By Nikos Varlas
It sounds… crazy, but it’s true! If Panathinaikos can upset the great favorite for the Euroleague crown, CSKA Moscow, in the Final Four semifinal, then it will be more than possible for Dimitris Diamantidis to be the Euroleague 2011-12 season MVP. It would be a glowing “repeat” since his main opponent for the title is non other than Andrei Kirilenko.
Panathinaikos‘ captain got the Euroleague March/April MVP award – basically the play offs MVP award – and his numbers are great. In five games against Maccabi Tel Aviv he had 14.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.6 spg and 1.2 bpg, with excellent shot accuracy, like he use to have the last three seasons.
One of his basketball nicknames is… octopus but he managed to surpass it in this season’s play offs. He is in the Euroleague top 5 of nine statistical categories! In scoring, defensive rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, free throws made, free throws attempted, fouls won and of course index, the overall rating system of Euroleague.
It’s not easy for any player in Europe to be over Kirilenko in the index rating, that mirrors the efficiency of a player in every aspect of the game. But Diamantidis did it in the play offs having a 24 index per game. AK-47 is just behind him with 23,75, his teammate in CSKA Moscow Nenad Krstic is following (18.75), then comes David Andersen of Siena (18.25) and in fifth place there is Aaron Jackson of Bilbao (16.50).
Kirilenko is the scoring king of the play offs (17.5 ppg), followed be Juan Carlos Navarro of Barcelona (17.3 ppg), David Andersen (16.75 ppg), Bo McCalebb of Siena (15.25 ppg) and Dimitris Diamantidis (14.80 ppg).
The MVP season is the most valuable player for all the games until the Final Four. Kirilenko consistency is evident, having an index rating of 24.07, followed by Krstic (19.55), McCalebb (17.29), Diamantidis (17.00) and Vasilis Spanoulis of Olympiacos (16.37).
The bottom line is that Diamantidis, because of his play offs numbers, is the only player that can challenge the automatic favorite for the MVP award, Andrei Kirilenko. So we end up in the point that we started!
If Panathinaikos wins the Euroleague semifinal against CSKA Moscow, in the 12 of May, Diamantidis has serious chances to upset Kirilenko and be the Euroleague MVP for second straight season. Who is the only guy who seems capable to steal their thunder in the last moment? The Euroleague February MVP, if he can have a great individual game and lead his team in a semifinal win against Barcelona…. Vasilis Spanoulis of Olympiacos.