By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
With one minute remaining in the French League game between Levallois Metropolitans and Chalon-Reims, Boris Diaw registered his first triple-double since he returned to Europe after a 16-year stint in the NBA.
The French forward grabbed his 10th rebound and added to his 10 assists and 19 points to notch his seventh career triple-double as his team won 94 – 84.
This is a superb feat even for a player of Diaw’s enormous class since triple-doubles are a scarce phenomenon in European basketball.
For example in EuroLeague, the top-tier continental competition, only Croatian center Nikola Vujcic has ever managed to finish a game with double figures in three different statistical categories, something he did in two games with the jersey of Maccabi Tel Aviv (2005 vs Prokom and 2006 vs Union Olimpija).
A few weeks ago, there was a triple-double in Turkey, courtesy of Tofas Bursa guard Pierria Henry. It was just the seventh (!) time in the league’s whole history that such a thing occurred.
Diaw produced his massive all-around output in 35 minutes he spent on the floor, during which he was +17. He shot 8/12 from the field and finished with 33 PIR.
His performance, along with Klemen Prepelic’s 22 points, led to nothing short of a precious result for Levallois since it was the team’s fifth victory in 13 games of the French Pro A League.