By Aris Barkas/ barkas@Eurohoops.net
There’a two win gap in the standings between Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz and Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv and that gives a huge advantage to the Basques.
It couldn’t have happened without the MVP of this round, who wears Green and led Panathinaikos to a huge win, the biggest among the big results of this week.
MVP
Mike James
He had his best game after his return with 27 points – even if he had 2/8 threes – and he made the winning bucket for Panathinaikos over Maccabi in a game with huge implications. After this result, Zalgiris Kaunas qualified for the playoffs for the first time in the modern EuroLeague era, the Israelis are on the ropes and the Greens can dream of the home court advantage.
Best Five
- Bobby Dixon: He had an amazing game on Crvena Zvezda‘s home with 25 points, 7/10 threes and pushed Fenerbahce Dogus to the win.
- Mike James: “The natural” is back.
- Ricky Hickman: In just 22 minutes he scored 28 points (6/9 FG 13/15 FT) leading Brose Bamberg to the win over Unicaja Malaga.
- Vincent Poirier: He did a bit of everything with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists in Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz’s win over Barcelona.
- Nikola Milutinov: Olympiacos secured the home court advantage and he scored 20 points (8/9 FG) and also had 8 rebounds in the win over Anadolu Efes.
Coach of the round: Pedro Martinez
He transformed Baskonia since the day he was hired and proved it once again on the road against Barcelona with one more key win. His team is firing on all cylinders in the regular season finish and next week the biggest challenge will be upon them.
Last word: The Duel
And that’s our last word. Baskonia is hosting Maccabi next week and with a win, the hosts will book their ticket for the playoffs. However, after this week’s results, even if Maccabi gets the win, they will have also to beat Valencia on the road and hope that Baskonia will be defeated at home by Anadolu Efes on the last round of the regular season in order to advance.