Round 17 roll call | EuroLeague

Madar's versatile contribution for Partizan

Yam Madar's 17th career EuroLeague game proved his best yet, even in unsuspected ways, as Partizan Mozzartbet Belgrade turned back first-placed AS Monaco 100-80 on Thursday. Madar played all of his 21 minutes in the first three quarters, but ended up as Partizan's third-best scorer, with a season-high 15 points, and tied for its second-best in PIR (18) and assists (3). What the 1.90-meter point guard led all players on both teams in, oddly enough, was blocks, with 2 on Mike James within a minute of the third quarter, helping to hold the Monaco star to a PIR of 1 for the night.

Birutis, Zalgiris beat the odds

When he climbed off the Zalgiris Kaunas bench midway through the first quarter on Thursday, the only advantage 25-year-old Laurynas Birutis brought to the table against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul was his 2.13-meter height and a sellout crowd of 15,000-plus friends. His 4.6 average PIR over the previous 16 games was dwarfed by the 17.6 of one counterpart, rookie Johnathan Motley, and he gave away four seasons' worth of EuroLeague experience to Fenerbahce's other center, Devin Booker. When he left the game midway through the fourth quarter after a basket that gave him 15 points and Zalgiris a 76-52 lead, however, his job was done and then some. Birutis had a PIR of 27 in less than 24 minutes while the Fenerbahce centers had a combined 13 PIR. Zalgiris coasted from there to an 86-66 win.

Lundberg led Virtus upset effort

With fellow-guard Daniel Hackett back home with an injury, Virtus Segafredo Bologna's Iffe Lundberg played longer than in any of his previous five games and made the most of the extra time on court on Thursday. Lundberg's 20 points on 4-for-4 two-point and 3-for-6 three-point shooting paced Virtus to a 75-83 road upset of first-placed FC Barcelona. His career-high 5 steals also matched the second-best total in the EuroLeague this season, showing that Lundberg was just as active on defense as offense.

Rubit's big night for Bayern

Not since the first of his five seasons in the EuroLeague until now did Augustine Rubit put up numbers like he did in FC Bayern's 84-68 home win against Panathinaikos Athens in Round 17. In his 136th career game, Rubit tied his career-high PIR of 34, which he had set playing for Brose Bamberg, also against Panathinaikos, back in early 2018. This time, his performance included 23 points that matched his second-best scoring effort ever, plus personal bests of 9 two-pointers and 9 fouls drawn. With that, Rubit extended a run of five games out of six in which he has had a PIR of 20 or better.

De Colo stole his way to a milestone

During LCLC ASVEL Villeurbanne's 78-72 loss at Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Friday evening, Nando De Colo stole the ball in the second quarter to move to 300 steals for his career. The 35-year-old has become just the sixth player to reach at least 300 steals in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, joining Dimitris Diamantidis (434), Nick Calathes (387), Theodoros Papaloukas (335), Rudy Fernandez (330) and Pablo Prigioni (322). De Colo reached this mark in 261 games, which means he has averaged 1.1 steals per contest.

With 5 blocks, Tavares continues on record pace

Walter Tavares of Real Madrid continues blocking shots like no one else in the history of the EuroLeague. His 5 rejections against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in Real's blowout 98-65 home win on Friday may have been routine for Tavares, but only two other active players -- Bryant Dunston and Jordan Mickey -- have posted as many or more blocks twice in one season. Tavares already has done that through half a season, after having posted his personal record of 6 back in Round 13. He has three other games with 4 blocks this season, too, and his league-leading average of 2.7 is the EuroLeague's highest in 17 game or more ever. At this pace, with 46 blocks already, Tavares would easily eclipse the all-time record of blocks in a season, 68, set by Ekpe Udoh of Fenerbahce in 2016-17.