Playoffs Game 3 MVP: Ekpe Udoh, Fenerbahce Istanbul

Apr 20, 2016 by Euroleague.net Print
Playoffs Game 3 MVP: Ekpe Udoh, Fenerbahce Istanbul

Fenerbahce Istanbul center Ekpe Udoh put on another towering performance to help send his team back to the Final Four and earn himself the MVP award for Game 3 of the playoffs. The Turkish Airlines Euroleague rookie, who was the Game 2 co-MVP, too, picked up where he left off as Fenerbahce's series with Real Madrid moved to the Spanish capital. With Udoh doing the heavy lifting, Fenerbahce roared into the Final Four by completing a series sweep of last year's champs with a 63-75 road win. Udoh posted several personal bests as he compiled 15 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks for a performance index rating of 33, the highest so far in this season's playoffs. Following Udoh on the hit parade was another player headed to the Final Four for the first time, Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz guard Darius Adams, whose 24 points paced a 75-84 road win over Panathinaikos Athens for another series sweep. Adams scored 14 of his points in the fourth quarter, including all 3 of his three-pointers, and finished with a PIR of 27. Tied at 24 each were Alex Abrines, whose career-high 25 points paced FC Barcelona Lassa's 82-70 home win over Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar to move within a victory of the Final Four, and Gustavo Ayon of Madrid, whose 14 points and 14 rebounds couldn't save last year's champs from elimination. Mike James of Laboral had Game 3's fifth-best PIR, 23, with 20 points and 6 rebounds.

Individual highs: Udoh sets blocks record

Alex Abrines of Barcelona was Game 2's best scorer with 25 points. Nando De Colo of CSKA tops the scoring charts for the season with his average of 18.9 points. Ayon's 14 rebounds for Madrid were the most in Game 3. Full-season leader rebounding champ Ioannis Bourousis of Laboral finished with 8.9 per game. Milos Teodosic of CSKA Moscow and, in his last Euroleague game, Dimitris Diamantidis of Panathinaikos, had 7 assists apiece in Game 3. Thomas Heurtel of Anadolu Efes Istanbul is the season's best with 7.9 per game. Justin Doellman of Barcelona and Davis Bertans of Laboral nabbed 3 steals each in Game 3. Season leader Nick Calathes of Panathinaikos finished with an average of 2 per game. Udoh, Bourousis and Quincy Miller of Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade each blocked 2 shots in Game 3. Udoh averaged 2.1 for the year and his 2 on Tuesday allowed him to set a new single-season Euroleague record with 53 rejections total. Udoh and Ayon were the two players to register double-doubles in Game 3 of the playoffs.