By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Lorenzo Brown was named the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Regular Season Round 11 MVP, Euroleague Basketball announced Saturday.
Brown, 31, a veteran of 107 NBA games, introduced himself to the top European club competition with Crvena Zvezda mts in 2019-20 and joined Fenerbahce Beko for the 2020-21 season. Moving to UNICS Kazan for his third campaign earned him the MVP nod for the first time.
He registered 21 points behind 9/15 field goals and a personal-best in EuroLeague of nine assists to go along with five rebounds and two steals in the home win opposite ALBA Berlin. The 31 PIR ranked above all remaining players in action in the bottom end of the double-game week, Thursday and Friday.
Per the press release: “A stunning individual performance in a winning effort allowed Lorenzo Brown of UNICS Kazan to earn Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 11 MVP honors. Brown led UNICS to an 85-71 home victory against ALBA Berlin with a PIR of 31. He finished the game with 21 points on 7-of-11 two-pointers, 2-of-4 three-pointers and 1-of-1 free throws, tying his career high with 9 assists, along with 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 fouls drawn. It was the first MVP of the Round award in his career, and he became the fifth UNICS players to earn this honor, after Vladimir Veremeenko, D’Or Fischer, Keith Langford – who did it three times in a UNICS jersey – and Latavious Williams, the last UNICS player to achieve it in 2017. Elsewhere, Kostas Sloukas of Olympiacos Piraeus had a PIR of 29 in his team’s home victory against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. Sloukas finished the game with 18 points on 8-of-8 free throws, adding 3 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 9 fouls drawn. Nicolas Laprovittola of FC Barcelona and Mario Hezonja of UNICS each had a PIR of 28 in Round 11. Laprovittola tied a club record with 7 three-pointers made, and had 25 points and 7 rebounds in Barcelona’s 60-80 win against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. Hezonja had 22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in the win over ALBA. Moustapha Fall of Olympiacos, with a PIR of 27, completes the top individual performances in Round 11.
Individual highs: Mantas Kalnietis of Zalgiris Kaunas, 11 assists
Laprovittola led all scorers in Round 11 with 25 points against ASVEL. Elie Okobo of ASVEL remains the competition’s top scorer at 19.6 points per game. Christ Koumadje of ALBA led all rebounders by pulling down 12 against UNICS. Georgios Papagiannis of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens and Luke Sikma of ALBA are tied atop the overall rebounders’ table with 7.5 per night. Mantas Kalnietis of Zalgiris Kaunas was the only player to register double digits in assists, getting 11 in his team’s win against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. Nick Calathes of Barcelona leads the 2021-22 EuroLeague in assists at 5.7 per night. Wade Baldwin IV of Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, John Brown III of UNICS and Alexey Shved of CSKA Moscow each collected 4 steals in Round 11. John Brown also leads the steals table at 2.7 per game. Walter Tavares of Real Madrid blocked 4 shots in his team’s victory against Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade, and he is also first overall in blocked shots with 1.6 per night. Steven Enoch of Baskonia, Koumadje, Fall and Kalnietis each registered a double-double in Round 11.”
UNICS also ruled the Top 10 Plays of Round 11 with Mario Hezonja dunking over towering center Christ Koumadje.
Photo Credit: EuroLeague.net