In his fifth 7DAYS EuroCup season, Buducnost VOLI Podgorica center Zoran Nikolic might be starting to wish that Promitheas Patras was on the schedule more often.
Buducnost's Zoran Nikolic stepped up against Promitheas – again
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On Wednesday, Nikolic led Buducnost to a 90-77 home victory against Promitheas that allowed his team to seal its ticket to the next round. In just 17 minutes on the floor, he made a big contribution, scoring 10 points on near-perfect shooting: 4-for-5 on two-pointers and 2-for-2 on free throws. He added 5 rebounds, 3 blocks and 4 fouls drawn for a PIR of 15.
Nikolic also provided the best defensive play of the night with consecutive blocked shots against Kendrick Ray and Jerai Grant, all in a matter of seconds.
Nikolic has averaged 5.3 points and 3.6 rebounds in 12 games this season, but his two best games were against Promitheas.
In Round 6, Nikolic led Buducnost to a 60-89 road victory in Patras with a personal-best 20 points on 8-for-10 two-point shooting plus 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 4 fouls drawn for a career-high PIR of 30. In two games against Promitheas, Nikolic has boosted his numbers to 15.0 points on 80.0% two-point shooting, 7.5 rebounds and an average PIR of 22.5. They were his only double-digit scoring nights so far this season.
The 25-year-old center has now played 62 games, all with Buducnost, since he debuted in the EuroCup in 2016. His are the most games for Buducnost in that span, and only three active EuroCup players have played more games with a single club in that time.
A glance at Nikolic's career highs shows Promitheas as the opponent in most of them: 30 PIR, 20 points, 8 two-pointers made, 10 rebounds, 8 defensive rebounds, 3 blocks, 27 minutes played.
It's near-impossible for the two teams to play again, but you can be sure that Nikolic will keep an eye out for Promitheas crossing his team's calendars in the future.