By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Three-way tie on top of the EuroLeague standings upon the conclusion of Regular Season Round 15. Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Anadolu Efes share first place, while Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv sits in second place. Third-placed CSKA Moscow drew the biggest win of the round and generated our back-to-back MVP.
Eurohoops MVP
Mike James
A couple of solid outings for Mike James in the double-game week. After 29 points in 23 minutes versus Crvena Zvezda mts, went for 28 points including the game-winner, six rebounds and four dimes in CSKA Moscow’s road triumph against Anadolu Efes. He made 5/7 beyond the arc, 5/5 inside the rainbow in 32:28.
Eurohoops Best Five
1. Mike James: Our MVP keeps CSKA Moscow in touch with leading teams.
2. Stefan Jovic: Narrowly beating Lorenzo Brown to our Best Five, the Serbian’s career-best 25 points behind five threes launched Khimki Moscow Region over Zalgiris Kaunas.
3. Mateusz Ponitka: Zenit Saint-Petersburg took down Fenerbahce Beko with many solid efforts, but the Polish forward filled his stat sheet en route for his game-high 29 PIR.
4. Adam Hanga: A 10-point, 10-assist double-double to go along with his five rebounds and two interceptions led FC Barcelona past FC Bayern Munich.
5. Jordan Mickey: Game-high 15 points and eight rebounds powered by the American big added one more “W” for Real Madrid.
Coach of the week: Giannis Sfairopoulos
Early Coach of the Year candidate, Giannis Sfairopoulos is working his magic well at Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv. After signing his contract extension led the Israeli club to a couple more wins, on the road over Zenit Saint-Petersburg and at home opposite to Panathinaikos OPAP. Slightly behind the leaders, fourth overall, Sfairopoulos hopes to maintain his team’s current form as long as possible.
The big issue: Rock bottom
Various team are not really exceeding expectations, but no side has it worst than Zalgiris Kaunas. With only three wins to display, the Lithuanian squad now sits alone in last place of the standings. Despite struggles, don’t rush to rule out anything as Zalgiris always finds a way out of seemingly impossible situations with Sarunas Jasikevicius in charge.