AS Monaco making the biggest move made in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings over the season’s shortest month had everything to do with the peerless performances of superstar Mike James, who is Euroleague Basketball’s choice as the MVP of February.
James showed his leadership every step of the way during three victories – two of them on the road – against teams that had started the month ahead of Monaco in the standings. He led Monaco in scoring, performance index rating or both in all three of those and finished the month among the top six players in the league in both categories. In so doing, James helped Monaco extend its winning streak to six games, jump from sixth to fourth place, and take several steps closer to early qualification for the playoffs – all while chasing first place on the EuroLeague’s all-time scoring charts, leaving himself just 12 points away from that distinction at month’s end.
The MVP of the Month is named by Euroleague Basketball based on his and his team’s performances. Last month’s award covered the three games played by all teams between Thursday, February 1 and Friday, March 1. James becomes the MVP of the Month honoree for the fifth time in his 10 EuroLeague seasons to date. Only Nikola Mirotic of EA7 Emporio Armani Milan has won more, splitting seven such awards between his stints with Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. James has now won the monthly MVP honor in four consecutive seasons – a first – and five of the last six.
James paced Monaco’s February climb
To open February, Monaco faced a visit from Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, which held fourth place at the time and had won five of its previous six games. With his team behind 57-64 early in the fourth quarter, James scored Monaco’s next 10 points in less than 2 minutes, including a three-pointer that changed the lead for good. Monaco stayed ahead to win 76-69. James’s 23 points and 29 PIR that night more than doubled the highest Fenerbahce performers.
A week later, on the road at then third-place Virtus Segafredo Bologna, James again was the game-changer, outscoring the hosts 6-1 over 90 seconds with under 5 minutes left to flip the scoreboard in Monaco’s favor for an eventual 78-81 victory. He scored 21 points while leading his team with a 21 PIR and 6 rebounds in that one.
Coming back after the mid-month break, Monaco visited second-place FC Barcelona and registered a statement victory, 67-77, to finish February perfect. James got plenty of help from his teammates, especially on defense, but still led Monaco with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
A month to remember
James could easily have been distracted during February by his rise in the all-time points rankings, where he is poised to surpass the great Vassilis Spanoulis to become the EuroLeague’s top career scorer. Far from being distracted, though, he led his team in five different statistical categories over three games: points (20.3), rebounds (6.0), assists (3.7), steals (1.7) and PIR (22.6). And due in considerable part to his efforts, Monaco was one of just two teams in February to sweep all three games. Monaco fans will surely be thankful when James is presented with the February MVP trophy at an upcoming home game.
Post your comment
Visualizza commenti