A generational talent's key plays sparked Crvena Zvezda to a come-from-behind win over Bayern.
A vintage Milos Teodosic showed Zvezda the way
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3 Mins read
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade point guard Milos Teodosic has enjoyed a rich career with a laundry list full of titles and accomplishments. Nearly all of them, however, have come outside of his home country, Serbia. Among the reasons that the former EuroLeague MVP joined Zvezda last summer was to play at home on the club level for the first time since 2007, when he was just 20 years old.
On Thursday, when Zvezda needed him most, Teodosic delighted the Belgrade faithful with a memorable reminder of why he is a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague icon. The now 36-year-old virtuoso came off the bench against FC Bayern Munich to amass 16 points, 11 assists, 2 steals and a team-high performance index rating of 22.
In so doing, Teodosic notched the 18th point-assist double-double of his career, putting him second all-time behind in that niche behind only Nick Calathes. Teodosic also became the third-oldest player to ever dish 10 assists in a EuroLeague game, after Vassilis Spanoulis and Damir Mulaomerovic. His was the first points-assists double-double by any Zvezda player since Taylor Rochestie's 16 points and 10 assists to beat Zalgiris Kaunas in January 2018.
Another impressive stat was Teodosic's plus/minus of +21 in 27 minutes, meaning that in the 13 minutes he spent on the bench, Bayern outscored Zvezda by 15 points.
Most important, though, was Teodosic's timing and leadership.
With Zvezda behind 38-52 midway through the third quarter, he scored or assisted on his team's next 8 points to ignite the comeback. Then, his 10th assist sparked a 7-0 start to the fourth quarter capped by his three-pointer for a 59-59 tie.
When he returned from a breather to a slim 65-64 Zvezda advantage and 3:32 to play, Teodosic promptly nailed another triple. He then broke a 68-68 tie by hitting 1 of 2 free throws entering the final minute left and subsequently fed Yago Dos Santos for long three-pointer that sealed the eventual 74-68 victory with 20 seconds left.
In short, Teodosic seemed to will Zvezda to a crucial victory, and his efforts did not go unnoticed by the opposing head coach, Pablo Laso, who has been drawing up plans to thwart Teodosic for many years now.
"For me, Milos is a great player, for sure. Great creator, great passer, great shooter. If you ask Milos, he would probably like to be 25 years old, but he is not. But, when you get old, you get old," Laso said after the game. "Milos means a lot for the club, shows a lot of character and also helps young players to develop. It is a good mirror to have. I have a lot of respect for him as a player. I have a lot of respect that he is still playing at the level he showed tonight."