By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Scottie Wilbekin was named the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 10 MVP, Euroleague Basketball announced Thursday.
Wilbekin, 28, scored a career-high 37 points leading Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv to the home win against AS Monaco on Wednesday. The 37 PIR was the best among all players in action on Tuesday and Wednesday, thus securing him the MVP nod.
The former Florida standout, going through his sixth campaign in the European club continental competition, earned the MVP distinction for the third time, including Round 1 of the ongoing 2021-22 Regular Season.
Per the press release: “Scottie Wilbekin turned in a transcendent performance on Wednesday night to lead Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv to a 95-84 victory over AS Monaco and win MVP honors for Round 10 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season. Wilbekin set a career-high and tied a club record with 37 points. He made 7 of his 10 two-point shots, 6 of 12 shots from downtown and 5 of 6 free throws. Wilbekin also dished 8 assists, swiped 2 steals and drew 4 fouls in compiling a performance index rating of 37, which was the highest of any player in the round. It marks the third MVP of the round in Wilbekin’s career and his second this season. Sharing the runner-up spot for Round 10 were Rodrigue Beaubois of Anadolu Efes Istanbul and Jordan Loyd of Zenit St Petersburg, both with PIRs of 33. Beaubois scored a career-high 29 points on 7-of-10 three-point shooting in an 88-69 victory over Olympiacos Piraeus. Loyd racked up a season-high 25 points plus 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals in a 75-66 win over ALBA Berlin. Rounding out the round’s best performances were Steven Enoch of Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and Donta Hall of Monaco. Enoch helped his team defeat Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 93-74 with 23 points, 11 rebounds and a PIR of 32. Hall posted 18 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks for a PIR of 29.
Individual highs: Jordan Loyd of Zenit, 5 steals
Wilbekin was not only the MVP for Round 10, but also its leader in scoring with 37 points and in assists with 8. He is now ranked ninth for the season with 15.0 points per game and 10th with 4.2 assists per game. Elie Okobo of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne leads the league with 19.9 points per game and Nick Calathes of FC Barcelona leads in assists with 5.7 per game. Wilbekin’s Maccabi teammate Ante Zizic and Baskonia’s Enoch shared the lead for the round in rebounding with 11. Zizic moved up to 10th for the season with 6.0 rebounds per game. Georgios Papagiannis of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens sits atop the season-long standings with 7.7 rebounds per game. Zenit guard Loyd collected 5 steals on Wednesday, which were the most in the round. John Brown of UNICS Kazan is averaging 2.6 steals per game to lead the league. ALBA Berlin center Ben Lammers had a Round-10 high 3 blocks. Donta Hall’s 1.5 blocks per game lead the league. Enoch, Walter Tavares of Real Madrid (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Zizic (14 points, 11 rebounds) had the only double-doubles of the round.”
In addition, Donta Hall ranked first in the Top 10 Plays by blocking Wilbekin before Ante Zizic saved the offensive effort with a dunk.
Round 11 action coming right up with the schedule split between Thursday and Friday.
EuroCup MVP
Apart from EuroLeague, Justin Cobbs of Buducnost VOLI was confirmed as the 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season Round 5 MVP.
Per the press release: “A stellar performance in a convincing win paved the way for Justin Cobbs of Buducnost VOLI Podgorica to earn MVP honors for Round 5 of the 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season. Cobbs went off for a career-high PIR of 44 in leading short-handed Buducnost to a 91-60 rout of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana. He scored 33 points with only 3 missed shots. Cobbs was perfect from downtown with 3 three-pointers and shot 12 for 12 from the free-throw line. He added 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 1 block and 5 fouls drawn. Cobbs’s PIR of 44 was the highest PIR for a Buducnost player since 2004 and the club’s second-best mark in EuroCup history. Ivan Koljevic had a PIR of 46 against PAOK Thessaloniki on December 7, 2004. Vince Hunter of Boulogne Metropolitans 92 had the second-highest PIR of the round in an 84-94 victory over Hamburg Towers. The big man collected 26 points on 12-of-14 two-point shooting plus 14 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, a block and 3 fouls drawn for a PIR of 41. Aaron Harrison of Turk Telekom Ankara and Michele Vitali of Umana Reyer Venice each had PIRs of 36 in Round 5. Harrison led Turk Telekom to an 88-85 victory over Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar with 28 points, 5 rebounds and 8 fouls drawn. Vitali had 26 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 6 fouls drawn in Reyer’s loss against Virtus Segafredo Bologna. Kerem Kanter of Slask Wroclaw, with a PIR of 35, rounded out the top five individual performances in Round 5. Kanter posted 17 points and 15 rebounds in defeat.
Individual highs: Alex Perez of Turk Telekom, 11 assists
Cobbs also led Round 5 in scoring with 33 points. Johnathan Motley of Lokomotiv leads the full-season scoring charts with 23.0 points per game. Kanter led all Round 5 rebounders by pulling down 15 against Dolomiti Energia Trento. He now leads the overall standings with 10.2 per night. Alex Perez was the only player to register double digits in assists, dishing 11 against Lokomotiv. Perez is averaging 7.4 assists for the season, which is third in the EuroCup. Codi Miller-McIntyre of MoraBanc Andorra ranks first with 7.6 per night. Cobbs, Kevin Hervey of Virtus, Nikola Radicevic of Lietkabelis Panevezys and Aleksa Avramovic of Partizan NIS Belgrade each collected 4 steals in this round. Avramovic leads the competition with 2.6 steals per game. Zoran Nikolic of Buducnost, Jerai Grant of Promitheas Patras and Johnathan Williams of Trento had 3 blocks apiece in Round 5. Octavius Ellis of Promitheas ranks is the EuroCup leader with 2.2 blocks per game. Six players registered double-doubles in Round 5. They were Hunter, Kanter, Perez (11 points, 11 assists), Johnathan Williams (17 points, 10 rebounds), Alan Williams (12 points, 10 rebounds) of Lokomotiv and Alen Smailagic (13 points, 12 rebounds) of Partizan.”
Check out the Top 10 Plays of the week:
Photo Credit: EuroLeague.net