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Mons performance is getting worse, Roma play fourth game in 10 days

Both teams have many physically strong players, Roma especially in the paint. The last two games Mons struggled offensively, a segment that is always more important to coach Defraigne than defense

Mons had a difficult week - two defeats of which the one in domestic league was probably a consequence of a difficult trip to Zaragoza. That is what usually happens to teams unaccustomed to playing in strong rhythm with games on Wednesday and Saturday without much time to practice in between since the trip itself often takes as much as 24 hours.

Zaragoza  was a difficult mission, that was known in advance. They especially struggled offensively. This Mons team is too dependent on their offensive performance, mostly on their combo guard Battle. They accepted Zaragoza's sluggish style, they played against set defense and there was no transition, something Mons coach has built his career on in recent years.

- We opened the game great, we played at a level I expected. That is about 70% of our ability in this part of the season. In the second quarter we were very bad, that was the worst performance I have seen from my team - said Mons coach disappointingly.

His team has many new players and that is seen in their performance. Last season in Eurocup their games averaged 166 points, they run a lot and played short attacks. Zaragoza is not Pitesti or Okapi Aalstar that can be easily destroyed offensively, but even Mons coach expected more offensively from his team against Zaragoza.

What could he have said after a defeat in Liege against relatively weak home team? Mons had only 16/48 from the field, a rarely seen low efficiency. Their three point shooting was much better (8/20), but 8/28 for two points is probably some sort of a record.

They are hosting Roma, a team that also lost first round and is very tired after a hard rhythm at the start of the season. They are struggling, but they have good defensive players. Battle and Vaden are key and they have to show some of their offensive potential, Battle especially since he is known as a great scorer. This is a game between two teams with physically powerful players, both teams have many Americans and we can expect them to play a close and tough game.

Roma are playing their fourth game in just ten days, which is definitely difficult rhythm. Coach Dalmonte has been talking for a while they are not physically ready and their results so far prove it. They play in slow rhythm without much running because they know they can not do it. Last round the hosted French team Gravelines and they struggled against their defense and lost 69-75.

During the weekend they had a game in domestic league against Brindisi and the game was played at neutral court in Bologna. They did not start well, they struggled with shooting and had only 9/31 from the court. They were behind only 6 at halftime because offensive rebounds and technical mistakes their opponents made. In the second half they started playing and led by Ignerski and Taylor, two players that scored more than half of team's points in the second half, they managed to win.

Iagnerski ended the game with 17 points and Taylor had 9 points and 4 assists. Goss and Hosley had their worst game so far and they had 6/23 from the field combined. In addition, Brindisi won the rebound battle 37-33.

Their coach Dalmonte immediately focused on their European challenge:

- Our goal is to play a good game after we had a bad game against Gravelines. Dexia have a good team since they have many foreign players, they have great guard duo Battle-Stitt. Love is their best player in the paint and contributes a lot on the offensive end while Vaden, their power forward, is a great shooter. They have good bench with Muyao and Randler that gives their coach additional rotation options. They are balances between offense and defense and since they are playing at home, I expect them to be very aggressive at both ends.

As every time so far, he mentioned the difficult rhythm which forces him to carefully monitor the minutes his players are playing:

- We have to continue on our path, be careful with player's minutes and try to rest some players that play a lot in domestic competition.

Mons have lost their two last games, and Roma won their last; this is the reason for these odds. I think it's a bit far-fetched. This is a 50-50 game, and I would say that Mons even have a slight advantage. Roma struggled against Brindisi, and we will see that Roma in the better part of this season. By losing Datome, they lost more than their best scorer, Lawal's departure took away their domination under the rim and lots of easy points after the pick. On the other hand, Mons have been playing well below their reputation, but Battle and Vaden can do a lot lot better, especially Battle, who had great numbers in a serious university such as Penn State, and then later in Europe. Roma's offense is too dependent on Goss, Jimmy Baron lost his shooting hand somewhere in Russia and has been fairly modest recently. In addition, this is the fourth match in 10 days for the Romans, and I'm not sure if they can keep up the pace, especially since Italians value their domestic championship more than the Eurocup.