By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
One is an up-and-coming teenage sensation and the other is coming back from injury that sidelined him for the opening two months of the season, but Luka Doncic of Real Madrid and Mike James of Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens had one thing in common in Round 13; they accumulated the highest performance index ratings of all players of winning teams to earn the distinction as co-MVPs for Round 13 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.
On Tuesday night, the 17-year-old Doncic shined with an all-round effort in his team’s 95-72 victory over visiting Brose Bamberg. The playmaker posted 16 points by making 3 of 6 two-pointers and 3 of 5 shots from long range along with 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals for an index rating of 25. A day later, James paced Panathinaikos to a 72-86 road win over EA7 Emporio Armani Milan with 19 points by making 5 of 7 attempts inside the arc and 3 of 6 from downtown. He also collected 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal.
The highest index rating of Round 13 came from FC Barcelona Lassa center Ante Tomic. In a loss to Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz, Tomic posted 18 points and 7 rebounds, and drew 7 fouls to accumulate an index rating of 27. Rounding out the list of Round 13’s best performers were Will Clyburn of Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul and Jamel McLean of Milan, both having achieved an index rating of 24. Clyburn had 20 points with 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in a key road win over city rival Fenerbahce Istanbul, while McLean collected 16 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists off the bench against Panathinaikos.
Individual leaders: Ognjen Kuzmic of Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade, 14 rebounds
Evgeny Voronov of Unics Kazan and Darussafaka’s Scottie Wilbekin each established career-highs with 22 points in Round 13, which also led all players in scoring for the round.
Voronov’s teammate Keith Langford, who missed the game due to injury, remains the EuroLeague’s scoring leader with 23.8 points per game this season. Ognjen Kuzmic of Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade topped all players in Round 13 by collecting 14 rebounds and is now the EuroLeague’s co-leader in rebounding together with Tyler Honeycutt of Anadolu Efes Istanbul; both players are averaging 8.0 rebounds per night.
Barcelona point guard Tyrese Rice led all Round 13 participants with 8 assists. Reigning champion CSKA Moscow’s playmaker Milos Teodosic, who sat out on Wednesday in Tel Aviv, continues to top the assists chart this season with 8.5 per game. Efes teammates Cedi Osman and Thomas Heurtel each recorded 4 steals, which were more than anyone else on Tuesday or Wednesday. The season co-leaders in this category are Charles Jenkins of Zvezda and Shane Larkin of Baskonia, each with 1.8 per game. Unics big man Art Parakhouski and Darusafaka center Semih Erden each swatted 3 blocked shots in this round. Parakhouski is tied with Ekpe Udoh of Fenerbahce for the most blocks for the season: 1.8 per game. Kuzmic amassed 13 points and 14 rebounds for Round 13’s lone double-double.