By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The visiting side won five out of the nine EuroLeague Regular Season Round 10 affairs. Co-leading FC Barcelona was not among the prevailing teams on the road, but took down Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv at Palau Blaugrana and improved to 8-2. That wasn’t it as the star of the match earned our MVP award.
Eurohoops MVP
Nikola Mirotic
The 28-year-old forward is undoubtedly producing consistently for Barcelona in Europe’s premier club competition, but held his best to date performance upon returning to EuroLeague for Friday. Mirotic recorded multiple seasons-highs the likes of 25 points, 14 rebounds, and 35 PIR, also tallied three assists and earned five fouls.
Eurohoops Best Five
- Shane Larkin: For Anadolu Efes to share first place with Barca an away victory over AX Armani Exchange Milan packed by a game-high 17 points from the Miami alum to go along with his five dimes, four rebounds and two steals were necessary.
- Quino Colom: Putting up a 12-point, 11-assist double-double for streaking Valencia secured a spot for the 31-year-old point guard.
- Gabriel Deck: The Argentinian forward posted 17 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and 33 PIR, all career-bests in Real’s win over CSKA Moscow.
- Nikola Mirotic: Our MVP set some season-highs.
- Vladimir Stimac: Fenerbahce Beko got back on track by defeating LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in France with the Serbian center leading the way behind 21 points and eight boards.
Coach of the week: Giorgos Vovoras
Two straight wins for Panathinaikos OPAP with Giorgos Vovoras in charge. Rick Pitino is set to return to the Greens’ bench, even sent a video with a pre-game speech to motivate the players, as Vovoras admitted following the victory over FC Bayern Munich, but the Greek head coach indeed led his team to a pair of wins on the road in a stretch of a few days. Not bad, to say the least.
The big issue: CSKA falling in a hurry
The double-game week was not equally kind for CSKA that suffered a couple of defeats, the third loss in four games and fourth in the six matches since Will Clyburn was sidelined for the rest of the season. The 6-4 EuroLeague start is the worst-ever in Dimitrios Itoudis’ era. Only time can tell if a turnaround is in view or if the extended absence of 2019 Final Four MVP proves too much to handle. Whatever the case, the pressure is on for the Russian club.
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