One thing unites these go-to points producers: they are doing it when it counts.
Stats review: The most efficient scorers
Stats
4 Mins read
With only two games remaining in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, crunch time has arrived with over a dozen teams vying for position throughout the standings. Perhaps it was those stakes that made Nigel Hayes-Davis's record-breaking 50-point scoring effort last Friday feel like even more of a curiosity than it already was.
Much has been made of Hayes-Davis's shooting in Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul's win over ALBA Berlin, but the splits are perhaps just as interesting. He scored 20 points in transition and 12 points running off screens. To put those numbers in perspective, Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz currently leads all teams scoring 14.7 points per game in transition and 7.1 per game in off screen situations. His route to 50 was as unique as it was impressive.
It also propelled Hayes-Davis towards to the top of this season's scoring efficiency leaderboards. After scoring his 50 points in just 31 possessions, Hayes-Davis now ranks behind only Nikola Mirotic – who has appeared in just 19 games for EA7 Emporio Armani Milan – in offensive efficiency among the 31 players using over 12 possessions per game this season.
When Mirotic has been healthy, he remains devastatingly effective on the offensive end, shooting over 64% from inside the arc, 44% from beyond it, and 85% from the line. Hayes-Davis has not fallen too far behind those marks while turning the ball over a bit less frequently. He's had a breakout year, of sorts, at age 29.
Keenan Evans has come full circle after emerging as a star for Zalgiris Kaunas last season before missing the second half of the season with an injury. While he hit the ground running early this year, he has continued to build steam as he attempts to lift his team into the Play-In Showdown by playing the best basketball of his career over the last several months. He leads the EuroLeague by a wide margin in pick-and-roll scoring.
Currently standing in Zalgiris's way in the standings is an Anadolu Efes Istanbul team led by Shane Larkin, who has been playing to an MVP standard in his own right during March. Larkin has scored 1.30 points per possession over the last month – nearly identical to the preposterous 1.29 points-per-possession standard he set during pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season.
Chima Moneke had no such pedigree entering the year but has been one of the EuroLeague's most improved players. After scoring only 63 points over 16 appearances last season, he has scored 438 over 31 this year and is thriving in transition to put Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in position to clinch a postseason berth with a victory in either of the final two rounds.
Mathias Lessort has helped Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens find its way to the top of the six-team group that will stretch from second place all the way to the Play-In Showdown when the regular season ends. He leads the EuroLeague in dunks and points scored rolling to the rim this season.
Nemanja Nedovic and Shavon Shields have both scored efficiently despite doing a little bit of everything from the perimeter on and off the ball for their respective teams.
With most of these players representing teams that still have a great deal to play for over the next two weeks, it will be fascinating to see if a hero emerges from this group, even if it isn't in a record-setting display.