Nando De Colo had the best individual performances in recent Turkish Airlines EuroLeague seasons while leading Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul to its first win of this one as he earned the MVP honor for Round 3.
Round 3 MVP: Nando De Colo, Fenerbahce
Nando De Colo had the best individual performances in recent Turkish Airlines EuroLeague seasons while leading Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul to its first win of this one as he earned the MVP honor for Round 3. In his first EuroLeague home game in Fenerbahce uniform, De Colo was truly unstoppable in an 87-80 win over KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. He posted two career highs with 39 points and performance index rating of 44. His scoring was the second-highest total this and just 2 points below the EuroLeague's all-time single-game record. His PIR was the league's highest since 2015. De Colo made 12 of 15 two-point shots, 3 of 6 triples, and 6 of 7 free throws. He also had 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal and 9 fouls drawn. It marks his 16th MVP of the Round honor, six more than any other EuroLeague player. Round 3's next-best PIR was 35 by Zach LeDay of Zalgiris Kaunas, who collected 26 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in an 86-73 home win over Real Madrid. Nikola Milutinov of Olympiacos Piraeus was third with a PIR of 30 as he posted 16 points, 16 rebounds and 1 block in an overtime loss against Zenit St Petersburg. Rounding out the list of Round 3's top performers are Bojan Dubljevic of Valencia Basket, Cory Higgins of FC Barcelona and Jacob Wiley of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens, each with PIR of 27. Dubljevic had a career-high 22 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in a home loss against Anadolu Efes Istanbul; Higgins had 22 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds as Barcelona beat visiting ALBA Berlin; and Wiley collected 17 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in a home loss to AX Armani Exchange Milan.
Individual highs: Milutinov, Olympiacos, 16 rebounds
De Colo's 39 were the most points scored by any player not only this round, but in almost four years. De Colo is the new season-long scoring leader with 26.7 points per game. Milutinov grabbed 16 rebounds, the highest total so far this season. He also leads the overall rebounds rankings with 13.3 per game. Vasilije Micic of Efes dished 12 assists to lead Round 3 and averages a league-high 10.0 after three games. Yovel Zoosman of Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv and Shane Larkin of Efes had 4 steals this round. Pierria Henry of Baskonia is the current steals leader with 2.7 per night. Baskonia's Michael Eric topped all players with 4 blocked shots this week. Efes center Bryant Dunston is the league leader with 2.0 blocks per game. There were three double-doubles in Round 3. Milutinov collected 16 points and 16 rebounds, Micic had 15 points and 12 assists, and Gustavo Ayon of Zenit had 10 points and 10 rebounds.