For the second time this season, Vassilis Spanoulis, the Euroleague’s reigning bwin MVP, is also the bwin MVP of the week! Spanoulis produced one of the best games of his career in leading the unbeaten Reds against his former coach, Zeljko Obradovic, and one of the regular season group winners, Fenerbahce Ulker. The Olympiacos guard racked up 28 points and 9 assists in compiling a performance index rating of 39, which was head and shoulders above the rest of the league in the Top 16 openers. Spanoulis made 4 of 8 three-pointers, gathered 5 rebounds and drew 9 fouls in an inspiring performance in a 95-82 win. He finished with a new career best in index rating and 1 short of his career-high in scoring. The second-best index rating belonged to a player on the losing side of that same game. Emir Preldzic posted 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists for an index rating of 28. Three players shared the remaining places in the weekly top five. Ioannis Bourousis of Real Madrid, Ricky Hickman of Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv and Victor Khryapa of CSKA Moscow each recorded 26 index ratings in key road wins. Bourousis scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while missing just 2 field goal attempts and sinking 8 of 9 free throws as Los Blancos topped Partizan NIS 64-80 in Belgrade. Hickman paced Maccabi to an 84-90 victory at Galatasaray Liv Hospital with a season-high 24 points. Hickman made 8 of 11 two-pointers and also dished 3 assists. Khryapa turned in an impressive all-around performance as CSKA bested Lokomotiv Kuban 77-84 after overtime in Krasnodar. Khryapa scored 15 points on 5-of-6 three-point shooting and booked 8 rebounds and 7 assists too!
MVP Video
Individual leaders: Dimitris Diamantidis of Panathinaikos, 11 assists
Spanoulis was not only the MVP, but also the week’s top scorer. His scoring average increased to 16.9 points per game, which is second only to Fenerbahce’s Bojan Bogdanovic (17.9 ppg.) among Top 16 players. The regular season rebounding leader, Joffrey Lauvergne of Partizan, was back at it with 13 boards on Thursday. Panathinaikos big man Stephane Lasme tied him for the week’s lead. Dimitris Diamantidis padded his league-lead in assists with 11 in a home win over EA7 Emporio Armani Milan. Diamantidis’s 7.6 assists per game this season represent a career high. Unicaja’s Earl Calloway had 4 steals, the most of any Top 16 Round 1 player. Anadolu Efes guard Jamon Gordon, who sat out his team’s loss with an injury, remains the league leader with 2.1 steals per game. Lasme was joined by Barcelona center Ante Tomic as the week’s blocked shots leaders with 3 apiece. Injured Maccabi center Shawn James (1.86 bpg.) sits atop the season-long standings. Five players finished their Top 16 openrs with double-doubles: Devin Smith (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Alex Tyus (12 points, 11 rebounds) from Maccabi, Lauvergne (13 points, 13 rebounds), Aleks Maric (12 points, 10 rebounds) of Lokomotiv and Barcelona’s Joey Dorsey (10 points, 11 rebounds).