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Head-to-head: Micic, Efes vs. Calathes, Fenerbahce

Head-to-head: Micic, Efes vs. Calathes, Fenerbahce

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26 October 20224 Mins read

Head-to-head: Micic, Efes vs. Calathes, Fenerbahce

For the first time in the Istanbul Derby between Anadolu Efes and Fenerbahce Beko, we will witness a matchup between two of Europe's best point guards over the past ten years, Vasilije Micic and Nick Calathes.

The former is the 2021 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague MVP and the Final Four MVP in each of the last two years, who has led Efes to back-to-back EuroLeague titles, while Calathes, a former EuroLeague champ himself and now in his first season with Fenerbahce, is the competition's all-time leader in assists.

Both players have started this season hot. Micic, who was last year's top scorer, enters Round 5 ranked fifth in points (19.5 ppg.) and leads the EuroLeague in assists (8.3 apg.) while being fourth in three-pointers made (3.0 per game). Micic has the third-best average PIR (23.0) and Calathes ranks ninth (17.2), which is also the best among all Fenerbahce players.

Calathes also ranks fourth in assists (7.2 apg.) and fourth in steals (1.8 spg.) this season, while knocking down a career-high 57.1% of his three-pointers, which is also third-best this season for players with more than 3.0 attempts per game.

No two players have had more assists in the EuroLeague since the 2018-19 season than Calathes and Micic. That was the first year Micic joined Efes, and he has averaged 5.2 assists in his 139 appearances with the club. Meanwhile, no one has come even close to Calathes, who has dished 1,021 over that span with Panathinaikos Athens, FC Barcelona and now Fenerbahce, good for an untouchable 7.6 average.

Calathes is the all-time EuroLeague leader in assists with 1,740, and the only qualifying player in competition history to average 6.1 assists for a career. Micic, on the other hand, has the 10th-best total of 964 assists for his career, good for an eighth-best 4.8 average.

Interestingly, the last one of their head-to-head clashes took place in the 2021 championship game in Cologne, when Micic and Efes won the title with an 81-86 victory over Barcelona. Calathes tried to play hurt, after injuring his ankle in the semifinals but finished scoreless with 2 rebounds and 1 assist for the night, while Micic starred with 25 points and 5 assists, taking home the Final Four MVP trophy, too.

Overall, the two players have gone against each other 10 times to date, including Micic wearing the uniforms of Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade in the 2015-16 season, Zalgiris Kaunas in the 2017-18 campaign and Efes in 2018 and 2019, all while Calathes was with Panathinaikos.

Though Micic has a slightly better scoring average in their head-to-head meetings, Calathes has posted better numbers in rebounds, assists and steals and the two have an identical 11.7 average PIR in those games.

Friday marks a new opportunity for Micic and Calathes to face off and improve on those numbers while trying to lead their respective teams to an important win and some Istanbul bragging rights.