By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Jaron Blossomgame was named 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season Round 4 MVP, Euroleague Basketball announced Thursday.
Blossomgame, 28, had 26 points behind 10/15 field goals, including five triples on Wednesday. He also grabbed 11 rebounds leading ratiopharm Ulm to the away win, 101-96, against Cedevita Olimpija. At 15.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.0 steals per contest, he is making a big splash in his first EuroCup campaign.
The former small forward of the Cleveland Cavaliers, 59th pick of the 2017 NBA draft coming out of Clemson, secured the award with the 35 PIR topping all players in action on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Lokomotiv Kuban’s Johnathan Motley was the Round 1 and Round 3 MVP, and John Shurna of Gran Canaria earned the Round 2 distinction.
Per the press release: “Jaron Blossomgame of ratiopharm Ulm earned 7DAYS EuroCup Round 4 MVP honors with a performance index rating of 35 in his team’s double-overtime road victory against Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana. Blossomgame led Ulm to a 96-101 win with 26 points on 5-for-6 two-point and 5-for-9 three-point shooting. He also downed his only free throw while adding 11 rebounds, an assist, 3 blocks and 4 fouls drawn for the highest PIR of the round. In the same double-overtime instant classic, Jaka Blazic of Cedevita had 26 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, a career-high 5 steals and 8 fouls drawn for a PIR of 31. Jerai Grant of Promitheas Patras led his team to its first EuroCup win of the season with a PIR of 29. Grant had 18 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 fouls drawn in Promitheas’s 83-80 overtime win against Frutti Extra Bursaspor. Mitchell Watt of Umana Reyer Venice, Thomas Klepeisz of Ulm and Gediminas Orelik of Lietkabelis Panevezys, each with a PIR of 28, completed the top individual performances in Round 4.
Individual highs: David Dudzinski, Bursaspor, 16 rebounds
Orelik was this round’s top scorer with 31 points in a home loss against Hamburg Towers. Johnathan Motley of Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar is currently the top scorer through four rounds, averaging 22.5 points. David Dudzinski of Frutti Extra Bursaspor led all rebounders in Round 4 by pulling down 16 against Promitheas. Vince Hunter of Boulogne Metropolitans 92 is the competition’s best overall rebounder at 9.3 per night. Nikola Radicevic of Lietkabelis was the only player to record double digits in assists this week, getting 12 against Hamburg. Andrew Albicy of Gran Canaria, Codi Miller-McIntyre of MoraBanc Andorra and Darius Thompson of Lokomotiv each average 7.5 assists to tie for first place in this category. Three players – Blazic, Derek Needham of Bursaspor and Aleksa Avramovic of Partizan NIS Belgrade – collected 5 steals each in Round 4. Albicy and Needham are tied atop the steals rankings (2.5 spg.). Victor Arteaga of Andorra had 4 blocks against Partizan to lead this round’s standings. Octavius Ellis of Turk Telekom Ankara (2.3 bpg.) ranks first overall in blocks. Nine players got a double-double in this round. Three of them play for Ulm: Blossomgame (26 points, 11 rebounds), Klepeisz (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Cristiano Felicio (13 points, 10 rebounds). Hunter, Radicevic, Dudzinski, Miller-McIntyre, Zach LeDay of Partizan, and Zach Auguste of Cedevita also recorded respective double-doubles in Round 4.”
Below, the Top 10 Plays headlined by a tremendous Moussa Diagne dunk.
Photo Credit: EuroCup