On Friday night, AS Monaco delivered the most brilliant performance of these EuroLeague Playoffs so far.

2-pointers this season

58%
19,6
Points made: 19,6
Accuracy: 57,9%
Place in standings: 9
Record max: 26
Record min: 11
Most made 2FGs: Moustapha Fall

After a disastrous Game 1, where they managed to score only 54 points, they put on a show on both sides of the court, winning by 24 and leaving everyone who watched the duel with 1 question in mind: was this only a fluke where everything went their way or should Olympiacos start to worry?

The first minutes of Game 2 were like watching the same story all over again. Olympiacos were forcing turnovers, scoring easy on the break, Moustapha Fall was dominating in the paint against Donatas Motiejunas, and Kostas Sloukas was hitting 3s after kick-outs from inside.

After 8 minutes, the scoreboard showed a 16 to 6 advantage for Olympiacos, and they seemed to be running away with this one as well.

However, suddenly it all changed. Tyler Dorsey began the show with a layup, Monaco switched the flip and went on to score 90 points in only 32 minutes. So what happened?

First of all, Monaco coach Sasha Obradovic made the perfect adjustments after the Game 1 loss.

Instead of using Brock Motum off the bench at the 4, he went small and had 4 guards playing at the same time with Paris Lee, Mike James, Danilo Andjusic, and Dwayne Bacon on the court together. This decision created situations where Bacon found himself in a closeout against Sasha Vezenkov and in a transition mismatch against Georgios Printezis.

Later in the second period, Monaco searched for Bacon's Isolation magic again with simple 1-to-4 picks, knowing that the hosts will switch and Bacon will be able to just rise over them. The American was a major key to their monstrous second quarter and had 13 points in the first half.

One more new thing Obradovic introduced was the full-court pressure, which forced Olympiacos to make childish mistakes and hurried attacks.

This pressure broke Olympiacos' offensive rhythm that was so crucial in Game 1, where they freely ran their offense and punished Monaco time after time with the same play.

Paris Lee played a crucial role here with his individual efforts to disrupt Oly's offense. Guard was amazing all game, pressuring the ball and forcing the opponents to improvise instead of playing their usual set plays.

This type of defense allowed Olympiacos only 12 points in the 2nd quarter. But it was a masterful period for Monaco on the other side of the court too.

Twice they punished the Greeks from top Spread pick&roll, where Fall played at the Level of the screen, so the opposite low man had to help inside the paint. Two perfect skip passes created 2 open shots for Ouattara, who came up big when his number was called after not even playing in Game 1.

Then there was another little adjustment that was used much more in Game 2 than in Game 1 and which worked wonders - Flare screens on Mike James Isolations. 4 possessions with Flares, 4 scores for Monaco.

They knew about Oly stunting from one pass away to close all driving gaps for James, and these screens put them in difficult spots where Olympiacos didn't communicate well enough.

In the 1st half, Mike James was involved by serving up others. Up 12 to start the 3rd, he was the one who said the final words on this game. And he did it in the most James fashion possible.

The superstar was feeling it, and Obradovic continued looking for ways to include him. And since playoffs are all about the matchups, it was a pretty easy thing to do. Monaco again played small with 4 guards and knew Olympiacos were going to switch. So James asked picks from those who were guarded by Vezenkov or Sloukas and then went to work.

Monaco went up by 20 and never looked back. Yes, it's hard to expect James and others to make shots at such a high rate for the next 2 games.

Moreover, Olympiacos missed many open ones and shot only 60% from the charity stripe, so they should be able to bounce back and bring the series back to Piraeus. But the right adjustments are needed now. Just like Sasha Obradovic and Monaco showed in Game 2.

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