By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
As you can see in the standings Real Madrid (18-5), CSKA Moscow (17-6), Olympiacos (16-7) and Fenerbahce (15-8) are the top four. Panathinaikos (14-9) and Crvena Zvezda (13-10) are following them, while Anadolu Efes and Baskonia are tied at 12-11 and Darussafaka Dogus is for the moment ninth (11-12), Just behind them is Zalgiris Kaunas (10-13) and that brings us to our MVP.
MVP
Lukas Lekavicius
He was almost perfect in the road win of Zalgiris Kaunas against Brose Bamberg, scoring 29 points in 21 minutes, missing just one shot (6/7 2p., 5/5 3p. 2/2 FT), he also had 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Of course it was his best game yet and he lost the official weekly EuroLeague MVP title due to his 4 turnovers.
Best Five
- Lukas Lekavicius: This was his break out game.
- Sergio Llull: Half man, half amazing, he had 26 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists, 6/8 threes, set the tone with 4/4 threes in five minutes and never looked back as Real Madrid dominated Darussafaka Dogus.
- Nando De Colo: By the numbers he is the MVP with 29 points and 35 PIR, since he made 9/15 field goals and 9/9 free throws in CSKA Moscow‘s win over Maccabi Tel Aviv.
- Bogdan Bogdanovic: He was a one man offense in the close win of Fenerbahce over Olympiacos with 27 points (8/13 FG 8/9 FT), 3 rebounds, 4 assists and one steal.
- Bryant Dunston: He had a 30 PIR thanks to 15 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks in the crucial win of Anadolu Efes over Baskonia.
Best losing performance: Keith Langford
Once again he is in this column. Things would have been different if Mike James had not made a big shot at the buzzer, since Langford had one more great game on the road this time against Panathinaikos, leading Unics Kazan with 21 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. He also had 4 turnovers and scored only one point at the last period, still you can’t deny him anything from a big night.
Coach of the week: Pablo Laso
You don’t hear many good things about him and that’s totally unfair. He should get at least some credit for trusting Luka Doncic and on top of that his team, playing beautiful basketball, destroyed Darusaffaka Dogus of David Blatt. Real Madrid is at this point the team to beat, all alone on the top of the standings and with this win they became also the first team to secure a place in the playoffs.
Biggest win: Fenerbahce
That was a really tough choice but Fenerbahce needed this win in order to stay among the top four. By beating Olympiacos and by having the tie breaking advantage over Panathinaikos, the Turks are still on the path for the home court advantage. Many things can happen in the next seven games, but for this week, they got what they needed.
Last word: The shot
Mike James got a spot in the heart of Panathinaikos’ fans today thanks to this.