ALBA Berlin playmaker Maodo Lo and Real Madrid point guard Thomas Heurtel have been holding reigns of their respective teams' offenses this season, and the two experienced guards are set to square off against one another for the first time in almost three years when Real visits the German capital on Thursday.
Head-to-head: Maodo Lo vs. Thomas Heurtel
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3 Min lectura
The two players have gone head-to-head six times in the past, starting in December 2016 when Lo was making his competition debut with Brose Bamberg and Heurtel was with Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Their matchups were also featured in games between Bamberg and FC Barcelona, where Heurtel spent the last four seasons, as well as in clashes between Barcelona and FC Bayern, where Lo played for two seasons.
Heurtel has posted 10.5 points, 3.8 assists and 2.2 rebounds in those games, while Lo averaged 9.0 points on 50.0% three-point shooting. H
owever, March 2019 was the last time Lo and Heurtel have been on opposite sides as one or the other player missed games between their teams ever since. That includes in Round 15 last month when Heurtel was not part of Real's comfortable 87-64 win at home, while Lo had 8 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds in a losing cause for ALBA.
In three appearances since that game, however, Lo is averaging 17.0 points and 5.3 assists, which adds to his career-best season so far. The ALBA guard is averaging 12.6 points and 3.6 assists, both the second-highest marks on ALBA. Playing 23 minutes per game, Lo enters this round averaging a personal-best 2.1 three-pointers made, knocking them down at a career-high rate of 44.0%.
Heurtel has been playing 20 minutes per game for Real. The veteran point guard gets the offense running with 4.7 assists per game, which ranks him fifth in the competition. Heurtel also posts 8.8 points and a career-best 3.0 rebounds.
Heurtel was sidelined for more than a month of action before returning to the floor in Round 21. Real comes into Berlin having won four straight games and 10 of its last 11. With Heurtel, back it will go to the German capital that much stronger.
ALBA has won three of the last four games on its home floor, however, and Lo was one of its main protagonists, averaging 15.3 points and 5.3 assists in that span at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. He will likely have to perform that well once again, with Real Madrid and Heurtel on the opposite side.