Euroleague: why Asvel can no longer do it?

The Stadium of Peace and Friendship, home of Olympiakos, was badly named last Friday.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Asvel players remained with their heads bowed, stunned by the tireless blows that the Greeks dealt them.

The Villeurbannais then chained a fifth defeat in a row, the heaviest of their season, concluded by a gap of 35 points.

The coach, TJ Parker, preferred to put things into perspective, referring to the long journeys imposed by the sustained pace of the competition: "

An astonishing justification.

One victory in eight matches

One thing is certain: the Asvel can no longer do it.

TJ Parker's players have already squandered the precious lead they had built by starting the season with six wins and two losses.

Since then, the Rhone have won only one meeting in the Euroleague, at the buzzer, in Monaco (84-85).

Their other seven games ended in defeats and the Green Team, which is in 12th place, two Top 8 wins, before facing Fenerbahçe this Thursday (9 p.m.).

Beyond the balance sheet, it is the way that questions.

The lack of defensive solidarity was evident in the face of Olympiakos.

This was already the case against Vitoria, the worst attack in the championship, against whom the French had conceded the trifle of 91 points (91-66).

This collective strength at the start of the season has disappeared, condemning the Villeurbanne to an offensive orgy to get out of it.

Okobo inside

Except that offensively, it also gets stuck. The strengths at the start of the season have greatly diminished. And who better than Elie Okobo to symbolize this decline? The rear, in 108 games in the NBA, long best scorer in Europe, is marking time. Friday, against Olympiakos, the former Pau was put to rest and started on the bench. It was only during the third quarter that he finally opened his counter, an eternity for him.

The explosive full-back finished with 8 small points, 3 of 9 in shooting, far from his average of more than 20 points and 50% in shooting at the start of the season.

“

” his coach said

Mitigating circumstances

“

he continues. Coach Parker’s observation is confirmed by the numbers. Since November 6 and the injury of its captain, Asvel has won only 3 of its last 14 meetings, in all competitions. Meanwhile, Antoine Diot, Marcos Knight and Victor Wenbanyama also missed several matches.

If the current dynamic is catastrophic, it should also be put into perspective. With a total budget of 15.07 million euros, even if it has tripled since 2014, Tony Parker's club is very far from the European behemoths. Barça, for example, has 34.8 million, just for its payroll. So even when his team was second, TJ Parker refused to talk about the Playoffs, wondering if his team was "

" for it.

Asvel is growing and it will take time.

With the obtaining of the permanent license, which guarantees him ten years in the closed league that is the Euroleague, the Villeurbannais have plenty to see.

For the moment, Elie Okobo's teammates are doing better than last season, finished with 13 wins and 21 losses in fourteenth place.

But it will be necessary to stem this bad patch to pass a new level to join the race for the Playoffs.

And why not this Thursday, against Nando de Colo and company?