For the second time in history, the first after 2017, Fenerbahçe basketball players are on the roof of Europe - the team from Istanbul defeated Monaco 81:70 in the Euroleague grand final tonight in Abu Dhabi.
The second European trophy in history for the Turkish team, and the first in his coaching career for Šarūnas Jasikevičius. The legendary Lithuanian won the Euroleague four times in his playing career, and tonight he finally got to lift the trophy as a coach.
This was Jasikevicius' sixth EuroLeague final tournament in his coaching career. He failed to reach the top of Europe with Žalgiris and Barcelona, but finally did so with Fenerbahçe. With this, Šarunas joined Svetislav Pešić, Lol Sainac and Armenak Alačačić, who were European champions both as players and coaches.
Monaco opened the game better tonight, shooting well at the start, and after a basket by Diallo, they had a nine-point lead - 13:4.
After a mini series of five consecutive points, Fener took a 21:20 lead at the beginning of the second quarter, but Spanoulis' team responded, making a 9:0 run and leading 29:21.
Four minutes before the end of the first half, Monaco had a nine-point lead (32:23), but then the team from the Principality completely stopped and scored only one point from a penalty by the end of the first half. Fenerbahce, on the other hand, reduced the deficit through Meli and Hayes-Davies, and went into the break with a two-point lead (35:33) thanks to Hall, who marked the end of the first half.
At the beginning of the second half, both teams were nervous, Monaco was still without points, but Fener also failed to make a bigger difference. Fener had a five-point difference at that moment (38:33, Guduric's three-pointer), and Monaco turned it around after James' free throws and took the lead 43:42.
Then Gudurić and Baldwin again took the Turkish team to plus five (48:43), but Monaco came back again and tied the score at the end of the third quarter - 51:51.
But then a new series by the Turkish team followed. Fener made an 11:0 series and six and a half minutes before the end took a 62:51 lead. Monaco approached 62:55, and then Gudurić hit a three-pointer and Fener had a plus 10 (65:55), and after a three-pointer by the fantastic Hall and an 11-point lead - 68:57.
The excitement didn't end there - Strazel narrowed the lead to 69:64 with two minutes left, then Gudurić hit both penalties, Fener then defended, and then Gudurić settled it all with a three-pointer (74:64).
Hayes Davis finished the game with 23 points. Guduric had 19, and Baldwin and Hall each had 13.
For Monaco, Diallo had 19 points and James had 17.
Bonus video:
