Guards Codi Miller-McIntyre and Markus Howard played key roles for Baskonia in its road win over Efes on Friday night.
Baskonia's star guards led the way in Istanbul
Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz snapped a two-game losing streak with its 80-87 road win at Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Round 16 behind stellar play from its backcourt. Codi Miller-McIntyre was close to making Turkish Airlines EuroLeague history; he was just 1 rebound away from recording the competition's fourth-ever triple-double.
Nikola Vujcic had two triple-doubles in his stint with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2000s and Nick Calathes was the last player to record 11 points, 12 rebounds and 18 assists for Panathinaikos Athens in an 87-67 win over Buducnost VOLI Podgorica on April 4, 2019.
Miller-McIntyre scored Baskonia's first basket, a three-pointer, his only basket in the first quarter to go with a rebound and 2 assists. He dominated after that and played a critical role in the fourth quarter. With his team down 68-66 with 7 minutes left, Miller-McIntyre hit a pair of free throws that ignited a game-defining 0-10 run in which he had a couple of assists. Moments after grabbing his ninth rebound at the buzzer, Miller-McIntyre found out he needed only 1 more to make history.
"It feels good that we won!" he said when he found out. "Most importantly, it feels good that we were able to get this win. And I guess I have to keep trying to rebound more... I think we just stayed focused. We didn't get upset or down when we were down 4-5 points, and everybody stayed locked in, and we were able to pull out the win."
Howard played a key role in a 0-6 run with a highly-contested three-pointer and 3 free throws. He buried his first two shots late in the fourth quarter, right after coming off the bench, and kept his rhythm all game long, not just striking from beyond the arc, but also attacking the rim with great aggressiveness and energy.
Howard finished the game with 28 points on 5-of-6 two-point shooting, 5-of-8 on three-pointers and 3-of-4 from the foul line for a PIR of 22. He also managed to stay out of foul trouble in crunch time, which was critical to the outcome of the game. He committed his fourth foul with 1:11 left in the third quarter and still managed to score 10 points in the last 6 minutes despite fouling out with 50 seconds remaining.
"I think that the most important thing is that we got the win. Whatever my teammates need me to do, whenever my name is called, I am doing it to the best of my abilities. I have to do a better job of maintaining my fouls to be able to stay on the court, but the guys that finished the game did extremely well, they executed, so I am very proud of the effort all the way around," Howard said.
"You have to play hard in each and every possession but there is going to be sometimes possessions in which you have to be smart with how you are playing with your hands, with your body. So I am just trying to feel the game out, understand how the refs are calling calls. That is something that I am going to continue to take more practice."
Asked about Howard beating foul trouble, Baskonia head coach Dusko Ivanovic was pleased with the way he managed that situation.
"[Howard] is a smart guy. He knew he can't make the [fifth] foul. He made his fifth foul with 50 seconds in the game but also, he played good defense with 4 fouls," he said.
Howard averaged 14.2 points last season and has boosted his scoring average to 18.6 points per night to be a top contender for the Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy. As for Miller-McIntyre, is now averaging 8.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists in 16 games. Howard and Miller-McIntyre have helped Baskonia to win eight of its last 11 games.