EuroLeague Round 3 MVP: Sasha Vezenkov, Olympiacos
The EuroLeague has announced Sasha Vezenkov as the MVP of Round 3 after the Olympiacos star dominated against Olimpia Milano.
An outstanding individual performance in a winning effort allowed Olympiacos Piraeus star Sasha Vezenkov to earn Round 3 MVP honors with a PIR of 31, his second consecutive award in just three rounds to open the new Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season.
Vezenkov led Olympiacos to an 89-68 home victory over EA7 Emporio Armani Milan with 22 points on 3-of-6 two-pointers, 3-of-5 three-pointers and 7-of-8 free throws. He added 7 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals and 6 fouls drawn for a PIR of 31. Vezenkov earned MVP of the Round honors for the 11th time in his career, tying Mike James and Mirsad Turkcan for third place. Only Shane Larkin (17 times) and Nando De Colo (16) are ahead of him on that list.
Walter Tavares of Real Madrid amassed a PIR of 29 in his team’s 76-72 road loss against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. Tavares had 14 points on 7-of-9 two-pointers, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks. Mathias Lessort of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens had a PIR of 28 against Paris Basketball. He finished the game with 19 points on 6-of-9 two-pointers, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 5 fouls drawn in an 84-80 losing effort. Saben Lee of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv had a PIR of 26 in his first-ever EuroLeague game, a 93-91 win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul, scoring 23 points on 6-of-8 two-point and 2-of-2 three-point shooting, along with 5 assists. Completing the list of top individual performances in Round 3 are Joel Bolomboy of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, Nigel Hayes-Davis of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Shaquielle McKissic of Olympiacos, each with a PIR of 25.
Individual highs: Walter Tavares, Real Madrid, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks
Saben Lee of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv led all scorers with 23 points in Round 3. Mathias Lessort of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens is the competition’s top scorer at 18.3 points per game.
Walter Tavares of Real Madrid led all players in this round by pulling down 15 rebounds. Crvena Zvezda’s Joel Bolomboy is this season’s best rebounder, grabbing 10.0 boards per night.
Four players – Codi Miller-McIntyre of Zvezda, Thomas Walkup of Olympiacos, Sylvain Francisco of Zalgiris Kaunas and Shane Larkin of Efes – each dished 8 assists in Round 3. Despite not playing this week, Facundo Campazzo of Real Madrid remains atop the overall standings with 10.0 assists per night.
Alessandro Pajola of Virtus Segafredo Bologna collected 4 steals, more than any other player in Round 3. Arnas Butkevicius of Zalgiris, Jerian Grant of Panathinaikos and Neal Sako of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne each average a league-best 2.0 steals.
Tavares had 3 blocks against Baskonia, the most in Round 3. He is also first overall at 2.0 blocks per night.
There were six double-doubles this round: Tavares (14 points, 15 rebounds), Bolomboy (18 points, 11 rebounds), Lessort (19 points, 11 rebounds), Sako (12 points, 13 rebounds), Trevion Williams of ALBA Berlin (12 points, 11 rebounds), and Toko Shengelia of Virtus Segafredo Bologna (11 points, 11 rebounds).