By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Road wins, upsets, and big games. The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague is back and the first week of action as you can see in the standings included quite a few upsets with one great individual performance giving an important home win against a contender.
MVP
Pierria Henry
He had a career night with a 32 ranking after scoring 23 points and having also six assists, two steals, and no turnovers in TD Systems Baskonia‘s win over Real Madrid. On many occasions, the MVP award ends up being just a calculation of numbers, but Henry did much more than that and scored eight straight points that decided the outcome. He gets a much deserving award.
BEST FIVE
- Pierria Henry: A real MVP
- Kevin Pangos: Henry stole his thunder, as he had 23 points, seven assists, and 8/14 FG leading Zenit St. Petersburg to the road win over Anadolu Efes. It was also an MVP-worthy performance but he also made five turnovers.
- Ioannis Papapetrou: He saved the day for Panathinaikos with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and despite 0/6 threes, he made all the big plays down the stretch in Panathinaikos‘ road win over Khimki Moscow.
- Angelo Caloiaro: Maccabi prevailed over ALBA and he was the head of the spear with 18 points on 6/8 FG and four rebounds.
- Brandon Davies: In the big game between Barcelona and CSKA Moscow he led the charge for the winning side with 18 points, 7/9 FG, and four rebounds.
Coach of the week: Igor Kokoskov
The shadow of Zeljko Obradovic will follow him, but Fenerbahce got an easy win over Crvena Zvezda and that’s always a good sign for things to come. Despite the changes in the roster, Fenerbahce was a solid unit, a mix of old and new and that can only be encouraging for the club in a season that can be considered transitional.
The savior: Malcolm Delaney
He just missed the cut in the Best Five, but his performance for Milan in the overtime road win over Bayern Munich with 17 points, eight assists and two turnovers. Without him, Milan would have suffered a set back from day one.
Young gun: Rokas Jokubaitis
Zalgiris Kaunas stole the road win against Olympiacos and the 19-years old Jokubaitis became an overtime sensation and an early candidate for the rising star award. He made the bucket that won the game and in total, he scored 12 points in 15 minutes.