Round 30 MVP: Wade Baldwin IV, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
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Round 30 MVP: Wade Baldwin IV, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
With a historic performance that vaulted his team two places higher in the standings, Wade Baldwin of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv more than earned the MVP honor for Round 30 in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Baldwin scored 30 points and dished 10 assists as Maccabi shook off visiting LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 98-90 on Tuesday. He made 9 of 15 two-point shots, 1 of 2 threes and 9 of 10 free throws while also grabbing 5 rebounds and 2 steals. With the victory, Maccabi jumped from ninth to seventh place over Tuesday losers Virtus Segafredo Bologna and Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Baldwin’s resulting performance index rating of 46 was not only his career best, but the highest in the EuroLeague for more than three years and for Maccabi since 2006. He tied the great Nikola Vujcic for Maccabi’s second-best PIR this century, both of them just 1 PIR point behind club record-holder Anthony Parker with 47. Baldwin also became just the 17th player to earn seven or more MVP of the Round awards.
In the same game, ASVEL center Youssoupha Fall combined for 17 points and 12 rebounds for a PIR of 31, the second-best of Round 30.
Mathias Lessort of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens came next with a PIR of 30 based on his 19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in a 76-89 road win at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade. His teammate Kostas Sloukas, author of 17 points and 10 assists in the win at Zvezda, followed with a PIR of 29.
Two players tied for Round 20’s fifth-best PIR with 28 each. Bruno Caboclo of Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade posted an 18-point, 13-rebound double-double in an 87-83 home win over Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. His PIR was matched by Mario Hezonja of Real Madrid, whose 22 points and 8 rebounds helped topple host ALBA Berlin, 79-86.
Individual highs for Round 30
Points
Wade Baldwin of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv led all Round 30 scorers with 30 points. Mike James of AS Monaco is the EuroLeague scoring leader with 19.0 points per game.
Rebounds
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade center Bruno Caboclo forward pulled down 13 rebounds, which were more than anyone else in this round. Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv’s Josh Nebo is the league leader in this statistic, averaging 7.1 boards per night.
Assists
Baldwin, Thomas Walkup of Olympiacos Piraeus, and Kostas Sloukas of Panathinaikos Aktor Athens dished 10 assists each, the most in Round 30. Codi Miller-McIntyre of Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz leads the league with 7.3 dimes per contest.
Steals
Nigel Hayes-Davis of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Luis Olinde of ALBA Berlin each posted career highs with 5 steals in Round 30. ASVEL’s Paris Lee tops the steals charts with 1.7 per game.
Blocks
Khalifa Koumadje of ALBA and Joel Bolomboy of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade led all players in this round with 3 blocks. Real Madrid center Vincent Poirier leads the EuroLeague in blocks, averaging 1.6 per night.
Double-doubles
Baldwin (30 points, 10 assists), Caboclo (18 points, 13 rebounds), Sloukas (17 points, 10 assists), Youssoupha Fall of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (17 points, 12 rebounds), Josh Nebo of Maccabi (18 points, 10 rebounds) recorded double-doubles in Round 30.