By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The latest EuroLeague Experts Round Table edition focused on the last double-round week of 2019, which teams and players impressed the most as well as which squad suffered the most from it.
The panel includes Ermal Kuqo (long-time EuroLeague player and recent Final Four Ambassador), Piti Hurtado (professional basketball coach and current EuroLeague analyst on DAZN), Vladimir Stankovic (veteran journalist and longtime EuroLeague.net collaborator), Drazen Kanazir (Editor, Eurohoops Germany), and Andy West (EuroLeague.net contributor and EuroLeague.TV commentator).
Per EuroLeague.net:
What team impressed you most in the last double-round week of 2019?
Ermal Kuqo
“I have to go with Maccabi Tel Aviv here, which despite losing not one, but two point guards in Wolters and Di Bartolomeo, they are still managing to put on great performances and finding a way to win. They have done a great job at protecting their core from last season and are trying to build a championship-level team.”
Piti Hurtado
“Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv without a doubt. They limited Panathinaikos to less than 80 points, neutralizing Fredette, Rice and Calathes on offense, which is no joke. Othello Hunter delivered on both ends, especially on offense playing without the ball. They also did their homework against Zenit, which is always complex when you are the surprise team and do not have the pressure against the big teams, but can have doubts against lower-ranked teams, but Coach Sfairopoulos’s squad did the job. Maccabi is knocking on the door of the best.”
Vladimir Stankovic
“All the teams that won two games did great work, but it seems to me that the happiest must be CSKA for one simple reason: it won on the home court of the leader, Anadolu Efes Istanbul. What’s more, doing so broke Efes‘s streak of eight wins in a row.”
Drazen Kanazir
“The reigning champion, CSKA Moscow, made the most of their games and took two wins home to the Russian capital. They started off with a dominant performance over Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade at home and then beat the best team in the competition up to that point in Anadolu Efes Istanbul. CSKA handed the third loss to last season’s runner-up and did it by scoring 81 in Sinan Erdem Dome. As of now, the squad coached by Dimitris Itoudis ranks fifth the standings and is only two wins shy from the top spot in the league.”
Andy West
“CSKA Moscow. After losing in the previous round at Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv in a game they felt they should have been won, the double-round week was a good test of CSKA’s mental capacities to bounce back. Beating Crvena Zvezda by a 26-point margin in the first game of the week was a resounding response, but the real point was made by the road victory at league-leading Anadolu Efes, which had won its eight previous games. Limiting Efes’s offense to 80 points was a great collective effort and showed that CSKA is more than capable of defending its title.”
What player impressed you most in the last double-round week of 2019?
Ermal Kuqo
“Mike James has to be the man of the double-round week. He had 29 points against Crvena Zvezda and then just two days later scored 28 points in Istanbul against this season’s top team, Anadolu Efes. You can only take your hat off to such a performance, Mike has been nothing short of phenomenal this season for the Moscow Red Army.”
Piti Hurtado
“The name of the week is Mike James, period. It doesn’t matter if we look for tactical subtleties, James played extraordinary basketball both at home against Zvezda and on the road in the super difficult road win at Efes. He scored 29 and 28 points with 11-of-14 shooting on threes. Absolute leadership of a player in his prime and who wants to show this season that besides shining at an individual level, he can play to win the title.”
Vladimir Stankovic
“The key man in both of CSKA’s wins was Mike James. Against Crvena Zvezda, he scored 29 points and against Efes, 28. His performance index ratings were 32 and 36, respectively. He is third in scoring this season with 20.2 points per game and second in PIR, behind Shane Larkin, with 21.8.”
Drazen Kanazir
“By the end of this week, Mike James earned himself not one, but two MVP of the Round awards. He was the driving force for CSKA Moscow and mainly responsible for both successful outcomes. The scoring machine couldn’t be stopped by his opponents as he recorded 29 points in only 23:04 minutes of action in Round 14 against the reds form Serbia, but this wasn’t enough for him. James followed it up with 28 points in Istanbul against the tough defense of Anadolu Efes. The numbers are already impressive to read, but his consistency on offense and the many ways he can do damage to the other squad is what stands out.”
Andy West
“The obvious answer is Mike James, but in the nicest possible way, the double-MVP winner didn’t impress me that much because we already know what he’s capable of. So, I’ll pick Othello Hunter, who was vital to Maccabi’s victories over Zenit St Peterburg and Panathinaikos. He scored 15 points in both games, averaged 6 rebounds and – importantly considering his team’s backcourt injuries – also averaged 2.5 assists. That was a great all-round effort to help a team which desperately needed its senior players like Hunter to step up during the injury crisis, and he must be a contender for the MVP of the month award.”