The basketball team Villeurbanne won 67 to 66 Friday night at the Astroballe.
Villeurbanne has achieved a new feat in Euroleague, its most beautiful since the beginning of the season, by offering CSKA Moscow, defending champion, 67 to 66, Friday, November 8 at the Astroballe. ASVEL are undefeated in four games in front of their home crowd, which saw them beat also Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, two other former European champions, and the Spaniards of Vitoria. His record is four wins, three failures outside, totally unexpected for his return to the mainland competition.
The champions of France have disrupted the game of CSKA, a club budget nearly four times higher (41 million against 11 for Villeurbanne), imposing a defensive game.
The hero of the evening was the leader Jordan Taylor (14 points, 7 assists). This is the American who managed the decisive three-pointer 15 seconds from the end, before the star of Moscow, his compatriot Mike James (14 points), misses the last shoot at the buzzer.
Collective defense
"We played with a lot of heart. We do not have a Mike James but we compensate with collective defense and an offensive game where we pass the ball ", commented veteran Charles Kahudi at the microphone of RMC Sports. Taylor was in great trouble in recent weeks and faced Moscow with a big responsibility in the absence of two other leaders, injured Antoine Diot and Theo Maledon. He even played alone the last quarter because the young Matthew Strazel came out because of an injury to the ankle.
Champion of Europe in May with Nando De Colo, who has since played at Fenerbahçe, CSKA have kept a team capable of going all the way this season and remain powerfully armed even in the absence of American winger Will Clyburn. . He had a good start to the season with five wins in five games.
Up to 9 points ahead
Lifted by the address of Latvian Rihards Lomasz (15 points), the Villeurbanne had up to nine points ahead in the third quarter. But the Muscovites have found the sights to shoot, like the German Johannes Voigtman, to pass in front.
With four points behind one minute from the end, everything seemed lost to ASVEL, but that was not to mention the tremendous energy of Tony Parker's players, like the decisive defense of the American David Lighty on Mike James on the last action of the match.
Villeurbanne is against all expectations seventh in the standings, tied with Real Madrid and Panathinaikos, two giants of Europe. His next challenge will be to win for the first time outside. Why not in a week in Belgrade on the floor of the Red Star?