Roll call, Rounds 24-25: Standing out in the double round

In the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague roll call, we take a look at five players who had a big impact on their respective games in this latest double-round week.

Punter lit it up for Partizan

This week didn’t exactly go to plan for Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade as it fell to back-to-back defeats, but Kevin Punter showed that he is back to his best on the offensive end of the floor by scoring 50 points across his team’s two games this week. After netting a season-high 28 points in Round 24 at AS Monaco, Punter once again led Partizan in scoring by posting 22 in a defeat at Virtus Segafredo Bologna. There was no stopping Punter on offense this week, but unfortunately it didn’t result in wins for his team.

Nedovic found his groove on offense

Nemanja Nedovic erupted for a season-high 27 points as Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade as it downed on Valencia Basket in Round 24, before following that up with 21 points, the most of any Zvezda player, in a loss to FC Barcelona in Round 25. That’s the first time that Nedovic has paired back-to-back games of 20 points or more this season, and the first since Rounds 12 and 13 last season. As we enter the home stretch of the season, Nedovic is catching fire at just the right time.

Brazdeikis stepped up for Olympiacos

Olympiacos Piraeus came into this double-round week with the injuries of Nikola Milutinov and Moustapha Fall as a hot topic, but swingman Ignas Brazdeikis tried to help cover for their absence by taking advantage of an increased role on offense. Brazdeikis played 20 or more minutes for the first time this season in Round 24 and that led to his first double-digit scoring night of the campaign, with the Lithuania international notching 11 points in a win against ALBA Berlin. He then played exactly 20 minutes at FC Bayern Munich a couple of days later and also scored 11 points, meaning he had back-to-back double-digit scoring nights in this double-round week after not scoring more than 9 at any point this season.

Poirier did his best Tavares impression this week

Real Madrid has been without Walter Tavares since Round 21, and his absence had the potential to cause some problems for Los Blancos in this double-round week. Well, the good news for Real is that it has arguably the best backup center in the EuroLeague in Vincent Poirier. In addition to having a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double in a 106-101 win against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, the Frenchman also had 3 blocks in that game. Poirier followed that up by recording a joint season-high 4 blocks in an 86-79 triumph over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. He posted 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal, too. As such, Poirier had 7 blocks in the space of 48 hours, which are the sort of numbers we’re used to seeing from Tavares.

Belinelli bounced back in style

Round 24 certainly didn’t go to plan for Virtus or Marco Belinelli, who had a season-low 4 points in an 84-57 humbling loss at FC Barcelona. With Partizan visiting Bologna in Round 25, the veteran Italian quickly put that performance behind him by posting a joint team-high 20 points in an 88-84 win against Partizan. In particular, Belinelli scored 10 of Virtus’s 16 points in a third quarter that finished 27-27 and allowed the hosts to enter the fourth period with a 62-58 advantage. Belinelli has now finished with 20 or more points on six occasions this season, showing that age is simply just a number.