By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens sharpshooter Nemanja Nedovic has been named the weekly MVP for EuroLeague Round 19 and 20, as announced Saturday. Nedovic recorded a 33-point performance to pace the Greens to win against ASBEL on Wednesday, producing an index rating of 40, the highest single-game total of any player in the double-round week and the fifth-highest of the season so far.
Per EuroLeague:
Scoring ace Nemanja Nedovic has earned his second MVP of the Week honor this season by leading Panathinaikos OPAP Athens to an 88-71 home win over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in Round 19 on Wednesday. Nedovic’s performance index rating of 40 that night was the highest single-game total of any player in the double-round week and the fifth-highest of the season so far. Nedovic scored 33 points to go with 6 assists and 5 rebounds in the victory.
His scoring and PIR were the second-highest of his 112-game EuroLeague career, behind only the 39 points and 45 PIR he registered less than a month ago, in a Round 16 loss at Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv.
Following Nedovic with a PIR of 30, also in Round 19, was Nando De Colo of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, whose 27 points paced his team’s 96-76 win over visiting TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. Two frontcourt players recorded PIRs of 29 in big Round 30 road wins. Walter Tavares led Real Madrid past FC Bayern Munich 76-81 in overtime with his career-high 26 points and 9 rebounds. Guerschon Yabusele was everywhere in LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne’s 63-69 decision over host Olympiacos Piraeus, amassing 19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
Three players in Round 19 posted PIRs of 28, and two of them did it again in Round 20. Nedovic’s Panathinaikos teammate Georgios Papagiannis helped beat ASVEL with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. Cory Higgins had 18 points, 5 assists and 4 steals in an 87-75 road win over Khimki Moscow Region, then repeated his 28 PIR in Round 20 with 25 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists in a 75-88 victory at CSKA Moscow. And Arturas Gudaitis had 22 points and 6 rebounds despite Zenit St Petersburg’s 82-80 defeat at Bayern in Round 19, but came back at home two days later with another 28 PIR based on 15 points and 8 rebounds in a 77-65 home win over Zalgiris Kaunas.
Individual highs: Nick Calathes, Barcelona, 15 assists
Nedovic’s 33 points, the third-highest total of the season, were the most of any player in the double-round week. Mike James of CSKA Moscow continues as the top scorer overall with 20.4 points per game. CSKA’s Nikola Milutinov pulled 14 rebounds in a Round 19 win against Zalgiris Kaunas for the top total of the week. He is also the rebounds leader for the season with 8.6 per game. Nick Calathes dished 15 assists, the most by any player this season, in Barcelona’s Round 19 victory against Khimki. Alexey Shved of Khimki leads all assist-makers this season with 7.8 per game. Derrick Williams of Valencia Basket had a career-high 5 steals in his team’s 95-80 loss to AX Armani Exchange Milan in Round 19. The steals leader is currently Pierria Henry of Baskonia with 2.0 per game. Papagiannis, Wade Baldwin of Bayern and Dyshawn Pierre of Fenerbahce topped all shot-blockers this week with 3 each. Papagiannis is tied with Tavares of Real for the league lead with 1.9 per game. All three double-doubles this week came in Round 19. They belonged to Milutinov (10 points, 14 rebounds), Kostas Sloukas of Olympiacos (21 points, 11 assists) and Othello Hunter of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (11 points, 10 rebounds).