Tamir Blatt was a man on a mission for Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on the opening night of the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season, erupting for a career-best performance and earning Round 1 MVP honors for the first-ever time along the way.
The 27-year-old blew his previous high in PIR out of the water, beating his previous best of 20 with a 36 PIR in Maccabi’s 89-82 win over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. He was a nightmare for the opposition defense all night long, setting new personal bests in scoring (21 points) and assists (12) in just under 29 minutes on the floor. Shooting-wise, Blatt was near-perfect, going 4 for 5 inside the arc, 4 for 4 on three-pointers and 1 for 1 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed 2 defensive rebounds, had 1 steal and drew 3 fouls, in addition to having a +18 in the plus-minus column, the second-best total of any Maccabi player.
Tyrique Jones had a strong showing on his Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade debut after recording a 28 PIR, the second-highest total in Round 1, but it came in an 88-82 defeat at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. The American center put up 22 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals. Sharing third place are AS Monaco’s Alpha Diallo and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul’s Wade Baldwin, who each had a 26 PIR. In Monaco’s 93-80 triumph against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, Diallo had a solid all-around performance with 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Baldwin led Fenerbahce in an 82-71 win over Olympiacos Piraeus with 19 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Rounding out the list of top performers is Maccabi’s Jasiel Rivero with a 24 PIR as he collected 11 point, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks and 2 assists.
Individual highs: Donta Hall, Baskonia, 4 blocks
Shabazz Napier of FC Bayern Munich was the top scorer in Round 1 with 25 points.
ALBA Berlin’s Khalifa Koumadje pulled down a round-high 13 rebounds in Round 1.
Blatt dished 12 assists in this round, more than anyone else.
Six players recorded 3 steals in Round 1: Maccabi’s Rivero, Xavier Rathan-Mayes of Real Madrid, Nicolas Laprovittola of FC Barcelona, TJ Shorts of Paris Basketball, Elie Okobo of Monaco and Mouhamet Diouf of Virtus Segafredo Bologna.
Donta Hall of Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz had 4 blocks in Round 1, the most of any player.
The two double-doubles in Round 1 belong to Blatt (21 points, 12 assists) and Johannes Voigtmann (19 points, 10 rebounds).
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