First-place Anadolu Efes Istanbul made another statement at Palau Blaugrana by edging host FC Barcelona 82-86 on Friday as Shane Larkin picked up another MVP of the Round honor. In a high-profile collision that went down to the wire, Larkin posted a game-high 26 points, going 4-for-6 on two-pointers, 3-for-8 from the three-point arc and 9-for-9 at the foul line. He added 5 assists, 2 steals and 9 fouls drawn. His 4 perfect free throws broke an 82-82 tie in the final 32 seconds. Larkin’s performance index rating of 35 was the best on a winning team in Round 18. This is his fifth MVP of the Round award, four of them against Barcelona. Tornike Shengelia of KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz had this round’s highest PIR, a career-high 37, posting 21 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and a career-best 3 blocks in a home loss against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. Next best in Round 18 was Mike James of CSKA Moscow, with an index rating 32. In a road win over FC Bayern Munich, James delivered 27 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 10 fouls drawn. Alexey Shved of Khimki Moscow Region had 30 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds for a PIR 31 in a home loss against Zenit St Petersburg. In that same game, but on the winning side, Will Thomas had a career-game with 20 points and 8 rebounds for a PIR of 30 to complete the list of the top performers in Round 18.
Individual highs: Pierria Henry, Baskonia, 7 steals
Shved led all scorers in Round 18 with 30 points. He remains the EuroLeague’s scoring leader, increasing his average to 21.5 points. Luke Sikma of ALBA Berlin led all players this round with 12 rebounds. Nikola Milutinov of Olympiacos Piraeus remains the top overall rebounder with 8.9 per game. Nick Calathes of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens dished 11 assists, the most of any player in Round 18. Calathes increased his lead atop the assists charts with 9.3 per game. Baskonia’s Pierria Henry had a season-high 7 steals, which is tied for the most steals in a single game in more than five years. Henry and Real Madrid’s Facundo Campazzo are tied atop of the steals rankings with 1.6 per game. Shengelia and Adreian Payne of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne led all players with 3 blocks in this round. Real center Walter Tavares leads the EuroLeague with 1.9 blocks on average. There were two players with double-doubles this round: Greg Monroe of FC Bayern Munich with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and ALBA’s Sikma with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
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