EuroLeague Round 18 MVP: Walter Tavares, Real Madrid

A dominant display in a 20-point road victory at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade has seen Walter Tavares of Real Madrid earn MVP of the Round honors in Round 18 of the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season. Tavares finished with a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double in Los Blancos’ 59-79 win at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall, which saw his team retain its place as co-leader in the standings. As well as going 7-of-8 from two-point range and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line, Tavares was particularly active on the boards, with 7 of his 12 rebounds coming on the offensive end. What’s more, he dished 3 assists, made 4 blocks and drew 7 fouls en route to his PIR of 35, one point below the career-high 36 PIR that he set against Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on December 15, 2020. This is the fourth time in his 180-game career in the EuroLeague that Tavares has secured the MVP of the Round distinction.

The next best PIR, 31, belongs to LCLC ASVEL Villeurbanne center Youssoupha Fall. Despite his team losing 75-83 at home to FC Barcelona, Fall scored a season-high 23 points on 9-of-12 two-point shooting, while he also went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. He paired those points with 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 6 fouls drawn. Rounding out the top three best performers in Round 18 is Nigel Hayes-Davis of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. During his team’s 88-94 overtime win at Panathinaikos Athens, he scored a season-best 24 points after shooting 6-of-7 on two-pointers, 3-of-5 on triples and 3-of-4 on free throws. In addition to that, he grabbed 4 rebounds, recorded 2 assists, had 1 steal and was fouled 7 times. In fourth place is Virtus Segafredo Bologna guard Milos Teodosic, who had a PIR of 28 in his team’s 77-87 loss at home to Zalgiris Kaunas. Teodosic finished with 21 points, having gone 3-of-5 from inside the arc, 3-of-7 from three-point territory and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Like Tavares, he had a double-double after pairing his 21 points with a season-high 12 assists. Teodosic also recorded 2 rebounds, 1 steal and 4 drawn fouls. Tied for fifth place are Mateusz Ponitka of Panathinaikos and Rolands Smits of Zalgiris, both of whom had a 26 PIR. In the case of Ponitka, he reached this mark after having a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double, while he also had 3 assists, 1 steal and 5 drawn fouls to his name. For Smits, he scored 17 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, dished 4 assists and drew 4 fouls.