AS Monaco first-year forward Alpha Diallo has been contributing all over the floor over the last month and a half during which he has been one of the best performers in all of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Who's hot: Alpha Diallo, AS Monaco
Euroleague News
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Monaco has returned to the hunt for a playoff place and its do-it-all small forward Alpha Diallo has been instrumental in the team's recent surge during which it registered eight wins from its last 11 games.
Since Round 23, a slate of seven games that also includes a rescheduled Round 10 win over UNICS Kazan, Diallo has not only significantly improved in nearly every statistical category but has been one of the best performers in all of the EuroLeague.
Before Round 23, Diallo averaged 8.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists. He made just above half of his two-point shots and one-third of his three-point attempts. He also averaged 1.0 steal and posted a performance index rating of 9.1 per contest.
In Round 23, Diallo scored 19 points and collected 4 steals in a double-overtime loss against Real Madrid. He then went on to score 10 or more points in four of the next six games. That included 11 points plus 9 rebounds in a make-up game against UNICS and his career-best 24 points with 6 rebounds in an equally important win over Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in Round 27.
Diallo has 13.1 points over his last seven games, but his scoring is far from the only thing he improved. After averaging 4.0 rebounds before Round 23, Diallo has pulled down at least 5 boards in six of the seven games since. He also has a run of six consecutive games with at least 1 steal, and his all-around contribution might have been nest showcased in a come-from-behind road win at Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade when he had 9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
It has all led to Diallo almost doubling his average PIR over his last seven games, posting 17.0 since Round 23. And that's among the best in the entire league.
Only four players have accumulated a higher PIR since Round 23 than Diallo, a group that includes Baskonia's Wade Baldwin and All-EuroLeague stars Walter Tavares of Real Madrid and Anadolu Efes Istanbul's duo of Vasilije Micic and Shane Larkin.
Diallo has become such an important part of what Monaco does, that he has played more than 27 minutes in five games during this stretch and has not played fewer than 24 in any of them.
For Diallo, it will be Micic and Larkin on the other side of the ball tonight when Monaco welcomes the defending EuroLeague champions, and Diallo will be eager to continue his streak and contribute for Monaco in all facets of the game.