By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
An extremely solid performance in Belgrade leads Walter Tavares to an individual accomplishment, besides powering Real Madrid to the win against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet.
Tavares, 30, posted a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double to go with four blocks and three assists Tuesday. His efforts resulted in a PIR of 35, the highest among all winning teams at the top half of the two-game week, thus earning him the first weekly MVP nod since the 2020-21 season and the fourth of his career.
Previous winners include Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos with four MVP awards, while Real Madrid’s Dzanan Musa has two. Crvena Zvezda’s Filip Petrusev, AS Monaco’s Elie Okobo and Mike James, Zalgiris’ Keenan Evans, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan’s Brandon Davies and Nicolo Melli, Valencia’s Bojan Dubljevic and Chris Jones, Cazoo Baskonia’s Pierria Henry and Maik Kotsar, Panathinaikos’ Dwayne Bacon, Anadolu Efes’ Vasilije Micic, Fenerbahce Beko’s Johnathan Motley, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv’s Lorenzo Brown, and ALBA Berlin’s Luke Sikma shape the rest of the list.
Per EuroleagueBasketball.net: “A dominant display in a 20-point road victory at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade has seen Walter Tavares of Real Madrid earn MVP of the Round honors in Round 18 of the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season. Tavares finished with a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double in Los Blancos’ 59-79 win at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall, which saw his team retain its place as co-leader in the standings. As well as going 7-of-8 from two-point range and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line, Tavares was particularly active on the boards, with 7 of his 12 rebounds coming on the offensive end. What’s more, he dished 3 assists, made 4 blocks and drew 7 fouls en route to his PIR of 35, one point below the career-high 36 PIR that he set against Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on December 15, 2020. This is the fourth time in his 180-game career in the EuroLeague that Tavares has secured the MVP of the Round distinction.
The next best PIR, 31, belongs to LCLC ASVEL Villeurbanne center Youssoupha Fall. Despite his team losing 75-83 at home to FC Barcelona, Fall scored a season-high 23 points on 9-of-12 two-point shooting, while he also went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. He paired those points with 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 6 fouls drawn. Rounding out the top three best performers in Round 18 is Nigel Hayes-Davis of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. During his team’s 88-94 overtime win at Panathinaikos Athens, he scored a season-best 24 points after shooting 6-of-7 on two-pointers, 3-of-5 on triples and 3-of-4 on free throws. In addition to that, he grabbed 4 rebounds, recorded 2 assists, had 1 steal and was fouled 7 times. In fourth place is Virtus Segafredo Bologna guard Milos Teodosic, who had a PIR of 28 in his team’s 77-87 loss at home to Zalgiris Kaunas. Teodosic finished with 21 points, having gone 3-of-5 from inside the arc, 3-of-7 from three-point territory and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Like Tavares, he had a double-double after pairing his 21 points with a season-high 12 assists. Teodosic also recorded 2 rebounds, 1 steal and 4 drawn fouls. Tied for fifth place are Mateusz Ponitka of Panathinaikos and Rolands Smits of Zalgiris, both of whom had a 26 PIR. In the case of Ponitka, he reached this mark after having a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double, while he also had 3 assists, 1 steal and 5 drawn fouls to his name. For Smits, he scored 17 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, dished 4 assists and drew 4 fouls.
Individual highs: Milos Teodosic, Virtus, 12 assists
Dwayne Bacon of Panathinaikos led all Round 18 scorers with 27 points. He is also this season’s scoring leader at 21.4 points per game. Walter Tavares of Real and Mateusz Ponitka of Panathinaikos had the joint-most rebounds in this round with 12. Mathias Lessort of Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade is the league leader in this category at 7.8 per game. Milos Teodosic of Virtus dished 12 assists, his season-high, to top all other passers in Round 18. Kostas Sloukas of Olympiacos Piraeus has been the best provider of assists so far this season, with an average of 6.8 per night. Scottie Wilbekin of Fenerbahce recorded a round-high 4 steals against Panathinaikos. Thomas Walkup of Olympiacos tops the overall standings for steals with 2.2 per game. Tavares of Real had 4 blocks against Zvezda, more than any other player in this round. He leads the league with an average of 2.8 blocks per contest. There were three players who achieved a double-double in Round 18: Tavares with 17 points and 12 rebounds; Teodosic with 21 points and 12 assists; and Ponitka with 14 points and 12 rebounds.”
A spectacular put-back dunk by AS Monaco’s Yoan Makoundou ranked first on the Top 10 Plays of Round 18.
Photo Credit: EuroLeagueBasketball.net