From “nowhere”, George Papagiannis entered the most crucial match in the series Monaco with Barcelona And it was impressed. The Monegasus dominated the Catalans (85-84) in Game 5 of the Euroleague Playoff series-with Mike James winning the winning basket and Kevin Panther to fail in the last shot of the match-and will play with Olympiacos in the Final Final Semifinals.
Monaco will face Olympiacos in the first semifinal of Abu Dhabi’s Final Four (18:00) in a “repetition” of the 2023 semifinal. Key player for the winners was Yiannis Papagiannis who made a great appearance.
It was an incredible match with 16 changes in scoring. For the winners, Papagiannis was amazing with 17 points (this year’s record) and 5 rebounds, Mike James in a 20th leadership appearance, while Strazels, Dialo, had 11. At 18 Pader stopped for Barcelona, while Anderson, Erngomet, had 16.
It was the Catalans who took the lead from the beginning with Pader and Justin Anderson’s decisive three -pointers. Monaco began to find a pace in the second quarter with the entrance of Yiannis Papagiannis, who returned after nearly two months (13/3) and the match with Maccabi. The presence of the Greek center was catalytic, and after 15 minutes of race, the Monegasians first went 32-31 at 16΄.
So from 22-27 the score was 40-34 with a score of 18-7 and the half time closed (45-39). A derby followed with the lead constantly alternating and everything showed that this “final” would be judged at the last hour. With Erngometh getting into the equation, Barcelona overtaken three, but Mike James immediately brought the match straight 74-74. So, six minutes before the end, everything started from a “zero” basis.
As expected, everything was judged in the last minute. James wrote 85-84 at 55 “, Parker missed a three-point lead at 28”, as did Panther in exhaustion, so Vasilis Spanoulis’ team qualified for the second time in Final-4 after 2023.
The CLUTCH gene @TheNatural_05 closes the first half with a BANG pic.twitter.com/d8BB9GFJy3
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) May 6, 2025
The quarters: 15-19, 45-39, 65-62, 85-84
Monaco (Spanoulis): Okobo 7 (3 assists, 2 steals), Blosomgim 9 (6 rebounds), Lloyd 2, Tasis 2, Dialo 11 (1/3 three -pointers), Jaitite 2 (3 rebounds), Papagiannis (2 rebounds, 3 assists), James 10 (1/3 three -pointers, 2 assists).
BARTSELONA (Peniaroja): Pader 13 (2/5 three -pointers, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), Anderson 11 (3/3 three -pointers, 2 assists), Bridela 3 (1/2 three -pointers, 3 assists), Satoranski 2 (2 rebounds) Parker (0/5 two -pointers, 0/4 three -pointers), far, Vijar.