By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
There is no better way for a player to make sure all eyes will be on him during the new season than to step into the spotlight the very moment it is switched on for the first time.
Several players delivered excellent performances in the opening week of the 2019-20 Basketball Champions League season to achieve just that.
Trevis Simpson of RASTA Vechta, Keith Langford of AEK, Deividas Gailius of Neptunas Klaipeda, Dyshawn Pierre of Dinamo Sassari and Giorgi Shermadini of Iberostar Tenerife nonetheless carved out a bigger area for themselves under the spotlight in the opening week of action.
Here is the very first Team of the Week this season, as made known by championsleague.basketball:
Trevis Simpson, Guard
The RASTA Vechta guard became on Tuesday night only the fourth player in Basketball Champions League history to score 30 points in the opening week of the season, as he led his team to a victorious debut in European competitions, 89-76 over Anwil Wloclawek.
Simpson poured in his 30 points on 10 of 19 shooting from the floor and 4 of 6 free-throws, brought down 5 rebounds and added one assist and one steal to sign off an individual display with an efficiency rating of 26.
The 28-year-old American spent 36 minutes on the floor, and while there is no Iron Man award for the season, this level of stamina might indicate that it’s not the last time we see Simpson on the Team of the Week.
Keith Langford, Guard
Apparently nobody must have told Keith Langford that he turned 36 last month, because he just keeps getting buckets like he’s always done.
The AEK star collected 27 points after hitting an amazing 11 of his 13 shots from the floor, including 2 of 2 from behind the arc, in his team’s 102-82 win over EB Pau-Lacq-Orthez on Wednesday.
For good measure, the veteran shooting guard also added 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals to reach 30 on the efficiency rating index.
Deividas Gailius, Forward
Barely 14 seconds after tip-off and while everyone else still had opening night jitters, the veteran Neptunas forward shouted ‘here, I’ll show you how it’s done’ and drained the first three-pointer of the 2019-20 regular season.
Gailius went on to put together a well-rounded display with an efficiency rating of 26 that propelled Neptunas to an 81-71 home win against Happy Casa Brindisi.
The Lithuanian forward scored 23 points, on 8 of 13 field goals and 6 of 9 from the foul line, brought down 7 boards and dished out 7 assists in about 29 minutes of action.
Dyshawn Pierre, Forward
A double-double performance and a spot on the Team of the Week is not new territory of course for the Dinamo Sassari forward, who had achieved the feat on Gameday 8 of the 2017-18 season, in a win for the Italian side against Pinar Karsiyaka.
On Wednesday however, the Canadian forward went one step further as his amazing performance, rated at 35 in terms of efficiency, was the factor that tipped the scale in favor of Sassari in a nail-biting 79-78 win over Lietkabelis.
Pierre sunk the game-winning free throws with 2.9 seconds left on the clock to round off his double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds in the best possible way.