Playoffs, Game 1 MVP: Romain Sato, Montepaschi Siena
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 Although his team couldn't win the first battle, Romain Sato of Montepaschi Siena showed the way to possible victory in the war of the Quarterfinal Playoffs with an individual performance that earned him the MVP honor for Game 1 on Tuesday. Sato shined despite Montepaschi's 90-85 road loss to Panathinaikos in their best-of-five series opener, which was the highest-scoring playoff game since 2005. Sato had plenty to do with that fact, pouring in his Euroleague career high of 29 points on 7-for-10 two-point, 2-for-3 three-point and 9-for-11 free-throw shooting. He also pulled a game-high 9 rebounds to go with 2 assists, 2 steals and 10 fouls drawn for an index rating of 40, tops for the night. Amazingly enough, he was followed by his Montepaschi teammate Terrell McIntyre, who amassed an index rating of 36 based on his 27 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. Next, with index ratings of 26 each, came two former teammates who won playoff home openers with records attached: Theodoros Papaloukas of Olympiacos, whose career-high and playoff-record 13 assists helped the Reds down Real Madrid at home, and Viktor Khryapa of CSKA Moscow, whose 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks helped set defensive records in a victory over Partizan. Tuesday's fifth-best performance belonged to Pablo Prigioni of Tau Ceramica, the only road winner in Game 1, thanks to his 17 points and 8 assists.
Individual highs: Theodoros Papaloukas, Olympiacos, 13 assists
Sato was the top scorer of the night with his 29 points in a loss to Panathinaikos, the most points by any player against Greens this season and tied for fourth-most in the playoffs since 2005. Game 1's best rebounder was Ersan Ilyasova of Regal FC Barcelona with 13 in a losing effort versus Tau. The Euroleague’s all-time assists leader, Papaloukas, showed why his is so in that victory over Madrid, making 13 more, one short of tying the competition's single-game record. Nonetheless, he matched the decade-long playoff record of 13, set by Elmer Bennett of Tau back in the 2001 playoffs. McIntyre of Montepaschi and Antonis Fotsis of Panathinaikos had three steals, tops for the night, while four players, including Fotsis, Khryapa, Fran Vazquez of Barcelona and Panagiotis Vasilopoulos of Olympiacos, had 2 blocked shots each. Ilyasova, Khryapa and Papaloukas were the only three players to register double-doubles in Quarterfinal Playoffs, Game 1.
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Euroleague.net
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