By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona star forward Nikola Mirotic dominated in the win of his team over archrival Real Madrid and won MVP of the Week in EuroLeague.
Mirotic scored a career-high-tying 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in 29 minutes for a new record in PIR: 39. It was the best Index performance of Round 9 overall.
Per EuroLeague:
Nikola Mirotic stepped up with a career-best performance against his former team in one of basketball’s greatest rivalries on Friday, leading FC Barcelona to a 93-80 win over Real Madrid to earn the MVP honor of Round 14. Mirotic set a new career-high with a performance index rating of 39 and tied his career best in scoring with 31 points. In 29 minutes on the floor, Mirotic went 4-for-4 on two-pointers, 3-for-6 on triples and 14-for-15 at the free throw line. He completed a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds to go with 1 assist and 9 drawn fouls. This is Mirotic’s eighth MVP of the Round honor and second this season. Following in second place was Nikola Milutinov, who ruled inside in CSKA Moscow‘s 51-73 win at Zalgiris Kaunas. His 36 PIR, the second-best of his career, came with 19 points on 8-for-9 two-point shooting and 12 rebounds. He also had a steal and a block, and 5 drawn fouls, in 26 minutes. Next, with a PIR of 35, came Jan Vesely who starred as Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul went on the road to beat Zenit St Petersburg 80-86. Vesely poured in 22 first-half points on the way to a career-high 32, making 9 of 11 two-pointers and 2 of 3 threes. He also picked up 5 rebounds, an assist and a steal. Fourth on the list of Round 14 performances was Lorenzo Brown of UNICS Kazan, who orchestrated a 74-85 road win at Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv with 26 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists for a PIR of 30, his highest for a road game in three EuroLeague seasons. Wrapping up the list of this week’s top five performers is Vladimir Lucic, whose 18 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists for a 29 PIR paced FC Bayern Munich to an 83-71 home win against Anadolu Efes Istanbul.