BARCELONA — Sasha Vezenkov saved his best performance of the season for a big night in Barcelona as Olympiacos Piraeus beat FC Barcelona 105-100 in overtime at the Palau Blaugrana, earning MVP of the Round honours for Round 6 with a season-high PIR of 38.
The reigning EuroLeague MVP scored a season-high 25 points on 6-of-7 from two-point range, 1-of-2 from beyond the arc and a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line, adding six rebounds, one assist and eight fouls drawn without committing a turnover. It is his first MVP of the Round award this season and the 18th of his career, leaving him one behind Shane Larkin’s all-time record of 19.
Chima Moneke posted the next-best PIR of 31 in just 20 minutes as Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade beat Paris Basketball 90-81, scoring a season-best 23 points without a turnover on 4-of-5 inside the arc, 2-of-2 from deep and 9-of-9 from the line with four rebounds, a steal and seven fouls drawn. Andres Feliz enjoyed a career night in Real Madrid’s 111-92 victory over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, setting personal bests with 26 points and a PIR of 30 after going 8-of-11 from three-point range — tying the most threes made by any player in a game this season — and 1-of-1 inside the arc, plus four rebounds, five assists and a foul drawn. Rounding out the top performers were Olympiacos’s Mbaye Ndiaye and FC Bayern Munich’s Vladimir Lucic, who each posted a PIR of 28; Ndiaye had 17 points, seven rebounds, an assist, two steals, three blocks and three fouls drawn in the Reds’ win at Barcelona, while Lucic had 17 points, seven rebounds, an assist, a steal and five fouls drawn as Bayern fell 95-87 at Besiktas Istanbul.
Dwayne Bacon of Dubai Basketball led all scorers in the round with 29 points, though Paris’s Nadir Hifi — absent for the last two rounds through injury — remains the EuroLeague’s top scorer at 20.3 points per game. On the glass, Barcelona’s Josh Nebo, Anadolu Efes Istanbul’s Dario Saric and Baskonia’s Tadas Sedekerskis shared the round lead with 10 rebounds apiece, while Zalgiris Kaunas’s Jonas Valanciunas has taken over the season lead at 7.7 per game. Theo Maledon of Real Madrid handed out a round-high nine assists, with Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade’s Carlik Jones and Crvena Zvezda’s Chris Jones sharing the season lead at 6.0 apiece ahead of next week’s Belgrade derby.
Collin Malcolm of Efes made a round-high four steals, though Partizan’s Luca Vildoza leads the league at 2.7 per game, while Marcus Bingham of Fenerbahce blocked a round-high five shots to help his side set a EuroLeague-record 14 blocks against Partizan — Virtus Bologna’s Aliou Diarra remains the league leader at 2.2 per game. Saric (14 points, 10 rebounds), Nebo (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Sedekerskis (11 points, 10 rebounds) were the only players to record double-doubles in Round 6, a round that also saw Parker jokes Feliz hit eight threes against idol in Madrid win underline the Spaniard’s shooting display.