The Principality finally crowned! Monaco was crowned French basketball champion for the first time thanks to the third defeat (92-85) inflicted on Boulogne-Levallois, Victor Wembanyama’s team, in their series of finals, Thursday June 15, at Roland-Garros.
After three failures on the last step since its return to the Elite eight years ago, the Roca Team finally won the national title, the epilogue of a historic season marked by its third place in the Euroleague.
Before pursuing his American dream, “Wemby” will therefore not achieve his last in France: a coronation with his Metropolitans 92. For his last thirty-five and a half minutes on a floor of the French championship, the giant will leave the memory of a performance worthy of his 2.24 meters: 22 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks for an evaluation of 30. Quite simply his best of the playoffs before flying to the NBA, and most certainly to San Antonio, which has inherited from the first pick of the draft, scheduled for Thursday, June 22.
Tied (85-85) 108 seconds from the buzzer, the meeting changed thanks to two shots – including one from ten meters – from ASM American back Jordan Loyd (22 points in total), who also benefited of a throw. When, on the Metropolitans side, their soloist Barry Brown, a medical freelancer recruited for the final phase, saw his two forced attempts bounce off the hoop.
Facing the third best team on the continent, it took nearly 91% success (10/11) at the time of the maximum gap, in the first quarter (32-16), for Vincent Collet’s men rise for a time above the Monegasque armada, yet not helped by its star Mike James, sinking Thursday (2 points, 1/7).
The curse of lost finals exorcised
This Roca Team 2023 is placed in the elite of the history of the French championship. His podium in the queen of European competitions, the only of a representative of the championship apart from the title of Limoges in 1993, outlined a grandiose team. Their run in the playoffs, completed Thursday at Roland-Garros by a grand slam, without the slightest defeat (8-0), is unheard of for thirty-five years and Limoges in the 1988 final phase, then disputed in round-trip matches.
The Rock flattened the competition in these playoffs, as in the regular season, with a first place assured from the 29th day (out of 34). All while leading an exhausting European campaign. ASM exorcised its curse of lost finals, that of 2018 conquered by Le Mans, then those of 2019 and 2022 delighted by Asvel. Not to mention, long before the new era launched by Ukrainian businessman Sergey Dyadechko in 2013, the 1950 final won by Villeurbanne.
The only downside to the Monegasque season, the Leaders Cup this winter, when they were surprised by Bourg-en-Bresse in the quarter-finals (102-92). Otherwise, they also delighted the Coupe de France by crushing Asvel (90-70). So many fruits of the dazzling growth of the Roca Team, driven by its owner who made his fortune in fertilizers and cereals: the naturalized Hungarian Russian Aleksei Fedorychev, CEO and founder of Fedcominvest.