By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Making plays right through the final second of a thriller has earned Rodrigue Beaubois of Anadolu Efes Istanbul the second, very deserved, MVP of the Week honor of his six-season Turkish Airlines EuroLeague career, per EuroLeague’s announcement.
Beaubois came off the bench to rally Efes to a 91-89 victory over visiting Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Thursday and sealed it with a blocked shot on Scottie Wilbekin’s attempted three-point game-winner at the buzzer. Beaubois led Efes in points (23), assists (7) and performance index rating (36) — the latter two marking personal highs in his 140-game EuroLeague career. He missed just 2 shots, downing 5 of 5 two-pointers, 3 of 5 triples and 4 of 4 free throws, while making 3 steals and blocking 2 shots, as well.
The next-best performance came from Real Madrid center Walter Tavares, whose career highs of 22 points and 34 PIR fueled a 90-93 road win at Zalgiris Kaunas. Tavares was 9-for-9 on two-point shots and pulled 6 offensive rebounds among his 12 total. TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz teammates Pierria Henry and Tonye Jekiri came next with PIRs of 31 each, but those performances couldn’t prevent an 86-88 home loss to LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. Jekiri tallied 21 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks while Henry Had 20 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. The fifth-best performance of the week belonged to Thomas Walkup of Zalgiris, who posted 18 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds in his team’s home loss to Real.
Individual highs: Nick Calathes, Barcelona, 12 assists
Beaubois was this week’s top scorer, with 23 points. Jordan Loyd of Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade leads the overall scoring ranks with 20.3 points per game. Tavares topped all rebounds this week with 12 boards. The regular-season leader is Devin Booker of Khimki Moscow Region with 8.4 rebounds per game. Nick Calathes dished 12 assists, the high for this week, in FC Barcelona’s commanding 67-103 road win at ALBA Berlin. He now leads the overall standings with 6.9 assists per game. Henry of Baskonia and Lorenzo Brown of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul each had 4 steals, the best total this week. Henry took over the overall lead in steals with 2.2 per game. Six players tied for the most blocks this week, with 2 each. Jordan Mickey of Khimki leads all shot-blockers with 3 per game for the season. Real Madrid teammates Tavares (22 points, 12 rebounds) and Facundo Campazzo (19 points, 10 assists) were the only players to register double-doubles this week.