Mr. 3000: A change that inspired the best version of Mike James / News - Basketnews.com

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Mr. Natural turned into a Mr. 3000. Mike James joined an exclusive EuroLeague club, playing probably his best basketball this season.

Mike James

MIN:29.56PTS:15.2 (48.78%)REB:2.9As:6.05ST:1.25BL:0.05TO:2.6GM:20ProfileEuroLeague2021/2022

AS Monaco's scorer got rid of Chris Jones and saw a lot of space to drive to the left corner.

Jones got stuck behind Jerry Boutsiele's screen and was left two steps away from James. And if that's the case, the game is over.

James sprinted to the corner, quickly stopped as if he pulled the handbrake, faked, and saw the clear sky when Jones landed way too far from him.

While jumping on his left foot, James saw the 3000th point splashing the EuroLeague net.

Soon he sat on the bench with a smile on his face.

Before his 187th EuroLeague appearance, James was 20-points shy of reaching the 3000-point milestone. He scored just as much as he needed, 20 points, and led Monaco to a solid victory against their French rivals ASVEL Villeurbanne 100-75.

He became just the 9th EuroLeague player to join that exclusive 3000-point club. The second-fastest after Nando De Colo. First among the US players.

"It's nice," James reacted to his milestone on EuroLeague TV. "There's not that many of us, so that's always good to be one of few. But, you know, I just want to win, really."

The much-anticipated matchup between James and Elie Okobo turned out to be a mismatch. Okobo was more of a spectator than a performer with 10 points on 2-6 shooting from the field in almost 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, James was everywhere.

He scored 20 points on 7-10 shooting, dished 7 assists, and had a performance index rating of 25.

That's a pretty casual stat line for James, who became the first EuroLeague player to score at least 25 points in 30 different games last week. But this time, he was even more impactful than his numbers.

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James opened fire with an early jump shot and a couple of tough three-pointers that silenced Astroballe.

When you let him score eight first-quarter points, nobody gets surprised watching him making those long off-the-glass shots later.

Other than scoring, he was also reading the situations on an elite level. A 31-year-old guard recognized cuts and mismatches before they happened.

Instead of taking shots, James was also willing to give extra passes that mostly converted into points.

Many of these mismatches occurred under the rim, where Donatas Motiejunas destroyed ASVEL's defense with 22 points (9/10 2PT) and a season-high 27 PIR.

ASVEL had no answers for James, Motiejunas, and Will Thomas, who formed a very intelligent offensive triangle.

"We used our advantages offensively. In any situation we were, let's say, better, we found mismatches, and I liked the spirit of togetherness to win the game," coach Sasa Djordjevic said on EuroLeague TV.

If hockey assists counted, James would have had an easy double-double. He even assisted by making tough back screens that opened space for Motiejunas under the basket.

James and his all-around performance set the tone for the rest of the group.

He controlled his team, and Monaco controlled the game, where ASVEL didn't have many chances.

Hosts were too slow to catch guests on fastbreaks. They were outrebounded (23-34), with Monaco bigs grabbing 13 offensive rebounds. Alpha Diallo, who also had an excellent game with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists, had 6 offensive rebounds alone.

Suffering post-COVID setback, ASVEL were just not as hungry as their rivals from the French Riviera, losing most of 50/50 ball situations.

"First of all, it's a team win, and I'm happy about that," Motiejunas recalled. "The team executed the coach's plan offensively and defensively. Our goal is to be in the top eight of the EuroLeague and play in the playoffs. So this win gets us closer."

Monaco tied 8th seeded Anadolu Efes for nine wins in the standings, as James is playing probably the highest quality basketball this season. But that wasn't an easy season for the most outstanding EuroLeague player.

He averaged less than 15 points per game (14.8 on 45.7% 2-point and 26.2% 3-point shooting), his worst since his first season with Panathinaikos (13.1 PPG, 2016-17), and his team was on the brink of missing the EuroLeague playoff race.

But things had changed on December 14th, when AS Monaco replaced coach Zvezdan Mitrovic with Sasa Obradovic.

The following day, James marked his EuroLeague career-high 14 assists, including 20 points, in an overtime win in Kaunas. That was a beginning of a change.

