By Michalis Gioulenoglou/ info@eurohoops.net
The small forward. The player in the three position. This winger usually is much more than that. He can move the ball but can also drive inside the paint. And he is a shooter.
Naturally, these players are always fan favorites. Eurohoops, after the centers and the power forwards, focuses on the small forwards of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
The Top 3 is full of household names, and stars with a huge impact on their teams every single week. In every EuroLeague game. Even with a subpar showing.
As usual, their success makes headlines. Especially two out of three following players carried their teams through the first half of the Regular Season.
Evan Fournier
An unstoppable force. With plenty of clutch shots, outbursts of creativity, and a long streak of brilliant displays.
Evan Fournier, 12th in the scoring list, may have been slow to take off, but he did so in the most crucial game of the season, on the road against Panathinaikos Aktor. He scored his second 20-pointer in the Euroleague and was clutch.
The meeting of the eternal rivals in Greece highlighted a streak of nine games with double-digit scoring inputs, including four with at least 20 points to his name.
He finished the first round with 15.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.0 steals in 23:43 per game. He made 50% of his two-pointers, 44/88, 37.2% of his three-pointers, 42/113, and 76.7% of his free throws, 46/60. His PIR was 12.9 per contest.
At 11-6, Olympiacos is tied with AS Monaco in third place.
Nigel Hayes-Davis
The only player with 50 points in a single EuroLeague game. This season, Nigel Hayes-Davis picked up from where he left off.
Packing 17.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 1.0 steals in 30:30 per game, the American import, seventh on the scoring list, made 54.3% of his two-pointers, 57/105, 43.8% of his three-pointers, 42/96, and 83% of his free throws, 39/47.
He went over 20 points in seven features with Fenerbahce Beko and set his season-high with 33 points against Real Madrid.
At 10-6, Fener sits fifth in the standings.
Elijah Bryant
He is the most consistent player in the overall struggles of Anadolu Efes. An NBA champion with the Milwaukee Bucks, he tallied 12.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.3 steals in 25:48 per game with a PIR of 14.3 per contest.
He made 45% of his two-pointers, 45/100, 37.5% of his three-pointers, 21/56, and 40/47 of his free throws, 85.1%.
In the top half of the Regular Season, Elijah Bryant played in 16 of the 17 games. He ranks fifth in steals, narrowly trailing Sylvain Francisco, Leandro Bolmaro, Alpha Diallo, and Nick Weiler-Babb.
At 10-7, Efes is tied with Panathinaikos Aktor and Zalgiris between sixth and eighth on the table.