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Head-to-head: Campazzo, Zvezda vs. Calathes, Fenerbahce

Head-to-head: Campazzo, Zvezda vs. Calathes, Fenerbahce

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13 April 20233 Mins read

Head-to-head: Campazzo, Zvezda vs. Calathes, Fenerbahce

When it comes to setting up and serving teammates for a score, two of the best Turkish Airlines EuroLeague players in that department will go against one another in regular-season finale on Thursday when Facundo Campazzo and Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade host Nick Calathes and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.

Calathes is the EuroLeague career leader with 1,872 assists, and among other marks, he also holds the EuroLeague single-season record with 286 total assists, set in the 2018-19 campaign. On the other hand, Campazzo, who is a two-time EuroLeague champion with Real Madrid in 2015 and 2018, owns a share of the EuroLeague single-game record thanks to his 19 assists, a mark he reached playing for Real Madrid against ALBA Berlin in February 2020.

Their clash on Thursday will make it a dozen times that they have met on EuroLeague courts, too. Interestingly, Campazzo made his rookie debut with Real Madrid on the road against Calathes and Panathinaikos Athens in January 2015, but spent less than 2 minutes on the floor in that one.

Since the 2017-18 season, the two have gone head-to-head in the EuroLeague 10 times. Campazzo was with Real in all those games, while Calathes played nine of those fixtures in a Panathinaikos jersey and the last one with FC Barcelona in October 2020.

That last time, Calathes helped Barcelona to a win, which was only the second time Calathes was on the winning end when Campazzo has been on the opposite side in their games. The first one was in Panathinaikos's 82-80 victory over Real in November 2017, when Calathes had 12 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds. The eight games in between saw Campazzo celebrating victories with Real, including a 3-0 sweep of Panathinaikos in the 2019 playoffs.

In those 10 contests, Campazzo holds the edge over Calathes, averaging more assists (6.6 apg.) and steals (1.9 spg.) while scoring less (10.4 ppg.) despite shooting better percentage-wise. Calathes has scored more (12.3 ppg.) and had a slight edge in rebounding (4.2 rpg.) in those games.

This season, Calathes has started all 33 games so far and has averaged 8.1 points, a ninth-ranked 4.9 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals.

Campazzo has been playing in his first season since with Zvezda since March, so his eight appearances are not enough to qualify for the season rankings, but on this current pace he would have ranked second in assists (6.2 apg.) and steals (1.9 spg.), and fourth in average PIR (18.2).

On Thursday night, Calathes and Fenerbahce will have plenty more to play for with the team's playoff hopes on the line. But Campazzo and Zvezda would love nothing more to play a role of a spoiler and continue with their good performances and end their season on a five-game winning streak. With such high stakes, and two of EuroLeague's best playmakers on the floor, it's a matchup you don't want to miss.