In his first three games under coach Sasa Obradovic, James averaged 17.7 points and 10.3 assists. Even though Monaco managed to win only one of these three battles, they started getting better.

With Sasa Obradovic on the sidelines, days with many ISO plays and low-percentage shots were over.

The new coach demanded more discipline and implemented some new rules. He put his players in clear roles to show their best abilities. That's what Sasa Obradovic was known for years.

People who know him well also noticed a few changes. Obradovic looked more flexible, showed better self-control, and had a calmer approach to mistakes.

One of these essential on-court adjustments was giving more point guard duties to James. And Mike embraced it.

Since a coaching change, James averages 18.5 points (+3.7 PPG) on 59.2% 2-point (+13.5%) and 45.2% 3-point (+19%) shooting and 9.5 assists (+4.6 APG).

What's interesting, James increased his scoring average by 3.7 points taking fewer shots.

According to BBallytics, in six games under coach Sasa Obradovic, Rocca Team improved its offensive rating from 10th best (108.4) to the EuroLeague best (121.9).

Monaco's 3-point percentage increased from 34.7% to 47% (the EuroLeague best since Round 15), and the 2-point percentage improved from 49.9% to 57.6% (3rd best).

Overall, Monaco were 15th by the true shooting percentage (54.4%) under Mitrovic. With Obradovic now, they are at the top of the EuroLeague (64.1%).

Also, Monaco shares the ball better. They were 17th by total points assisted (20.8%), and now they're 3rd best (27%), per BBallytics.

"What makes him strong is that he is a very straightforward person who knows what he wants. He is very demanding but also very clear. It makes things easier for the whole group," Paris Lee described coach Obradovic on Monaco's official website. "We have a real idea of ​​what we want to do and how to execute it. And if you don't do what he asks, the coach will let you know."

Few Monaco players managed to step up their game significantly. For example, Motiejunas averaged 8 points on 55.9% 2-point shooting and 3.9 rebounds in 18 minutes. His +/- was one of the worst on Monaco's squad.

With Obradovic, his playing time went up from 18 to 19 minutes per game, but his scoring average jumped to 14 points per night on 70.8% 2-point and 57.1% 3-point shooting. Also, his +/- now is third-best in Monaco since Round 15.

Dwayne Bacon produced a significant leap in points (from 10.6 to 14), shots (from 9.4 to 12.2), and +/- (1st best on the team). That all comes together with his increased playing time from 22 to 27 minutes.

Alpha Diallo also got his role increased significantly. His scoring average jumped from 7.4 to 10.3 points (on 48.4% 2-point and 44.4% 3-point shooting). His assists increased from 0.9 to 3.5, while minutes jumped from 21 to 26.

"I recovered this team which was not at the best point. They were without cohesion and lacked communication," coach Obradovic revealed in an interview to Rocca's website.

"It was not easy to identify all these problems in one day and to get players out of their frustration," Obradovic continued. "I tried to identify the weak points of the team to bring them down over time, as the defense, for example."

"It was necessary to clarify the roles, to designate the leaders who must help the others in one or another sector. The whole team was affected, and I had to find a way to communicate and allow everyone to regain some confidence. We still made good progress, especially in defense, where we had many problems. It was crucial to make the guys understand the importance of the defensive aspect," he added.

Interestingly, with Obradovic, their defensive rating dropped from 12th to 15th place. That's the opposite of what this coach is known for. But step by step, this team is learning to defend Obradovic's way.

After a five-game losing streak, AS Monaco managed to pull out three wins against their direct playoff rivals Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (82-76), FC Bayern Munich (83-76), and ASVEL (100-75).

Not only did they surpass them in the standings, but they also managed to get an advantage over Bayern (both W) and ASVEL (25-point victory after a painful loss at the buzzer).

Only Maccabi maintained a slight advantage after Monaco prevailed in Tel Aviv by 11 (84-95).

The recent games show that AS Monaco are improving. As soon as Obradovic fixes the defense, they might emerge as a massive threat to any current Top 8 team.

Monaco's playoff hopes start and end with Mike James.

He's playing probably his best basketball this season, as his teammates follow his lead. There's another important milestone ahead of Mr. 3000. And he's on it.

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