EuroLeague: Braian Angola Named Matchday 30 MVP After Leading ASVEL to Victory in Istanbul

Braian Angola was the standout performer of EuroLeague Matchday 30 after delivering an outstanding performance that led LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne to an important road victory over Anadolu Efes Istanbul 88-91. The Colombian shooting guard led the French team's triumph with 26 points and a performance index rating (PIR) of 28, the highest among players from winning teams this matchday, earning him MVP recognition.

Angola completed a highly efficient offensive performance. He finished the game 4-of-7 from two-point range, 3-of-6 from three-point range, and 9-of-11 from the free throw line. Additionally, he contributed in other areas of the game with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and drew 9 personal fouls. This performance allowed him to claim the first Matchday MVP award of his EuroLeague career, also making him the second ASVEL player to achieve this recognition during the current season. The previous one was Bastien Vautier, who was named Matchday 18 MVP with a PIR of 31, also against Anadolu Efes.

Although the highest performance index rating of the matchday was recorded by Saben Lee, point guard for Anadolu Efes, with a PIR of 29, his performance came in a loss to ASVEL. Lee finished the game with 18 points, shooting 5-of-7 from two-point range, 1-of-1 from three-point range, and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. To those numbers he added 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 6 fouls drawn.

Another standout player of the matchday was Chima Moneke of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, who reached a PIR of 28 in his team's home loss to FC Bayern Munich 80-85. The center scored 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting from two-point range, 1-of-3 from three-point range, and 5-of-7 from the free throw line, while also contributing 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and drawing 7 fouls.

Carsen Edwards of Virtus Bologna and Moses Wright of Zalgiris Kaunas rounded out the group of best performances of Matchday 30 with a PIR of 27 each. Edwards was the leading scorer of the matchday with 32 points in Virtus's loss 92-84 to Real Madrid, shooting 7-of-10 from two-point range and 6-of-14 from three-point range, while also adding 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, and 4 fouls drawn. For his part, Wright finished with 20 points in Zalgiris's loss 91-87 to Valencia Basket, shooting 7-of-11 from two-point range and 6-of-7 from the free throw line, while also grabbing 9 rebounds, dishing out 1 assist, and drawing 5 fouls.

In the individual statistics of the matchday, Carsen Edwards was the leading scorer with 32 points, while Nadir Hifi of Paris Basketball continues to lead the EuroLeague scoring standings with 19.5 points per game.

In the rebounding category, Alen Smailagic (Virtus Bologna) and Alan Dokossi (Paris Basketball) grabbed 11 rebounds each, the best mark of the matchday. In the overall competition standings, Nikola Milutinov of Olympiacos Piraeus remains the leader in rebounds with an average of 7.3 per game.

In playmaking, Mike James (AS Monaco) and Codi Miller-McIntyre (Crvena Zvezda) distributed 8 assists each, the highest figure of the matchday. Miller-McIntyre also continues as the competition's leading assist provider with 6.9 assists per game.

On the defensive end, Mamadi Diakite of Kosner Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz recorded 4 steals this matchday. The overall leader in this category is Aleksa Avramovic of Dubai Basketball, with an average of 1.5 steals per game.

Finally, Walter Tavares of Real Madrid posted the best mark in blocks with 5 blocks against Virtus Bologna. The Cape Verdean center also leads the EuroLeague in this category with an average of 2.0 blocks per game.