By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Shane Larkin helped Anadolu Efes climb up to the EuroLeague standings with a 16-3 record and his performance against Olimpia Milano earned him the MVP honors for Round 19.
Per euroleague.net:
A thrilling individual performance within a great team effort saw Shane Larkin of Anadolu Efes Istanbul to earn his second consecutive MVP honor in Round 19. Larkin led Efes to an 88-68 home victory against AX Armani Exchange Milan with 23 points on 4-for-7 two-point, 4-for-8 three-point and 3-for-3 free-throw shooting. He added 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, a block and 7 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 30, the best on a winning team in Round 19. He is the second player, after Mike James of CSKA Moscow, to earn back-to-back MVP honors this season.
Nikola Mirotic of FC Barcelona also had a PIR of 30 but his team lost 92-85 on the road to Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv. Despite that, Mirotic shined with 22 points on 4-for-7 three-point shooting, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 7 fouls drawn. DeShaun Thomas of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens and Georgios Printezis of Olympiacos Piraeus registered PIRs of 28 in Round 19. Thomas led Panathinaikos to a 98-83 win against Bayern Munich with 18 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 fouls drawn. Printezis had 15 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and a block in his team’s 86-93 home loss against ALBA Berlin. Will Thomas of Zenit St Petersburg, who had a PIR of 27 as his team downed visiting KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 72-66, completed the top individual performances in Round 19.
Individual highs: Alberto Abalde, Valencia, 11 rebounds
Larkin was also the top scorer in Round 19 with 23 points. Alexey Shved of Khimki Moscow Region is overall leading scorer at 21.3 points per game. Alberto Abalde of Valencia Basket led Round 19’s rebounders by pulling down 11 in his team’s road win against Khimki. Nikola Milutinov of Olympiacos continues leading the rebound standings at 8.7 per night. Nick Calathes of Panathinaikos dished 12 assists in Round 13 and increased his EuroLeague-best average to 9.4 per night. Mateusz Ponitka of Zenit, Pierria Henry of KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and Tonye Jekiri of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne each collected 4 steals in Round 19. Henry is the steals leader at 1.7 per night. Edy Tavares of Real Madrid and Georgios Papagiannis each had 4 blocks in this round. Tavares ranks first overall at 2.0 blocks per night for the season. Mirotic, Calathes and Kostas Sloukas of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (10 points, 10 assists) each registered a double-double in Round 19.
Photo: EuroLeague