By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Round 5 vs Baskonia, Round 21 vs AS Monaco, and now Round 27 vs Real Madrid: Mathias Lessort can’t simply be stopped, and got the 3rd MVP of the Round of this year’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.
Dominating on the road for a statement win against the top of the class, the French center showed no mercy against both Walter Tavares and his countryman Vincent Poirier, displaying a show of 26 points over 12/18 from two, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.
Losing in the WiZink Center in last year’s Game 5 of the EuroLeague Playoffs with Partizan Belgrade, the 28-year-old got his revenge. “I had PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] when I came here, but we stayed strong. We [him and Ioannis Papapetrou] told the guys that it was the same situation here last year and we’ve got to learn from our mistakes”, he first said.
“That’s a big win, we know how hard it is to win against this team. They’re playing amazing right now and it’s great for us to come back after the break like that. We were taking our time to read their coverage on defense, and we were the ones running at the end. That was the key”, he also commented.
Since joining Ergin Ataman’s team in OAKA, the former AS Monaco, Bayern Munich, Crvena Zvezda, and Maccabi Tel Aviv center has been averaging 13.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, showing the landscape he is one of the best players in the EuroLeague.
Full list of 2023-24 EuroLeague Round MVPs
- Round 1: Alec Peters, Olympiacos vs Panathinaikos (31 PIR)
- Round 2: Guerschon Yabusele, Real Madrid vs Anadolu Efes (39 PIR)
- Round 3: Tornike Shengelia, Virtus Bologna vs ALBA Berlin (32 PIR)
- Round 4: Nikola Milutinov, Olympiacos vs Partizan Belgrade (30 PIR)
- Round 5: Mathias Lessort, Panathinaikos vs Baskonia (31 PIR)
- Round 6: Tornike Shengelia, Virtus Bologna vs Anadolu Efes (30 PIR)
- Round 7: Facundo Campazzo, Real Madrid vs Virtus Bologna (39 PIR)
- Round 8: Codi Miller-McIntyre, Baskonia vs FC Barcelona (29 PIR)
- Round 9: Chima Moneke, Baskonia vs ASVEL (35 PIR)
- Round 10: Shane Larkin, Anadolu Efes vs Partizan Belgrade – Maodo Lo, Milan vs Crvena Zvezda (38 PIR)
- Round 11: Serge Ibaka, Bayern Munich vs Virtus Bologna (34 PIR)
- Round 12: Tyrique Jones, Anadolu Efes vs Panathinaikos (36 PIR)
- Round 13: Shane Larkin, Anadolu Efes vs ALBA Berlin (41 PIR)
- Round 14: Kostas Sloukas, Panathinaikos vs ASVEL (29 PIR)
- Round 15: Josh Nebo, Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Baskonia – Kevin Punter, Partizan Belgrade vs Valencia – Shavon Shields, Olimpia Milano vs ASVEL (25 PIR)
- Round 16: Milos Teodosic, Crvena Zvezda vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (40 PIR)
- Round 17: Johannes Voigtmann, Milano vs Baskonia (29 PIR)
- Round 18: Chima Moneke, Baskonia vs Panathinaikos – Bonzie Colson, Maccabi Tel Aviv vs AS Monaco (34 PIR)
- Round 19: Dzanan Musa, Real Madrid vs Anadolu Efes (45 PIR)
- Round 20: Wade Baldwin IV, Maccabi Tel Avis vs Virtus Bologna (29 PIR)
- Round 21: Mathias Lessort, Panathinaikos vs AS Monaco (42 PIR)
- Round 22: Nikola Milutinov, Olympiacos vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (40 PIR)
- Round 23: Wade Baldwin IV, Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Panathinaikos (33 PIR)
- Round 24: Mike James, AS Monaco vs Partizan Belgrade (31 PIR)
- Round 25: Keenan Evans, Zalgiris Kaunas vs Panathinaikos (35 PIR)
- Round 26: Codi Miller-McIntyre, Baskonia vs ASVEL (42 PIR)
- Round 27: Mathias Lessort, Panathinaikos vs Real Madrid (33 PIR)
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague