In the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague roll call, we take a look at four players who had a big impact for their respective teams in the second week of the playoffs.
Roll Call: Linchpins of the playoffs' second week
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'El Chacho' unlocked Real's rally in series-clincher
Real Madrid found itself struggling to sweep host Baskonia Vitoria-Gazteiz in Game 3 when one of its veteran leaders, Sergio Rodriguez, took matters into his own hands. In the case of "El Chacho", those hands are deadly when he's passing. And pass Rodriguez did, piling up 9 assists in just 13 minutes on the foor. Five of those assists came in a four-minute stretch of the fourth quarter when Real went from trailing 80-75 to leading 86-93, paving the way to a 98-102 win that was good for a 3-0 series sweep and the first ticket to the Final Four. More evidence of his impact was Rodriguez leading the defending champions with +12 on the plus/minus scale, meaning that Real outscored Baskonia by that much in the short time he was on the floor.
Nunn poured in 52 points for Greens over two games
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens guard Kendrick Nunn is living up to his billing as the second-best average scorer (17.5) and top one in total points (70) in the playoffs. He amassed 52 of those in Game 3 and Game 4. Nunn downed 5 triples among his game-high 25 points and helped Panathinaikos rally late in an ultimately futile 85-83 loss to Maccabi. Two nights later, with his team's season on the line, Nunn was even better, pouring in 27 points to help another late comeback, this time good for an 88-95 victory. That effort tied the series and sent Panathinaikos and Maccabi to a Game 5 next Tuesday in Athens.
Petrusev gave Olympiacos another weapon
In an Olympiacos Piraeus frontcourt that is crowded with stars, the versatile Filip Petrusev certainly made his presence felt in the second week of the playoffs. In Game 4, he posted season highs 18 points, 19 PIR and 30 minutes played, although it wasn't enough to stop FC Barcelona from escaping with an 80-82 road win in overtime. He spent less time on-court as Olympiacos blew out Barca 92-58, but still collected 10 points, 5 rebounds and 11 PIR in just over 17 minutes. All told, Petrusev is averaging 14.8 PIR, tied for 10th-best in the playoffs, which prorates to 28.5 per 40 minutes, which is ninth-best.
Maccabi relied on Blatt's playmaking
Another young player making his mark in Game 3 and Game 4 was Tamir Blatt of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. Taking on extra responsibility in the absence of injured backcourt mate Wade Baldwin, Blatt had 13 assists over the two games. He dished 6 in Game 3 as Maccabi edged Panathinaikos 85-83 and another 7 -- as well as 14 points and 5 rebounds -- in Game 4, although the Greens were able to even the series with an 88-95 road win. Blatt now ranks fifth among playoffs assist-makers with 5.8 per game.