By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Wade Baldwin IV was named MVP of March in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Euroleague Basketball confirmed the 28-year-old combo guard of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv as the latest monthly MVP on Monday.
Per the press release: “Baldwin’s stellar play throughout Maccabi‘s 5-0 run made him Euroleague Basketball’s choice as MVP for March.
The beating heart of the hottest team in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Wade Baldwin of Maccabi Tel Aviv, was a force as the Israeli champs plowed through March as the only undefeated team in the competition over five crucial rounds. With Baldwin leading the way, Maccabi rose from 10th in the standings at the onset of March with questions about its playoff hopes to seventh now with a shot at reaching the top six and direct access to the playoffs. Baldwin’s stellar play throughout that 5-0 run that no other EuroLeague team could match at the very height of the playoff race made him Euroleague Basketball’s choice as MVP for March.
Baldwin was second in the league in average PIR (23.2) and ranked fifth in scoring (18.4 ppg.) during March. He also posted 4.6 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 steals. Baldwin led the team in scoring in three of Maccabi’s five March games and was second in another. The 1.93-meter guard was also second on the team in rebounding twice. His shining moment came when he posted a PIR of 46 in Round 30, which matched the most by any player in the league over the past three seasons.
Two years in a row in March
The MVP of the Month is named by Euroleague Basketball based on his and his team’s performances. The award for March covered the five games played by all teams between Thursday, March 7, and Friday, March 29.
The honor marks the second consecutive season in which Baldwin was the MVP of March. He becomes the 24th player in competition history to win the MVP of the month twice and is the only player to ever win the MVP for March in back-to-back seasons and only the fourth player to do so in any month. He follows Ramunas Siskauskas (April 2007 and 2008), Ante Tomic (February 2013 and 2014) and Sasha Vezenkov (February 2022 and 2023) with that distinction. This also marks the 13th MVP of the Month award for a Maccabi player – and the fifth time it has happened in March.
A magical month for Baldwin
Baldwin has been remarkably consistent in this, his second season with Maccabi. He has scored in double figures in 17 straight games and posted a PIR of at least a dozen in 13 consecutive appearances. And Baldwin was his consistently superb self throughout March. In Maccabi’s first game of the month, it went into the fourth quarter down 6 against Zalgiris Kaunas before Baldwin scored 6 of his team-high 16 points in the final 5 minutes to wrap up an 83-76 victory. A week later, Maccabi struggled in the second quarter and went into halftime down 47-31 at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade. Baldwin stuffed the stat sheet in the second half to lead a comeback. He finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists as Maccabi won 80-84.
Round 30 brought with it the front end of March’s two-round week and a meeting with LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. Maccabi again had a quiet spell to fall behind by 10 in the third quarter, but a determined Baldwin was like a wrecking ball in carrying his team to a 98-90 triumph. He posted 30 points, 5 rebounds and 10 assists and his PIR of 46 was tied for the second-highest by a Maccabi player in competition history. Three days later, Maccabi threw away a 16-point lead on the road against Baldwin’s former team, FC Bayern Munich, and was trailing early in the fourth quarter. That’s when Baldwin waved his wand again and scored 7 points the rest of the way to spark a 74-89 win. In Maccabi’s fifth game of the month, heroics were not needed, but nevertheless Baldwin scored a team-best 17 points, dished 4 assists and grabbed a career-high 4 steals in beating Valencia Basket 95-80.
Baldwin’s best season yet
Baldwin was able to put up impressive numbers in part thanks to his reliable mid-range game and ability to get to the basket and draw fouls. He shot 25-for-51 (49.0%) on two-pointers in March and went 33-for-38 from the foul line (86.8%). Baldwin drew 34 fouls in the month, while he tallied 23 assists with just 10 turnovers. All of those numbers are better than his already impressive season averages.
An All-EuroLeague Second Team selection last season, Baldwin has been even better in 2023-24. With only two rounds remaining in the regular season, he is third in the EuroLeague in both scoring (17.5 ppg.) and PIR (19.8). Baldwin leads the league in two-pointers attempted (8.8 per game) and free throws made (4.8), is eighth in assists (5.0 apg.) and 14th in steals (1.2 spg.), while shooting a career-high 40.2% on three-pointers. He will look to add to those impressive numbers while trying to lead Maccabi into the playoffs in the final rounds of the regular season.”
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net