By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow guard Mike James was named MVP of Day 1 of the EuroLeague regular season after leading the team to a road win over Valencia.
Per EuroLeague.net: In his debut in a CSKA Moscow uniform, reigning top scorer Mike James led the defending Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champions to a resounding 71-96 road win at Valencia Basket to earn the season’s first MVP of Round 1 honor. James was perfect from the field, shooting 6 for 6 on two-point shots and 1 for 1 from the three-point arc as he finished with 20 points. James also had 5 assists, 2 rebounds and drew 6 fouls for a performance index rating 28, the highest of all players in Round 1. This marks the third MVP of the Round honor in James’s career. Second on the list of opening round’s top performers was Vladimir Lucic of FC Bayern Munich, with a PIR 26 in his team’s 78-64 home win over AX Armani Exchange Milan. Lucic had 18 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Two players had an index rating of 25, DeShaun Thomas of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens and Tonye Jekiri of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. Thomas paced the Greens to a home win over Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade with 18 points, a career-high 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Jekiri made his competition debut posting 13 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal against visiting Olympiacos Piraeus in ASVEL’s first EuroLeague victory in nearly a decade. Rounding out the list of top performers in Round 1 is Facundo Campazzo of Real Madrid, who had 14 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals for a PIR 24 as his team toppled visiting Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.