Head-to-head: Reyer's Watt vs. Bourg's Pelos

Tuesday night's action in the 7DAYS EuroCup sees Umana Reyer Venice host Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse at Palasport Taliercio, which means that two of the competition's best centers, Reyer's Mitchell Watt and Bourg's Pierre Pelos, will come head-to-head.

Watt is now in his fifth season in the EuroCup – his fourth straight with Reyer, having previously featured for ALBA Berlin in 2015-16 – and he got off to a good start in Round 1, as he put up 10 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in a narrow 81-80 defeat to ratiopharm Ulm. In fact, across his EuroCup career as a Reyer player, Watt has regularly found his way to the basket, averaging at least 11.8 points in each of the last three seasons.

Likewise, Pelos has demonstrated his scoring ability in the EuroCup with Bourg over the last three campaigns. In Round 1, during Bourg's 88-85 triumph over U-BT Cluj-Napoca, he recorded 16 points and 5 rebounds in just 15:14 minutes off the bench, which included going 4-of-5 from behind the three-point line. Pelos has often had to make an impact in a reserve role, yet he has still averaged 11.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 33 games for Bourg in the EuroCup.

Reyer and Bourg have met each other in each of the last two EuroCup seasons, but the 2021-22 campaign was the first time that fans got the chance to watch Watt vs. Pelos in this fixture, as Watt appeared in just five EuroCup games in 2020-21. The two teams split the regular-season series when they met last year, winning a road game apiece, and curiously both Watt and Pelos performed better away from their home arenas.

During the first meeting at Ekinox, Bourg's home, it was Watt who was the star of the show, as he finished with a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double in a 62-73 victory for Reyer. In the losing effort, Pelos had 10 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Then, later in the season at Palasport Taliercio, Pelos got the better of Watt by finishing with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal, compared to 7 points, 5 rebounds and 1 steal for his Reyer counterpart.

Yet, when comparing how Watt and Pelos did across the two games combined, there are some interesting similarities. Both centers averaged 11.5 points, for example, as well as an 83.3% night from the free-throw line on 5-of-6 shooting. On two-point shots, Watt made 9-of-18 attempts for a percentage of 50.0%, while Pelos saw 6-of-11 shots drop from inside the arc for a percentage of 54.5%. Their PIR numbers were comparable, too, as Watt finished with 14.5 and Pelos recorded 13.5. One area in which the two big men differ is with three-point shooting, as Watt did not put up a shot from distance whereas Pelos made 2-of-3 shots from deep for a percentage of 33.3%.

After grabbing a road win each last season, it will be interesting to see which of the two centers is able to come out on top at Palasport Taliercio on Tuesday night. Reyer, in its home opener, will look to respond from its Round 1 defeat to Ulm, with Watt likely to play a key part in any success that coach Walter De Raffaele's team has. Bourg, meanwhile, will hope that Pelos can have a similar scoring night to Round 1 en route to another victory, which would maintain the French club's 100% record in the EuroCup so far this season.