By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
The game is about to start, the EuroLeague theme song “I Feel Devotion” fills up the arena, and the camera passes in front of the two teams’ starting lineups. Behind the cameras, somewhere on the bench, others await their own opportunity.
Eurohoops presents the players that don’t pass up on that opportunity.
Here are the Top Game Changers in the first six rounds of the regular season:
THANASIS ANTETOKOUNMPO
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
Forward | July 18, 1992 | Greece
6.8 pts | 1.5 reb | 0.2 ast | 1.3 stl | 0.2 blk | 0.5 tov | 11:40 min | 7.2 PIR
Sometimes, Thanasis Antetokounmpo is in the starting lineup (twice), and sometimes not. But he’s always the special ops man for Panathinaikos. His defensive skills make him the right match for a rival scorer, while he’s not afraid to go up against players that are bigger than him, either in terms of mass or height. Sometimes he cashes in on his great defensive energy with an open-court or above-the-rim score. He turned the game around against Olympiacos Piraeus (93-80) recently at the Olympic Sports Center Athens with a performance that almost equaled his career high of 13 points.
JAYCEE CARROLL
Real Madrid
Guard | April 16, 1983 | USA
11.2 pts | 1 reb | 0.5 ast | 0.8 stl | 0 blk | 0.3 tov | 17:51 | 8.5 PIR
Jaycee Carroll has come off the bench in all six of Real Madrid‘s games, but his skill in execution secure him roughly 18 minutes on the court on average. Usually, he only needs a few seconds to make his presence felt, sometimes without even a dribble, because as soon as he gets the ball in his hands, he has already dispatched it into the rival team’s basket. The most recent example was his 14 consecutive points in the second quarter against Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv (66-87), a solo 0-14 run from 21-27 to 21-41 that was enough for Madrid to leave with the win from the Menora Mivtachim Arena. His performance in the 2015 championship game (16 points on 4-for-5 three-pointers) is the most unforgettable of them all.
ARTURAS GUDAITIS
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
Center | June 19, 1993 | Lithuania
12.8 pts | 7.2 reb | 0.3 ast | 1.5 stl | 1 blk | 1 tov | 22:19 min | 20.6 PIR
AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan has been impressive in the first six rounds, and one of the big reasons is Arturas Gudaitis. He looks unstoppable even if he gets the ball away from the basket, since he can force opponents all the way into the paint with ease. He has never dropped below double-digit scoring and makes 60% of his two-point shots. He is tied for the most double-doubles this season with two. If all this is not convincing, consider that Gudaitis ranks third among EuroLeague players in average performance index rating despite having come off the bench in every game.