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Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs - Game 3 MVP: Walter Tavares, Real Madrid

A career-best performance from a perennial All-EuroLeague candidate in a must-win game for his team was more than enough for Walter Tavares of Real Madrid to walk off with the MVP honor for Game 3 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs. Tavares dominated to the tune of 26 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks for a performance index rating of 41, the second-best ever in the playoffs since 2005, as Real Madrid stared down elimination with an 80-82 road win at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade. While his PIR was a club record in the playoffs, he tied two others with his point total and 11 made two-pointers in 14 attempts.

Kostas Sloukas, the buzzer-beating hero as Olympiacos Piraeus downed host Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 71-72, followed with a PIR of 34 based on his 25 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds. The next-best PIR of 26 belonged to Fenerbahce center Tonye Jekiri, who scored 15 points and had 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in his team’s home loss. Wade Baldwin of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv posted a PIR of 24, collecting 16 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, despite a 78-83 home loss to AS Monaco. Rounding out the list of Game 3's top performers is Mario Hezonja of Real, who collected 12 points, 14 rebounds and 3 assists for a PIR of 22.

Individual highs: Mario Hezonja, Real, 14 rebounds

Walter Tavares of Real Madrid was Game 3's top scorer with a career-high tying 26 points. Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos Piraeus leads the EuroLeague in scoring with 17.7 points per game. Real forward Mario Hezonja led all players with a career-best 14 rebounds. Mathias Lessort of Partizan remains EuroLeague's top rebounder with 7.2 per game. Three players had 6 assists in Game 3: Kostas Sloukas of Olympiacos, Wade Baldwin of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and Nick Calathes of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz playmaker Darius Thompson leads the league with 6.7 assists per night. Elie Okobo of AS Monaco and Jan Vesely of FC Barcelona each had 3 steals, the most in Game 3. Olympiacos guard Thomas Walkup tops the charts averaging 1.9 steals. Tavares led all players in Game 3 with 3 blocks, as he improved on his season-best 2.2 block per game. There were two double-doubles in Game 3, both by Real Madrid players, with Tavares collecting 26 points and 11 rebounds, and Hezonja 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Euroleague Basketball (EB) is a global leader in the sports and entertainment business, devoted to running the top European competitions of professional basketball clubs under a unique and innovative organizational model. Owned and administered by some of the most successful and historic clubs in the world, EB manages the continent’s two premier men’s basketball competitions, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the 7DAYS EuroCup, as well as the sport’s premier under-18 showcase, the EB Adidas Next Generation Tournament.

The EB competitions bring the elite of European basketball to all five continents and to the entire sports community through the OTT platform EuroLeague TV. EB also organizes a series of community and educational activities, led by the One Team program, in alignment with the United Nations Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. On the academic side, the EB Sports Business MBA trains future professionals in sports management.