By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
EuroLeague Playoffs are coming, and summing the Regular Season up, it’s always a good moment to take a look back to Nigel Hayes-Davis’ outstanding night against ALBA Berlin earlier in an iconic 2023-2024 year, breaking the highest-scoring performance in EuroLeague history with 50 points.
For this reason, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague asked some of the best offensive-minded players in the competition to comment on such a feat. “I am very happy and very proud of him. To be honest, I was a little bit shocked because to score 50 points in EuroLeague, trust me, it’s very, very, very difficult. So, well deserved”, Nikola Mirotic first said about his former teammate in Barcelona. “He really showed how much he improved the last two seasons”, the current Milano‘s forward added.
“That’s tough. That’s very tough. He made it look easy. And you would definitely have to do it with a lot of threes. Which, congrats to Nigel [Hayes-Davis] for doing that. That was big-time”, Kendrick Nunn also said about Fenerbahce‘s small forward’s amazing night. “It is extremely difficult to score 50 points in a EuroLeague game. The defense is very aggressive. The teams definitely have schemes to try and stop specific players. The paint is extremely tight, and so the difficulty is extremely, extremely high. So to do that it’s an extraordinary feat”, Markus Howard gave his opinion.
Wade Baldwin IV was also asked about it. “It takes a great shooting night from what he did. You know 9 threes is right on parteam for what you have to do. He just seemed like he was in a relentless mode to keep attacking the basket and being aggressive and Fenerbahce played right into it. They allowed him to be that guy. They allowed him to go out and break that record as they should. I think it was good for EuroLeague basketball and good for the sport”, Maccabi‘s guard commented.
When asked about the equivalent of such an unbelievable performance to the NBA, answers were different. “It’s 80. Probably it’s 80 points, in my opinion. We discussed that with the guys, and with the teammates. And we think it’s around 80 points, so it’s a huge number”, Nikola Mirotic said.
He was followed by Kendrick Nunn. “Probably at least 60. He would definitely get some unguarded layups along with the threes. He would have got more”, Panathinaikos guard commented. “I’d have to say like 70, 75 points in the NBA. It’s extremely difficult”, Markus Howard also said.
.@NIGEL_HAYES ‘ 50-piece was one of the most memorable moments from the 2023-24 regular season in EuroLeague…
We asked some other EuroLeague stars what they think about it👀
A thread🔽 pic.twitter.com/wGYcnMH9lG
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) April 18, 2024
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague