By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid grabbed two road wins in Greece over Panathinaikos and Olympiacos during the double-round week and Walter Tavares was leading the effort.
Per EuroLeague:
To start a road trip that he and his team won’t forget soon, Real Madrid tower of power Walter “Edy” Tavares used a career-high performance to earn the MVP of the Week honor for the second time this season. Tavares scored 20 points and ripped 14 rebounds on Tuesday as Real outlasted host Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 93-97 in double-overtime of their Round 14 game. Playing a career-high 41 minutes, Tavares made 9 of 13 two-point shots and added 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block while drawing 4 fouls for a performance index rating of 36, the best of a double-round week full of games. The second-best performance of the week also came in Round 14 as Nikola Mirotic of FC Barcelona registered a 34 PIR in an 87-74 home win over Khimki Moscow Region. Mirotic missed just 2 shots while scoring 24 points in that victory. In Round 15, Khimki center Devin Booker posted a PIR of 32 thanks to 26 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists although his team lost again, 90-84 at LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. Tying for the week’s third-best PIR, with 32, was Mike James of CSKA Moscow, whose 20 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds paced his team’s 83-65 home win over Zenit St Petersburg in Round 15. Three players tied for the fifth-best performance of the week, with PIRs of 29 each: Bojan Dubljevic, who had 20 points and 9 rebounds as Valencia Basket beat Olympiacos Piraeus 85-96 on the road in Round 14; Scottie Wilbekin of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, whose 25 points were not enough in an 84-81 loss at ASVEL in Round 14; and Jalen Reynolds, whose 21 points and 8 rebounds led FC Bayern Munich to a 77-66 home win over TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in Round 15.
Individual highs: Nick Calathes, Barcelona, 12 assists
Nemanja Nedovic of Panathinaikos Athens had the highest point total of the week in scoring 27 points in Round 14’s double-overtime loss to Real. James of CSKA continues leading the season-long scoring rankings with 19.9 points per game. Tavares’s 14 rebounds for Real in Round 14 were not only the week’s best, but put him in a tie for the overall lead, at 7.5 boards per game, with Nikola Milutinov of CSKA Moscow. Nick Calathes of Barcelona dished 12 assists, the best this week, in Round 14 against Khimki, whose veteran playmaker, Alexey Shved leads for the season with 8.8 per game. James had 4 steals in CSKA’s win over Zenit in Round 15, more than anyone else this week. Pierria Henry of Baskonia is the steals leader with a 2.1 average. Tavares’s 5 blocks against Olympiacos, the most this week, left him as the league leader with 2.0 per game. Tavares and CSKA’s Milutinov both registered two double-doubles this week. In addition to his 20 points and 14 rebounds against Panathinaikos, Tavares added 13 and 10, respectively, in beating Olympiacos Piraeus, also in overtime, in Round 15. Milutinov put up 12 points and 10 rebounds in a Round 14 win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul and then 13 and 13, respectively, against Zenit. Other double-double performers were, in Round 14: James, with 11 points and 10 assists; and in Round 15: Mirotic of Barcelona with 12 points and 10 rebounds; Shved of Khimki with 14 points and 10 assists; and Achille Polonara of Baskonia with 10 points, 11 rebounds.