The hottest team in the competition in recent weeks has been Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade. Zvezda might be coming off a loss to EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, but that defeat snapped a six-game winning streak - just one shy of the club record - and has the team sitting at 7-7 heading into Round 15.
The main reasons for that success have been the coaching change that brought in Dusko Ivanovic and the play of point guard Luca Vildoza.
The Argentine playmaker who joined the team ahead of Round 4 immediately became a difference-maker as he was posting 12.4 points, 3.9 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals through Round 10. He has taken his game to another level over the past four rounds.
Since Round 11, Vildoza has not only averaged 18.3 points, but has done so by almost doubling his two-point shooting percentage and significantly improving his three-point shooting. He has also been posting 4.8 assists and nearly tripled his steals average (3.0 spg.).
The hot streak started with Vildoza shining in a home win over Virtus Segafredo Bologna with 16 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals, before posting 14 points, 6 assists, 4 steals and 4 rebounds in a historic first-ever Belgrade derby against Partizan.
Vildoza followed that up with a career-high 27 points in a win over Zalgiris Kaunas before finishing with 16 points and 6 assists in the loss against Milan.
All been told, only five players have scored more than his total of 73 since Round 11. In addition, he ranks 10th over that span with an accumulated PIR of 76, good for an average of 19.0. That is almost double what he posted in his first seven appearances of the season.
It took little time for Vildoza to become a fan-favorite in the Serbian capital.
Now, as Crvena Zvezda travels to Piraeus to face Olympiacos, Vildoza is poised to keep leading this team and eager to get a new winning streak started.
