Monaco ties it up: there will be a game 5 in Paris!

The 2025 Betclic ELITE playoff finals will have its finale: this Tuesday, June 24, Paris Basketball and Monaco will face off for the fifth time this month. This Sunday at Gaston Medecin arena, the Roca Team evened the series at two wins each by winning game 4 with a score of 80-74. Vassilis Spanoulis’ team managed to limit Paris’ offense to 31 points in the second half. Already contained in the second half on Friday, MVP T.J. Shorts (13 points on 3/11 shooting, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in 26 minutes) was once again tangled up in the opposing defense, made up of numerous defensive switches. Tiago Splitter’s staff – ejected after a second technical foul – will need to find adjustments against Monaco’s small-ball lineup that causes so many problems for Paris Basketball.

Terry Tarpey launches Monaco, Alpha Diallo essential

Unlike game 3, Monaco took the lead from the start. With Terry Tarpey (7 points and 10 rebounds in less than 20 minutes) starting instead of Petr Cornelie at power forward, the home team took an early lead (8-0). The New Yorker had an immediate impact: a first 3-pointer, a rebound-assist then a huge block followed by a 3-pointer from Alpha Diallo allowed Monaco to take off. But the latter’s third foul – more important than ever, with a significant +/- (+16 in 19 minutes) showing his huge impact (13 points on 3/6 shooting, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 7 fouls drawn in 19 minutes) – in the middle of the second quarter, on an unsportsmanlike foul, cost Vassilis Spanoulis’ players dearly, as they entered halftime trailing by 3 points (40-43). The Parisians, limited to 23 points scored after 15 minutes of play, had found their rhythm (20 points in 5 minutes).

🚨 MATTHEW STRAZEL AT THE BUZZER!

1 point difference before the start of the last quarter 😱

Watch on @DAZN_FR 📺#FinalesBetclicELITE @mtwbucket32 x @ASMonaco_Basket pic.twitter.com/oHo2g41IAI

— Betclic ELITE (@Betclic_ELITE) June 22, 2025

Too static offense for Paris

But this productive period didn’t last: the third quarter was even the worst of the evening for Paris, with only 13 points total. The Roca Team, fielding increasingly smaller lineups (with Blossomgame as the only big), managed to match Paris’ mobility. Playing as playmaker, Elie Okobo (19 points on 7/13 shooting, 7 rebounds and 3 assists for a 20 efficiency rating in 34 minutes) was able to find Matthew Strazel (20 points, including 16 in the second half), notably at the third quarter buzzer.

In contrast, the Parisians never stopped « freezing » the ball on isolations to attack their matchups, without much success (35% field goal percentage). « We can execute better (our game plan), sometimes we slow down too much, especially when they play small, » admitted power forward Daulton Hommes. A view not necessarily shared by his coach. « At the end of the day, we want our best one-on-one players to have the ball. That’s T.J. Shorts, Nadir Hifi and Maodo Lo (back in the series), » commented Tiago Splitter, seemingly quite confident in his strategy. « Maybe we’ll need to put them in situations to help them more, » he nuanced. Neither Shorts (3/11) nor Nadir Hifi (4/14 in 22 minutes) were efficient, largely because they were targeted on both ends by their opponents. « We need to make them defend so they lack clarity at the end of games offensively, especially Nadir (Hifi) and T.J. (Shorts), » explained Strazel, who nevertheless expects a reaction from the two Paris stars on Tuesday. « We know they’re great players, they’ll respond. They might be a bit more precise, a bit more efficient, » warns the four-time French champion, who hopes to win his first game 5 since 2022. But this time away since this physical series finale will be played at the Adidas Arena. A context that doesn’t frighten Roca Team’s coach Vassilis Spanoulis, proud of his troops’ mindset who showed « a lot of character. » For his part, Tiago Splitter, though frustrated – particularly regarding officiating – is happy to have home court advantage for this 84th official game of the season. « We finished first in the regular season, we earned the right to finish the season in front of our fans, our families. » But only the title is an option for both teams.

In Monaco,