmare start to the last quarter for the black Vu, 2 points in 5′. The ranking numbers are not yet condemning but in fact Virtus says goodbye to the playoffs, says goodbye in advance to its return to the Euroleague and doesn’t even know if it’s goodbye.

Monaco did not have their leader Mike James suspended for disciplinary reasons after a busy evening, they swept away Vu’s rebounding big men, took 16 caroms in attack, punished Vu’s incursions with blocks and then profited from a team that it alternated between rings and frightening blackouts. On the other hand, the poor aim was constant: a 10/32 from three that ballasted a team that also appeared tired. With Teodosic (8 assists) with 28% from behind the arc to photograph an evening to forget.

La Vu finished in front of the first half on 20-21 taking advantage of a quick manoeuvre, Milos’ ideas and Shengelia’s personality. Monaco appeared almost surprised by the vitality of Bologna and when with a triple from Belinelli, Vu went up 26-31, they pricked up their ears. But there the bianconeri fell silent in attack, even taking good shots but without aiming. Thus the inertia passed to the Monegasques who assaulted the Virtussina area, extending to 37-31. Vu gritted her teeth and at the interval she went down by 4, 41-37, recriminating on a second half with too many shooting mistakes and too many second shots conceded to Monaco.

On his return, two triples from Abass to keep the flame burning and then the overtaking ensued, 47-48 after 3’30”, with 4 points in a row from Mickey who entered the match. 5′ from the end of the quarter it was equal on 51 with Hackett’s three-point game. But Monaco came out better from a convulsive fraction and with Loiyd from three he escaped to 61-53 at the end of the quarter.
In 10′ to play Vu had 10 to recover: half a miracle.
Only dented irons for Vu and the Monegasques, so with 5′ to go the score was 69-55. And the Vu didn’t even have the head to hope for it, sinking slowly.

Bianconeri back on the pitch on 24 March: Real Madrid will arrive at the Segafredo Arena.