Playoffs, Game 3 MVP: Tiago Splitter, Tau Ceramica
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Tiago Splitter of Tau Ceramica has an added reason to celebrate his team's fourth consecutive trip to the Final Four. Splitter also earned the Quarterfinal Playoffs, Game 3 MVP honor by piling up the best performance index rating, 27, of three games this week. Splitter tallied 18 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks as Tau defeated Partizan Igokea 85-68 in a do-or-die third game to win their playoff series. He made 7 of 9 two-point shots and 4 of 5 free throws and also added 2 assists, a steal and 5 fouls drawn. This is the second time this season Splitter has earned weekly MVP honors, having also accomplished the feat back in Week 9 of the regular season. Yotam Halperin and Fran Vazquez were second on the weekly list with index ratings of 25 each. Halperin posted 17 points, 9 assists, 3 steals and 8 fouls drawn as Maccabi bested AXA FC Barcelona 88-75. Vazquez, who was on the losing end in that contest, finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. He also had 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Maccabi teammates Will Bynum and David Bluthenthal, as well as CSKA Moscow teammates Matjaz Smodis and Ramunas Siskauskas, rounded out the leader chart with indexes of 23 each. Siskauskas made a career-high 5 three-pointers among 6 tries for 24 points in CSKA's 81-56 win over Olympiacos. Smodis had 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists in that game. Bluthenthal was also 5 for 6 from downtown for a season-high 21 points and Bynum likewise scored 21 off the bench for Maccabi.
Individual highs: Zoran Planinic, Tau Ceramic, career-high in blocks
Siskauskas was the week's top scorer with his 24-point performance in CSKA's win. He finished the playoffs with an 18.7 points per game average, second-best to only Barcelona's Gianluca Basile with 19.3 points per game. Vazquez had the only double-double of the week and led all players with 13 rebounds, giving him 8.3 boards per game for the playoffs. Vazquez was the second-best rebounder in the round, to Maccabi's Terence Morris, who finished the playoffs with 9.7 per game. Halperin's 9 assists were the most of the week and saw him overtake Theo Papaloukas of CSKA, Lynn Greer of Olympiacos and Terrell McIntyre of Montepaschi as the best passer in the playoffs. Halperin finished with 5.3 assists per game, while the other three all averaged 5 per game. Milanko Tepic of Partizan recorded a season-high 4 steals in his team's loss at Tau, but he finished far behind playoff leader Shaun Stonerook of Montepaschi, who averaged 5 per game in his team's sweep of Fenerbahce Ulker. Tau's Zoran Planinic blocked a career-best 3 shots this week after having only 2 blocks total in the first 22 games of the season. Maccabi's Morris finished the playoffs with 2.3 blocks per game.
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Euroleague.net
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