These five individuals impressed for their teams in November's double-round week in the EuroLeague.
Roll call, Rounds 8-9: Key players stepped into starring roles
Stats
5 Mins read
Shields paced Milan in double-round week
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan split its games during this double-round week in the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, but Shavon Shields shined in both contests. First, on Tuesday, in an 86-79 road loss against Virtus Segafredo Bologna, Shields netted 5-of-8 three-pointers on his way to a team-high 21 points. That was the third time this season that Shields scored more than 20, and in this contest he also collected 4 rebounds and 3 steals for a PIR of 22. Two days later, in a home win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul, Shields posted 18 points, again a team best, while shooting 4-of-4 on twos and 3-of-6 on threes. He added 3 rebounds and 3 steals and finished with a 17 PIR.
Fall's mountain of an effort
Moustapha Fall had big shoes to fill in the absence of fellow big man Nikola Milutinov, but Olympiacos Piraeus did not miss a beat, winning both of its games this week. The Reds’ center played 35 minutes in Belgrade against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Tuesday and had an all-round performance with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block for a PIR of 15. On Thursday, in front of a passionate crowd at Peace and Friendship Stadium, Fall dominated against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade with 14 points, making 7-of-10 two-pointers, and pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds, including a career-best 7 on the offensive end. He also delivered 3 assists and 3 blocks and accumulated a PIR of 28.
Jerian Grant’s all-round play
Panathinaikos Athens playmaker Jerian Grant only made a total of 3 field goals on 10 attempts in two games combined this week, but he still averaged a PIR of 18.5 in those two wins for the Greens. It is because Grant did just about everything else on the court. Averaging just under 30 minutes per game, he posted 10 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals in a 73-71 win over Zalgiris Kaunas in Round 8. Then, in Round 9, Grant followed it up with 7 points, 7 assists, 5 steals and a show-stopping block in Friday's 90-76 win over Virtus Segafredo Bologna. Despite misfiring from the floor, Grant also found a way to get to the free-throw line, drawing a total of 7 fouls and taking 10 free-throw attempts. His contribution was huge as Panathinaikos improved to a 5-4 record.
Howard scored 61 points this week
No player has been hotter this past week than Markus Howard, as the Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz shooting guard lit up the scoreboard in two wins for his team. Howard first scored 26 points in under 25 minutes, making 5-of-9 twos and 4-of-11 threes in a 94-71 thrashing of FC Barcelona. Just 48 hours later, Howard followed up that performance in an 81-88 road win against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, scoring a EuroLeague season-high and a career-best 35 points, while netting a personal best 8 triples on 13 attempts. Many of the shots Howard made hit nothing but the bottom of the net. It was another impressive display, having helped Baskonia to two victories and extended its winning streak to four games.
Luwawu-Cabarrot went to another level for ASVEL
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne may have gone 1-1 in the double-round week, winning 68-73 at ALBA Berlin on Wednesday before losing 81-88 to Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on Friday, but Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot kept up his impressive level of performance. The 28-year-old Frenchman first scored a game-high 19 points against ALBA, as well as having 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, before posting 10 points, 4 rebounds, a joint round-high 8 assists and 1 steal against Baskonia. Ever since returning from injury in Round 6, with Gianmarco Pozzecco having replaced TJ Parker on ASVEL’s bench by that point, Luwawu-Cabarrot has shown himself to be a key player for the Italian head coach, and that was very much the case in this most recent double-round week.