Mike James: “To Panathinaikos I was hungry, I would kill Spanoulis in one against one”

He became the first scorer in her history, with the American answering questions about his career, to which he referred among others to Panathinaikos and Vassilis Spanoulis. Mike James managed Thursday night (7/03/24) to become the first scorer in the history of Euroleague, with Monaco’s guard surpassing Vassilis Spanoulis and rising to first place on the relevant list. With 4.455 points the American basketball player now holds the record in the event, with him even in the context of his great achievement speaking on the official channel of the event for his career. In the questions he did not fail to speak of his passing by Panathinaikos, but also Vassilis Spanoulis, who stressed that he was a great athlete, who in his opinion in a “fight” one against one would win. In detail the words of Mike James How he would describe the time he spent on each team: “I think in Basconia I was naive. Panathinaikos, hungry. Milan over my head. In CSKA renewed. In Monaco, ready”. How much he changed playing in Europe: “Being in Europe allowed me to grow even faster than I already was. I think I was already growing up faster than most people around me, but when I came here and had to be alone, I had to start from scratch and build myself day after day. I think it just allowed me to grow up, grow up, discover things, overcome pain and difficulties and good and bad times. This allowed me to find out exactly who I was, very early in my life.” On whether it is harder to score in Europe: “I think that the dynamics of how Europe is built with rules, the smallest stadium and the non-existence of three seconds in defense, the idea of scoring in Europe is more difficult, simply because it is a little more physical, with how rules allow you to play. So from these factors, yes”. For which players have helped him in his career: “I think I have tried to get things from many people. For example, when I first came, I really liked Sergio Yul, Nando, Teodosic, Keith Langford, Tyrece Rice, Malcolm Delaney. To mention some without getting away. As I grew up in the league I think it was obviously great to watch Spanoulis, Diamantidis was amazing. Different things from games of different people, it was something I liked to see, observe how they did it and see what things I could take and put in my game. So I think there were a lot of people I saw early and a lot of people I saw trying to find out how they did certain things and how they got those particular things. I think I would be here all day if I had to continue the list.” Who gave him the best advice: “Basically everyone. I think I asked questions and some people gave me a very good answer. I think Tyreese, Malcolm and Spanoulis have given me amazing answers and some people just gave me ‘okay’ answers and I think everything is fine. Not everyone is used to this question. They are used to people asking them things, so I try to give great answers when people ask me things.” For who would win 1v1 with Spanoulis: “1V1? I’d probably kill him, but it’s not because he’s bad or something. I just think I’m more of a player ‘one against one’ and he played very well pick and roll. When he got the changes, he found room to get the shots. ‘One against one’ is more my element. He didn’t play ‘one against one’, that’s something I do, so that’s more of a clue to me than to him.” We sat down with for a Q&A session Check it out — Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) It is worth noting that Mike James needed 271 games to reach this number, while Vassilis Spanoulis finished his career in Europe’s top intercollegiate event with 358 points.