By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The former Olympiacos guard is playing great basketball and he is the early favorite to win the “Alphonso Ford” trophy if he continues shooting like this.
And why not? The style of Valencia suits him and he is beyond any doubt the MVP of this week.
MVP
Erick Green
He scored 24 points, made 8 out of 12 shots and also had 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals with no turnovers in the win of Valencia over Anadolu Efes. With a total ranking of 33 he continues to build on what he did last week.
BEST FIVE
- Taylor Rochestie: In a week with a very good performance by point guards, he was the best. He “killed” Barcelona Lassa and led Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade to victory with 22 points and 7 assists.
- Erick Green: The definition of the shooting guard
- Luka Doncic: It was not his best game, but once more he was the leader that Real Madrid needed on the night that both Anthony Randolph and Ognen Kuzmic were injured. Despite having just 1/6 threes, he did a bit of everything by scoring 14 points to go along with 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and one block.
- Chris Singleton: He needed a game in order to get things going and he did just that for Panathinaikos Superfoods against Brose Baskets. He had 15 points and 10 rebounds, leading the charge together with Calathes.
- Thomas Robinson: Be very afraid! The big man of Khimki Region Moscow is dominating and it was evident once more as he had 19 points and 10 rebounds in 23 minutes of action in the win over Zalgiris Kaunas.
Coach of the week: Giannis Sfairopoulos
Without Vasilis Spanoulis on the court and despite the injury of Kim Tillie, Olypiacos Piraeus has started the season with two wins. Yes, those were home games and the Reds have a deep roster but they got those wins as a team and that’s what made all the difference. And obviously, the coach takes also the credit.
The last word: Four unbeaten
Only four teams remains perfect and those are Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, Olympiacos, Real Madrid and Khimki. Yes, it’s more than early but mark those four as candidates to make it far into the season. And if you want to bet on a dark horse for the Final Four, Khimki might be the early pick.
Check out the full results and boxscores of the second week of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague action and also take a look at the full standings.