By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Shane Larkin led Anadolu Efes to a home win over Olympiacos and earned his 11th career MVP of the Week honors in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
He banked in 21 points while also dishing five assists, grabbing five rebounds and stealing the ball three times for a total PIR of 32.
Per EuroLeague Basketball:
As the catalyst of a remarkable comeback, Shane Larkin earned the 11th MVP of the Week honor of his Turkish Airlines EuroLeague career by leading Anadolu Efes Istanbul to a 76-53 home win over Olympiacos Piraeus on Thursday. Larkin’s performance index rating of 32 topped all EuroLeague players this week, and his role was central in Efes recovering from a 15-point deficit to win by 23. Larkin scored 11 of his 21 points as Efes matched the third-biggest difference ever in a EuroLeague quarter by winning the second one 32-8. He also had 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 7 fouls drawn. Larkin now ranks second all-time in weekly MVP honors, behind only Nando De Colo, whose 31 PIR in Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul’s 89-84 win over visiting ALBA Berlin was second-best for the week. De Colo pointed the way with 26 points and 8 assists as Fenerbahce stretched its winning streak to 10 games. Larkin and De Colo meet up when Fenerbahce hosts Efes in Round 26. Three players followed them with PIRs of 27 this week. Two of them were huge in first-place FC Barcelona’s 86-62 thumping of Zalgiris Kaunas on Thursday. Center Pierre Oriola posted a career-high 19 points and pulled 7 rebounds in the victory, while his teammate Cory Higgins matched his scoring and added 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Larkin’s Efes teammate, center Bryant Dunston, also reached a PIR of 27 by collecting 15 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals in their win over Olympiacos.
Individual highs: Alexey Shved, Khimki, 10 assists
De Colo was this week’s top scorer with his 26 points against ALBA. Mike James of CSKA Moscow remains atop the scorers’ table at 20.8 points per game. As many as eight players – Youssoupha Fall and Achille Polonara of TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, Shavon Shields of AX Armani Exchange Milan, Othello Hunter of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, Ognjen Kuzmic of Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade, Edy Tavares and Trey Thompkins of Real Madrid, and Moustapha Fall of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne – pulled down 9 rebounds apiece this week. Nikola Milutinov of CSKA leads the rebounds standings at 8.6 per night. Alexey Shved of Khimki Moscow Region was the only player to register double-digit assists this week, getting 10 in a home loss to Baskonia. Shved also added 16 points for the week’s sole double-double. Shved averages a league-high 7.9 assists, too. His Khimki teammate Vyacheslav Zaytsev and Norris Cole of ASVEL each collected 4 steals, tops for the week. Pierria Henry of Baskonia is the steals leader at 1.84 per game, close followed by Larkin with 1.83. Youssoupha Fall of Baskonia and Ben Lammers of ALBA each had 3 blocks. Georgios Papagiannis of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens ranks first overall in blocks at 2.0 per night.