A dominant display in a 20-point road victory at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade has seen Walter Tavares of Real Madrid earn MVP of the Round honors in Round 18 of the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season. Tavares finished with a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double in Los Blancos' 59-79 win at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall, which saw his team retain its place as co-leader in the standings. As well as going 7-of-8 from two-point range and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line, Tavares was particularly active on the boards, with 7 of his 12 rebounds coming on the offensive end. What's more, he dished 3 assists, made 4 blocks and drew 7 fouls en route to his PIR of 35, one point below the career-high 36 PIR that he set against Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on December 15, 2020. This is the fourth time in his 180-game career in the EuroLeague that Tavares has secured the MVP of the Round distinction.
Round 18 MVP: Walter Tavares, Real Madrid
The next best PIR, 31, belongs to LCLC ASVEL Villeurbanne center Youssoupha Fall. Despite his team losing 75-83 at home to FC Barcelona, Fall scored a season-high 23 points on 9-of-12 two-point shooting, while he also went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. He paired those points with 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 6 fouls drawn. Rounding out the top three best performers in Round 18 is Nigel Hayes-Davis of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. During his team's 88-94 overtime win at Panathinaikos Athens, he scored a season-best 24 points after shooting 6-of-7 on two-pointers, 3-of-5 on triples and 3-of-4 on free throws. In addition to that, he grabbed 4 rebounds, recorded 2 assists, had 1 steal and was fouled 7 times. In fourth place is Virtus Segafredo Bologna guard Milos Teodosic, who had a PIR of 28 in his team's 77-87 loss at home to Zalgiris Kaunas. Teodosic finished with 21 points, having gone 3-of-5 from inside the arc, 3-of-7 from three-point territory and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Like Tavares, he had a double-double after pairing his 21 points with a season-high 12 assists. Teodosic also recorded 2 rebounds, 1 steal and 4 drawn fouls. Tied for fifth place are Mateusz Ponitka of Panathinaikos and Rolands Smits of Zalgiris, both of whom had a 26 PIR. In the case of Ponitka, he reached this mark after having a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double, while he also had 3 assists, 1 steal and 5 drawn fouls to his name. For Smits, he scored 17 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, dished 4 assists and drew 4 fouls.