Kostas Papanikolaou secured his place among the Olympiacos Piraeus greats with another clutch performance in Thursday’s must-win clash against BC Khimki Moscow Region by leading his team to victory and earning the title of Top 16 Week 14 bwin MVP. Papanikolaou set career highs with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 6 three-pointers made in posting a performance index rating of 37 to lead his team to a 79-70 victory and second place in Group F. The index rating was the most in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague in Top 16 Game 14 and tied for the second best since the start of the Top 16. Papanikolaou also contributed 2 steals and 2 blocked shots. The second-best index of from the Top 16 finales came from Caja Laboral center Maciej Lampe, who amassed a career-best 27 points plus 9 rebounds in a 76-64 playoff-clinching victory over Montepaschi Siena. Lampe finished with an index rating of 30. Alx Brines of Barcelona Regal and James Augustine of BC Khimki tied for the third-highest index with ratings of 28. Abrines took advantage of extended minutes to register a career-high 21 points on 3-of-6 three-point shooting plus a perfect 8 of 8 from the foul line in a 74-71 victory over Maccabi Electra. Augustine finished with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 8 rebounds in the loss to Olympiacos. Rounding out the list of Top 16 Game 14’s leaders is Zalgiris big man Ksistof Lavrinovic, who concluded his season with a 20-points, 8-rebound and 27-index performance in a 90-81 victory over Brose Baskets.
MVP Video
Individual highs: Maciej Lampe of Caja Laboral Vitoria, 27 points
Maciej Lampe was the week’s top scorer with his 27 points against Siena, which also carried him to third place in the Top 16 with an average of 16.6 points per game. Fenerbahce Ulker swingman Bojan Bogdanovic finished as the Top 16’s best scorer with 20.5 points per game; Siena’s Bobby Brown goes down as the full-season scoring champ with 18.8 per game. Another Vitoria player, forward Andres Nocioni, topped the weekly rebounding charts with 13 boards. CSKA forward Viktor Khryapa’s 8.3 rebounds per game put him down as the Top 16 champ. Acie Law of Olympiacos and Thomas Heurtel of Vitoria each dished 8 assists in wins Thursday to lead all players this week. Khimki guard Zoran Planinic finished as the Top 16 assist king with an average of 7 per game. Superstars Rudy Fernandez of Real Madrid and Dimitris Diamantidis of Panathinaikos worked hard on the defensive end to each record 4 steals, the most of any players in Top 16 Game 14. Diamantidis moved up to fifth on the Top 16 charts with 1.6 steals per game; Rudy is third with 1.8 swipes per game. Bo McCalebb of Fenerbahce Ulker was the steals leader for the Top 16 with 2.3 per game. Brose Baskets Bamberg center A.J. Ogilvy swatted 3 shots to go down as the best shot-blocker in the final game of the Top 16. Maccabi Electra center Shawn James’s 2.1 blocks per game were the most in the Top 16. Papanikolaou and Nocioni (13 points, 13 rebounds)were the only players to tally double doubles in Top 16 game 14 action.