Chris Jones buzzer beater lifts Red Star past Asvel 84-82
Red Star beat Asvel in Lyon on a Chris Jones jumper at the buzzer, and Chima Moneke talks about the fans after a third straight EuroLeague win.
Chima Moneke missed a dunk in the fourth quarter at Villeurbanne. After the game he said what was going through his head at that moment, and the night ended better than that play: Red Star beat Asvel 84-82 in Round 5 of the EuroLeague because Chris Jones hit a mid-range jumper at the buzzer.
The hosts led for most of the game. With 4:08 left the scoreboard read 77-72 for Asvel. From that point to the final buzzer, Red Star scored 12 points and the home side scored five.
How did Red Star turn the finish around?
The last possession began with a miss. Tremont Waters of Asvel missed from a fairly open spot, and Sami Ojeleye grabbed the defensive rebound and immediately passed to Jones. Eurohoops reports that Red Star had nine seconds to attack. Jones decided it himself, with a single mid-range shot right at the horn.
Jones finished with 8 points and 9 assists, which says he spent most of the night as a playmaker before hitting the winning shot. Moneke led Red Star with 18 points, followed by Jordan Nwora with 17 and Ojeleye with 15. For the hosts, Both Gach had 19 and Waters 15.
The halftime numbers explain why the score stayed open to the end. Red Star allowed 46 points in the first half and 36 in the second. Sport Klub writes that the team lost the ball only twice after the break and got back on defense faster, and in its assessment Nick Weiler-Babb, who shut down Waters in the last quarter, and Patrick Baldwin, who answered Mills with a three-pointer at the start of the final period, were important in the finish. We wrote before the game that Red Star was traveling to Lyon without a center, and Sport Klub says the team played without a traditional big man.
From the free-throw line Red Star made 13 of 19, including three misses in the middle of the fourth quarter, and still did not let the win slip. In his EuroLeague debut, Nikola Djurisic picked up four fouls.
What did Moneke tell the fans?
After the game Moneke spoke to Meridian Sport about fan comments and his own miss. First, the comments:
“I’m done worrying about nonsense that doesn’t matter and doesn’t belong in my head. I’m focusing on what I can control.”
He then described the gap between support and criticism in numbers: “If you win and get 500 comments, and when you lose you get 2,000, how does that make sense?” He added that the fans who stay with the team in bad moments are the ones who matter to him.
On the missed dunk, he said nothing like it had ever happened to him before: “The ball was slippery. It happens. That has never happened to me before.” And he added: “That was a test of my mental strength.”
Where does Red Star stand after Round 5?
The third straight win gave Red Star a 3-2 record, the same as Partizan, who lost to Panathinaikos 72-55 in Belgrade the same night. Asvel are 2-3. After Round 5 Red Star sit fifth, and Panathinaikos are the only team with five wins in five games. Dubai, whom Red Star beat in the previous round, beat Baskonia 93-79 the same evening, so they stay level with Red Star.
The next test comes Friday at 8 p.m. at Belgrade Arena, where Red Star host Paris.
