Zvezda bad in attack, Monaco celebrated in Belgrade

Crvena zvezda basketball players lost tonight in Belgrade against the team of Monaco with 76:82 (23:14, 21:24, 19:26, 13:18), in the match of the third round of the Euroleague.

The "red and whites" experienced their second defeat at the start of the new season in the Euroleague, while Monaco registered their first triumph.

Rokas Gedraitis was the most effective in the ranks of Zvezda with 20 points, Nemanja Nedović added 15, while Joel Bolomboy finished the game with 11 points. In the winning team, Mike James stood out with 18 points, Alfa Dialo scored 12, and Eli Okobo and John Brown scored 11 points each.

The beginning of the game in the Belgrade Arena was uneventful on both sides, the first points were seen after a minute and a half of the game, from the free throw line when Donatas Motijejunas scored. In the opening minutes of the match, Zvezda did not manage to score anything, but with a good defensive game, they managed to stop Saša Obradović's team from gaining a significant advantage.

Giedraitis had a very notable role in the first 10 minutes, who carried the "red and whites" with 14 points and a great shooting percentage. On the other hand, James stood out, also with three-point shots.

At the end of the first quarter, Zvezda managed to score easy points on the other side of the field and gain a nine-point advantage.

However, in the second quarter, Monaco managed to catch up with the "red and white" very quickly and bring the result "seesaw" again. At the end of the first half, Dusko Ivanovic's team had a good reaction again and went to the break with a 44:38 advantage.

As in the first quarter, Zvezda had an extremely bad start, which Monaco took advantage of and easily achieved a turnaround. The home team scored the first points after almost three minutes of play, so in the rest of the third quarter, Monaco was mostly in a slight advantage.

Carried by the support from the stands, Zvezda managed to reduce the deficit to 64:65 by the end of the third period, and Bolomboj was most deserving of that.

The last quarter brought a lot of excitement and suspense. Before the last two minutes of the game, Monaco had a four-point lead (74:70) and managed to keep the lead until the end and celebrate.

Zvezda basketball players will host Virtus in Bologna in the next round of the Euroleague on Friday, while Monaco will welcome Alba.