By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
We are approaching the final stretch of the Eurocup regular season and that means more and more teams joining the Top 16 club. Some of them…without even travelling to a gym.
Like Zenit St. Petersburg that checked its ticket to the next stage during its day off. Other teams of course had to pour copious amounts of sweat, like Cedevita that narrowly beat Lietkabelis on the road. Two “Panzers” gained entry in the Top 16 away from home: Bayern Munich by dominating Murcia’s arena and Ratiopharm Ulm after a… defeat by Union Olimpija. This was the first positive result of the Slovenians in the season and they can still hope. Something that Buducnost can’t do after getting lost in the Fog(g) of Unicaja Malaga.
MVP of the Week: Kyle Fogg
Razzle-dazzle and then some. Majestic stuff by Kyle Fogg with one of his top games during his European ventures, given the performance but also what it brought to Unicaja Malaga. Registering a season-high 31 points (with top notch shooting of 10/14 from the field), Fogg broke Buducnost’s defenses to little pieces, helping his team take a victory that sent them to the Eurocup Top 16. He is also the official MVP according to his index rating as well (33, more than any other player this Week).
Best Five of the Week
Antoine Diot
True, Valencia had already advanced in the next stage so the victory of Valencia against Hapoel Jerusalem was not that big of a deal. Yet it was quite the result, given the opponent’s quality, the fact that Hapoel played at home and because they wanted to win in order to secure a space in the Top 16. In this kind of situation, Diot delivered 21 points and 6 assists while almost everything positive that happened to his team’s offense during the key last minutes, arrived from his hands. Either by putting the ball in himself, or setting his teammates with opportunities to do so.
Miha Lapornik
For his team, the match vs Alba Berlin was not that far from being a “matter of life and death”. Bilbao had smiled only once in the previous games, so another loss would mean serious danger for their future in the competition. Miha Lapornik made sure that this wouldn’t happen. The 23-year-old Slovenian dropped 14 out of his 18 points (a Eurocup career-high) in the fourth quarter, leading his team through a comeback victory of great importance and displaying one of the top single-period offensive spectacles in the season so far.
Kyle Fogg
Bucket-making machine working full-time.
Marko Tomas
Second time in a row that Tomas appears in our list. Not a coincidence though. He has emerged as a true leader for Cedevita, something which he showed tonight in the best possible way. The Croatian forward scored 23 points, 8 of the in the final quarter to help his team defeat Lietkabelis in Lithuania and clinch a spot in the Top 16. Once again he was rock-solid when it mattered the most, also hitting a crucial 2/2 from the line that gave his team a four-point advantage with 8 seconds to go.
Maxi Kleber
Nothing less than a career night for the German forward. Kleber recorded new personal bests in almost… every single statistical category, making a double-double of 20 points/10 rebounds for 31 in the evaluation index. He shot the ball with 6/8 from the field and also forced his opponents to foul him six times. With his efforts, Bayern Munich beat Murcia on the road and got on the Top 16 train.
The Unsung Hero: Marko Arapovic
He was trusted by his coach in the final minutes of the game against Lietkabelis and the Croatian youngsters delivered the goods. Arapovic did everything for his team on both ends down the stretch, scoring points (11), grabbing rebounds (6) and dishing assists (3) to his mates. But most importantly, he was behind the probably most key play for Cedevita when he completed a made the basket and won the foul for the 62 – 67 with 44 seconds left, putting his team in a position of strength before crunch time.
Coach of the Week: Pedro Martinez
Let’s face it: Hapoel Jerusalem was the favorite in the game against Valencia. Its players were incredibly motivated, since they would step to Top 16 territory with a win, they played in front of their fans, had the “know how” after beating the Spaniards at home in the competition’s premiere, their roster is full of dangerous weapons, plus they were looking to recover after two defeats in a row.
Yet Martinez brought his own guys to Jerusalem ready to bite. Hard. Although Valencia had much less interest in winning this game than Hapoel Jerusalem, it entered the game much more concentrated and knowledgeable of what they needed to do in order to get… payback.
And when the Israelis fought back to come back in the game, they reacted well enough to not lose sight of their goal, which they ultimately reached in the end. Coach Martinez is responsible for both preparing his players beautifully for this battle but also for helping them keep their mentality focused when the momentum pointed towards Hapoel Jerusalem.