Although Monaco came away with the victory, it spent most of the game playing catchup. After James put the visitors 16-18 ahead with 3:15 to go in the first quarter, his team wouldn’t lead again for almost another 30 minutes – not until Matthew Strazel gave Monaco a slender edge at 84-85 with just under 5 minutes left in the fourth. In that time, though, James kept plugging away, be it through scoring or providing assists.
The EuroLeague’s all-time leading scorer entered the fourth quarter with 19 points, 5 assists, 1 rebound and 2 steals in 23 minutes, but he took his game to another level in the fourth quarter and then overtime.
With Monaco going in search of a third straight victory, having beaten the two Greek giants – Olympiacos Piraeus (87-92) and Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens (92-84) – last week, James poured in 15 points, pulled down 5 rebounds and dished 1 assist in the fourth quarter alone before adding 3 points and 2 assists to his tally in the extra session. That took him to 34 points – the most he has scored since 2021 – 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals on the night.