By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Bandirma guard Jaime Smith, Turk Telekom guard R.J. Hunter, Hapoel Jerusalem guard James Feldeine, UNET Hapoel forward/center Latavious Williams and Dinamo Sassari center Miro Bilan compile the Team of the Week in Round 3 of the Basketball Champions League 2019-2020 regular season.
Or, as the competition suggests, team of the “Hallo-week”
Per Basketball Champions League:
Gameday 3 had nothing spooky about it but left us with several memorable moments – not least the highest-scoring game in the history of the Basketball Champions League – and plenty of players put on their Superman outfit to vie for a spot on Team of the Week for Halloween.
So Jaime Smith of Teksüt Bandirma, R.J. Hunter of Türk Telekom, James Feldeine of Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem, Miro Bilan of Dinamo Sassari and Latavious Williams of UNET Hapoel had to beat some worthy competition but did more than enough this week to deserve a special place under the spotlight.
Here is the Team of the Week for Gameday 3:
Jaime Smith
The veteran point guard of Teksüt Bandirma had already delivered an inspiring performance for the first 39 minutes on Tuesday and sealed the deal with a dagger triple 33 seconds from the final buzzer that gave his team an 81-79 lead over San Pablo Burgos.
“We entered the final minute with good options to win but that triple by Smith was very punishing,” commented Burgos head coach Joan Peñarroya afterwards.
Bandirma went on to win 84-81, their first victory in Group B, as Smith finished with a game-high 29 points, which is the second-highest individual scoring display so far this season. The playmaker, shot 10 of 16 from the floor and added 3 assists and 2 rebounds for an efficiency rating of 27.
R.J. Hunter
The shot chart of the game between Lietkabelis and Türk Telekom will show you that R.J. Hunter hit a triple from every possible spot around the arc on Wednesday, but it won’t tell you that when the stakes were highest, 2:51 from the final buzzer and just after his team had abolished a 26-point advantage, the former Celtic knocked down a three in transition to drive a dagger through the hearts of Lietkabelis fans and players.
Hunter finished his best game so far in Europe with 25 points on 7 of 8 three-point shooting and added 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 rebounds for an efficiency rating of 29. No player so far this BCL season has had a game where he made more than 4 threes while shooting 87.5 percent from downtown.
James Feldeine
Feldeine made sure the highly-anticipated clash between Hapoel and RASTA Vechta would be high on entertaining value but low on drama, as he stepped out and drilled 4 of 5 thee-point attempts in the blink of an eye, to give Hapoel a decisive early cushion.
The veteran guard went on to complete his best display so far this BCL season, as he finished with 25 points on 8 of 11 shooting, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in a performance rated at 27.
Hapoel maintained their perfect record with a 98-87 win over their German visitors and Feldeine has become the second player of the Israeli side to earn a spot on the Team of the Week this season, after his team-mate Suleiman Braimoh in Week 2.
Latavious Williams
They say a big guy can’t keep up with the pace in a high-tempo game but the Holon center disproved that theorem on Tuesday as he shined bright in one of the most frenetic, and certainly the most high-scoring game in the history of the competition.
Williams posted a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds as his team shot the lights out and out-gunned Polski Cukier Torun 122-105.
The 30-year-old American went 9 of 11 from two-point range, dished out 2 assists and also came up with a steal to register a performance with an efficiency rating of 31, the best by any Holon player so far this season.
Miro Bilan
There is always a place on a winning team for a big man with a soft touch, and Miro Bilan has been on fire this week to secure that spot for him at Halloween.
The veteran Croatian came up on Wednesday with 23 points on 10 of 15 from the field, including interestingly 1 of 2 from behind the arc, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in his best display in the BCL, rated at 24 in terms of efficiency, to pace Sassari in their 90-71 win over Filou Oostende.
This display came only three days after Bilan registered in Sassari’s win at Cantú his best ever performance in the Italian Serie A, with an efficiency rating of 27, to prove that nobody will outplay him during Halloween week.