Turkish Airlines EuroLeague RS – Round 27 MVP: Dante Exum, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade

Dante Exum had his fingerprints all over Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade’s 79-88 road win at Virtus Segafredo Bologna, a performance that has seen him earn MVP of the Round honor for the second time in his 51-game Turkish Airlines EuroLeague career.

The Partizan guard did a bit of everything en route to a round-high performance index rating of 33. In addition to scoring 17 points after making 6 of 9 two-pointers and 5 of 5 free throws, he also collected 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 7 fouls drawn Exum’s PIR was his second-best in two EuroLeague seasons, following the 35 PIR he recorded in a Round 13 defeat to LCLC ASVEL Villeurbanne.

Darius Thompson of Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz had Round 27’s second-highest PIR with 32 in a memorable 81-85 win at Real Madrid. The EuroLeague rookie had his third double-double this season, with 18 points and 14 assists, plus 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Next, with a PIR of 30, was Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade guard Facundo Campazzo, who starred in his team’s 94-75 triumph over Anadolu Efes Istanbul with 22 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 drawn fouls. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan guard Shabazz Napier had a PIR of 28 after scoring 28 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and dishing 5 assists in his team’s 84-88 win at Valencia Basket. Rounding out the list of Round 27 top performers was Dzanan Musa of Real Madrid with a PIR of 26, collecting 21 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in his team’s home loss against Baskonia.

Individual highs: Darius Thompson, Baskonia, 14 assists      

Napier led all Round 27 scorers with 28 points. Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos Piraeus is EuroLeague’s top scorer overall with 17.9 points per game. Luke Sikma of ALBA Berlin pulled a league high of 10 rebounds this round. Vezenkov tops all rebounders this season with 7.3 per game. Thompson’s 14 assists were the most of any player in Round 27. Kostas Sloukas of Olympiacos remains the league leader averaging 6.4 assists. Three players had 4 steals this round: John DiBartolomeo of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, Nick Calathes of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Zach LeDay of Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade. Olympiacos guard Walkup tops the steals charts this season with 1.7 per game. Zalgiris Kaunas big man Kevarrius Hayes had 3 blocks, more than any other player in Round 27. Walter Tavares of Real Madrid is EuroLeague’s leader with 2.4 blocks per game. There were three double-doubles this round: Thompson with 18 points and 14 assists, Milos Teodosic of Virtus with 11 points and 12 assists, as well as Sikma with 10 points plus 10 rebounds.