By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
A packed week in a holiday edition of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague is ahead of us, with two rounds and 16 games in four days! On Tuesday in Russia, Unics Kazan (3-9) hosts Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul (4-8) in a very important game for both teams!
The Russian team wants to protect its home court and improve its record, while Ergin Ataman’s side, after consecutive victories at Abdi Ipekci Arena, want to prove they can win away from home, too, something they haven’t been able to do yet this season.
In this game we have a matchup between the most important guards of the two teams, completely different players, but with one very important characteristic in common: they are both barometers for their teams and so far both of them have been having the best seasons in their careers in the EuroLeague!
We are talking of course about Keith Langford and Sinan Guler! The American is one of the best scorers that has ever played in the competition. Born in 1983, he’s having an amazing season in terms of scoring! He has the best scoring average in his career and of course the best average by far in this year’s competition.
Langford posts 23.8 points per game – a huge figure! – along with 3.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists and an impressive performance index ratig (PIR) of 23.6! His seventh season in the EuroLeague, after having played also with Khimki Moscow Region, Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv and EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, is the most productive of Langford’s career. He is a virtuoso scorer, a specialist in one-on-one situations who can threaten from any range and in every way! In the 2013-14 season he won the Alphonso Ford Trophy as the EuroLeague’s top scorer and was named to the All-EuroLeague First Team as a player for Milan.
Guler, born in the same year and a 2016 EuroCup champion, is also having the most productive season of his career and proves that the ability he has as a point guard is truly great! He scores 10.8 points on average so far in the regular season, and that comes with 5.3 assists and 2.6 rebounds!
He’s in his eighth EuroLeague season (the first five were with Anadolu Efes Istanbul) and he’s clearly Galatasaray‘s leader and floor manager. He is a player that does everything on the court. He creates systematically for his teammates, he scores with drives to the basket as his most powerful element, and he plays excellent individual and team defense.
It’s worth noting that the average of 5.3 assists that Guler dishes out so far after 12 rounds is the best performance ever by a Turkish player in the history of the EuroLeague! The last record belongs to Kerem Tunceri, who as a player for Efes in the 2011-12 season, had 4.5 on average in 15 appearances.
Unics vs. Galatasaray and Langford vs. Guler. Sit back and enjoy the first of this week’s four consecutive game days of big contests and lots of emotions! #GameOn!