By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The second round of the new Turkish EuroLeague regular season is in the books with five teams remaining undefeated. Very few expected LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne to be among the perfect sides, not even head coach Zvezdan Mitrovic himself saw the 2-0 coming.
Eight clubs, including Anadolu Efes, are at 1-1. The Turkish team landed its first 2019-20 victory with our weekly MVP putting up an impressive double-double.
Eurohoops MVP
Vasilije Micic
Shane Larkin returned to action with a massive offensive display, Vasilije Micic also got going, but Anadolu Efes needed five extra minutes to overcome ALBA Berlin on Friday. Our weekly MVP took matters personally, sinking a couple of clutch free throws to add on his 23-point, 13-assist double-double. He made a total of four threes, also registered four steals and three boards.
Eurohoops Best Five
1. Vasilije Micic: Our weekly MVP got down to business with Larkin.
2. Kyle Kuric: Big turnaround after his scoreless outing in Round 1 with a team-high 24 points for Barcelona in the road win against Zenit Saint-Petersburg.
3. Will Clyburn: CSKA Moscow can count on the American forward to produce in every game, surely needed his team-high 15 points and eight rebounds to take down FC Bayern Munich.
4. Jordan Mickey: Last year made his lone double-double against Real Madrid, but only needed a couple of matches with the Whites to notch his second with 16 points and 11 boards in the narrow victory versus Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv.
5. Nikola Milutinov: Olympiacos bounced back with the Serbian center adding a second personal double-double to the young EuroLeague season with 17 points and 14 boards against Valencia.
Coach of the week: Milan Tomic
Eight teams are at 1-1 after two weeks of action, including Crvena Zvezda mts. Milan Tomic’s side lost on the road to Panathinaikos OPAP in Round 1 but rebounded in a big way at home, dropping Fenerbahce Beko to 0-2. No team will be safe at the Stark Arena with the second-year head coach of the Serbian side expertly guiding his players.
The big issue: Missing calls down the stretch
Poor referee decisions did not determine the winner in the match between AX Armani Exchange Milan and Zalgiris Kaunas but were undoubtedly made in the last minutes of the tight game. Thomas Walkup initially stepped out of bounds with 30 seconds left in the game, then Michael Roll traveled and committed a backcourt violation when cornered by two opponents, while he might even get fouled. However, no call was made on all those occasions.