By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
All sorts of blindingly stunning displays were in store for us, during Week 4 of the 7Days Eurocup season. Not only by individuals but also from teams, like Alba Berlin and Lietuvos Rytas who made the most out of the 50 minutes they stayed on court to produce 239 (!) points in total. Blame it on a specific… peppery presence in “Mercedes Benz” arena, perhaps (details blow)
After the completion of this GameDay there are only two teams without a single scratch: Gran Canaria and Hapoel Jerusalem. Alba returned to victories, Valencia and Nizhny Novgorod are trying to build a winning streak, while MZT Skopje, Union Olimpija and Lietuvos Rytas are still looking to catch a break, being winless so far. To be fair, the Lithuanians could have won one or two games by now, but were sometimes betrayed by the last minute details, or lack of effectiveness in crunch-time situations.
MVP
Elmedin Kikanovic
Well, he has flirted with this position in some of our Eurocup GameDay aftermath features so far and now . Noone deserved it more of course. The Bosnian big guy went brutally epic against Lietuvos Rytas with 33 points and 8 rebounds for an index rating of 35 as Alba Berlin won after two overtimes. He also “spoke” when the ball was hot and everything mattered, dropping 8 of his points in the second extra period where he also grabbed some key rebounds, spearheading his team’s game-winning efforts.
Best Five
Curtis Jerrells: A near triple-double performance of 18 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists (both Eurocup career highs) for a evaluation rating of 34! Yes, that’s also a new personal record in a competition. Thanks to this all-around output, Hapoel Jerusalem kept its perfect run in Eurocup with a victory over Lokomotiv Kuban.
Vitor Benite: His better shooting percentages make us choose him over teammate Billy Baron. They both had lots of work to do in Murcia’s backcourt in light of Facu Campazzo’s absence in the game vs Unicaja Malaga and Benite’s output was cute as a bunny. He scored 21 points (on 8/14 from the field), grabbed 4 rebounds, dished 3 assists and shined the most during the third quarter, when his team took an advantage thanks to a 26 – 18 partial score.
Ryan Toolson: The skies of St. Petersburg opened and the American shooting guard brought down a rain of threes over Buducnost. No less, than 8 (out of 14) downtown baskets delivered by his sizzling hands into the Montenegrin basket for Zenit to double its victories in the season. Toolson finished the match with 34 points, his second best output ever in the competition.
Ian O’Leary: It was all about timing for Fuenlabrada against Bilbao and so was the case of Ian O’Leary. He entered the fourth quarter with 3 points and he finished the game with 14. He had 3 rebounds at the end of the third period, yet completed the match with 10. To put it simply: He produced the lot when it mattered the most being one of the protagonists of his team during a 19 – 4 partial score that steered them to victory.
Elmedin Kikanovic: Giant, in the literal sense of the word.
Coach of the Week: Oscar Quintana (UCAM Murcia)
Without the invaluable driving force of Facu Campazzo, he kept his offense fluent enough to produce 83 points which were more than enough against Unicaja Malaga. It’s not easy to adapt quickly in such a match without your usual “go to guy” and the man around whom the entire game of your team evolves. But Quintana did so, tactically reducing his opponents strengths, while retaining a solid level in the output of his own team.
Best performance in a losing team: Marcus Williams (Buducnost)
He registered Eurocup career highs in all (yes, ALL) statistical categories after finishing the game against Zenit on the road with 27 points, 6 assists and 3 steals for a rating of 31. Alas, even though he looked like an orchestra, it seemed that his music was not enough to sooth the two-headed monster (Toolson, Markovic) of his Zenit.
The Guest Star
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers are playing an already sold-out concert in “Mercedes Benz” on November 3rd and tonight, Chad Smith, the band’s drummer took a stroll in the arena to watch the Alba Berlin – Lietuvos Rytas game. He was in for a treat since both teams delivered an offensive show after two overtime periods, scoring 249 points together. Don’t know if it was his influence or not, but both squads looked “Red Hot” indeed.
He’s having fun isn’t he?
Prominente Gäste heute in der @MBArenaBerlin: Welcome to Berlin, @ChiliPeppers-Drummer @RHCPchad #ranbasketball #rhcp pic.twitter.com/CixpBXoLnA
— ALBA BERLIN (@albaberlin) 2 Νοεμβρίου 2016