By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Vasilije Micic paced Anadolu Efes to victory against Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on Thursday and his performance stood out the most over the course of Round 31, making him the EuroLeague MVP of the week.
Micic had 21 points on 8-10 FG, 7 assists and 4 rebounds to accumulate a PIR of 30 as Efes bounced back with this win.
Per EuroLeague:
A near-perfect shooting performance in a no-doubt-about-it victory has made Vasilije Micic of Anadolu Efes the MVP of the Week for the third time this season and the sixth time in his Turkish Airlines EuroLeague career.
Micic led Efes to an 85-65 home win against Panathinaikos OPAP Athens with 21 points as he made 7 of 8 two-pointers, 1 of 2 three-pointers and each of his 4 free throw attempts. Micic added 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal and 4 fouls drawn for a PIR of 30, the highest this week in a winning effort.
Nigel Hayes of Zalgiris Kaunas matched Micic with a PIR of 30 in his team’s 81-88 home loss against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. Hayes had 24 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 5 fouls drawn against Maccabi. Three players followed Micic and Hayes with PIRs of 28 each. That figure matched a career high for Achille Polonara in TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz’s important 86-69 home win over AX Armani Exchange Milan. Polonara had another personal best with 13 rebounds to go along with 17 points, 4 assists and a steal. Nikola Mirotic scored a season-high 26 points in leading FC Barcelona to an 80-67 home win over ALBA Berlin that was good enough to clinch home-court advantage in the playoffs. Mirotic added 7 rebounds and 3 steals for his PIR of 28. That was matched also by Jordan Mickey of Khimki Moscow Region despite his team’s 70-91 home loss to Zenit St Petersburg. Mickey was good for 23 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in that game.
Individual highs: Moustapha Fall, ASVEL, 5 blocks
Mirotic was this week’s top scorer with his 26 points against ALBA. Mike James of CSKA continues leading the overall standings at 19.3 points per night. Polonara’s 13-rebound haul in the win over Milan proved the most of any player this week. Nikola Milutinov ranks first overall in rebounds, averaging 8.6 per game. Nick Calathes of Barcelona dished 11 assists to lead the weekly standings. Alexey Shved of Khimki continues first overall with 8.1 per night. Chris Jones of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and Alex Abrines of Barcelona collected 4 steals each this week. Pierria Henry of TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz ranks first with 1.8 steals per game. Moustapha Fall of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne recorded 5 blocks in a home loss to Real Madrid. Walter Tavares of Real is first overall in blocks (1.742 bpg.) with a narrow advantage over Georgios Papagiannis of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens (1.741 bpg.). Polonara (17 points, 13 rebounds) and Landry Nnoko of Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade (12 and 10, respectively) were the only players to register double-doubles this week.