Vezenkov enhances MVP credentials in win at ALBA
One of the stars of the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season has been Olympiacos Piraeus forward Sasha Vezenkov, who had another exceptional performance in his team's 60-93 win on the road at ALBA Berlin in Round 24 on Wednesday night.
In just over 32 minutes on the floor, Vezenkov scored a season-high 28 points on impeccable shooting, going 6-of-7 (85.7%) from two-point range, 4-of-6 (66.7%) from behind the arc and 4-of-5 (80%) from the free-throw line. What's more, the 27-year-old grabbed 13 rebounds, dished 1 assist and had 1 steal.
But, it was not just his numbers. For the majority of the game, it felt as though Vezenkov was Olympiacos's 'get out of jail free' card.
Starting in the first quarter, Vezenkov knocked down a triple to put Olympiacos up 0-7 after 2:20 of play. Shortly after, Tarik Black fouled Christ Koumadje, meaning that both he and Moustapha Fall – Olympiacos's two centers – were now on the bench with 2 fouls. The Reds went to a small lineup, with Vezenkov taking on an even greater leadership role.
After going 1-for-2 from the charity stripe, Vezenkov scored a two-pointer to take his tally to 6 and keep the visitors comfortably ahead, 5-10. ALBA soon looked come back, 10-12, but 5 straight points from the Bulgaria international allowed Olympiacos to breathe again, 10-17. Then, to close the first quarter, Vezenkov took his tally to 13 points with a dunk, 13-28.
In addition to his 13 points, though, Vezenkov already found himself on 5 rebounds after the opening 10 minutes of play. ALBA was having a lot of trouble containing Olympiacos on the glass, and Vezenkov – together with Bolomboy, who grabbed 4 – had caused all sorts of problems for the hosts. In particular, 2 of Vezenkov's rebounds had come on the offensive end, while 3 of Bolomboy's had also come under ALBA's basket. Together, they were destroying ALBA.
Olympiacos head coach Georgios Bartzokas chose to sit Vezenkov for the first 5:30 of the second quarter, but he only added 2 points and 1 rebound to his tally before the break. After the interval, however, Vezenkov helped put the dagger into ALBA, as the hosts saw the game quickly get away from them.
ALBA had cut the deficit to 10 points at halftime, 35-45, yet while Fall scored the Reds' first 5 points of the second half, Luke Sikma's layup helped pull the hosts to within single digits, 41-50. That is when Vezenkov appeared once again, this time to hit a three-pointer that reestablished his team's double-digit lead, 41-53. He then grabbed the defensive rebound that resulted in Thomas Walkup seeing a triple fall, as the gap extended to 15 points once again, 41-56.
Vezenkov finished the third quarter with another rebound and two-pointer to his name, taking him to 20 points and 9 rebounds, just shy of a double-double. In the fourth quarter, Olympiacos extended its lead to as many as 37 points, 49-86, with 6:11 to go before the final buzzer, as Vezenkov added 8 more points and 4 more rebounds to take his final totals to 28 points and 13 rebounds.
With a PIR of 40, Vezenkov is on course to secure his fifth MVP of the Round accolade this season; the only players that have earned this honor more than once in 2022-23 are Johnathan Motley of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Dzanan Musa of Real Madrid, both of whom have done so on two occasions.
What's more, the statistics show just how dominant Vezenkov has been during this campaign. The 27-year-old is comfortably the leader in average PIR at 23.5, while he also leads the way for rebounds with 7.4 per contest and is second in scoring at 18.4 points per game.
When it comes to the MVP race as a whole, though, there are plenty of players that will do their all to make sure that it goes down to the wire, such as the reigning MVP and FC Barcelona forward Nikola Mirotic, AS Monaco guard Mike James, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade center Mathias Lessort and Anadolu Efes Istanbul duo Vasilije Micic and Will Clyburn.
However, one thing is for sure: if Vezenkov keeps playing like this and Olympiacos keeps winning, it's going to be hard to argue against him winning his first EuroLeague MVP award.