EuroLeague Round 5 MVP: TJ Shorts, Paris Basketball

An amazing individual performance in a winning effort allowed TJ Shorts of Paris Basketball to earn Round 5 MVP honors with a career-high PIR of 38, the highest of any player this season.

Shorts led Paris to an 80-87 road win over AS Monaco in this week’s Rivalry Series game with a career-best 28 points on 9-of-12 two-pointers, 1-of-3 three-pointers and 7-of-9 free throws. He added 4 rebounds, 10 assists – another career high – and 9 fouls drawn to amass a PIR of 38. Shorts has earned MVP of the Round for the first time in his career and is also the first Paris player to achieve this honor.

Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade center Tyrique Jones had a PIR of 32 in his team’s 69-70 home loss against Virtus Segafredo Bologna. Jones posted 20 points on 6-of-7 two-pointers and 8-of-9 free throws, 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 6 fouls drawn.

Facu Campazzo of Real Madrid finished with a PIR of 30 in his side’s 95-72 win over Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade. He had 13 points, no missed shots, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, no turnovers and 8 fouls drawn in less than 20 minutes.

Nikola Mirotic of EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, with a PIR of 27, and FC Barcelona center Jan Vesely, who had a PIR of 26, complete the top individual performances in Round 5.

Mirotic recorded 29 points, his fourth-highest tally in 251 career games, 4 rebounds and 1 assist as Milan fell 84-96 to Anadolu Efes Istanbul, while Vesely had 14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in a 90-83 triumph over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne.

Carsen Edwards of FC Bayern Munich led all scorers by scoring 30 points in Round 5, becoming just the 11th player to score 30 points or more in consecutive EuroLeague games. He is also the competition’s top scorer at 20.6 points per game.

Mam Jaiteh of Monaco and Isaia Cordinier of Virtus led all rebounders by pulling down 10 apiece in Round 5. Neal Sako of ASVEL is first overall at 9.8 boards per night.

Paris star TJ Shorts was the only player to record a double-digit number of assists in this round, dishing 10. Tamir Blatt of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv leads the EuroLeague in assists at 9.0 dimes per contest.

Tyrique Jones of Partizan collected 5 steals against Virtus, more than anyone in Round 5. Sako is first in steals at 2.0 per night.

Khalifa Koumadje of ALBA Berlin had 3 blocked shots to lead all players in this round. Koumadje and Walter Tavares of Real Madrid are tied atop the overall standings at 1.8 blocks per game.

Shorts (28 points, 10 assists), Jaiteh (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Cordinier (12 points, 10 rebounds) were the only players to record a double-double in Round 5.