Mario Hezonja (2.02 m and 27 years old), a forward of great class and a privileged physique, had on Friday in Monaco, at the Salle Gaston Medecin, one of those performances that leave their mark and they are not forgotten in years. In a very intense fight, before one of the candidates for the Final Four, she recovered the nickname of Super Mario with his best game since he signed for Madrid last summer, also his best personal performance in the Euroleague. The Croatian shot up to 30 points exhibiting high effectiveness (5 of 7 of two, 6 of 10 of three and two free without miss) with sharpshooter actionsincluding a triple of more than eight meters that put the victory on track, but also in one against one in driving and post, a panoply of resources to pierce the hoop.
He scored a lot and created advantageous situations for his teammates from the excess of attention that it provoked in the Monegasque defense (6 assists and several more passes that ended in a basket and are not included in that section). helped backsometimes face to face with the little ones and other times inside, even stopping Motiejunas’ 2.13 m in the paint on a couple of occasions. And he helped with the rebound, with 6 sacks on a day in which Chus Mateo played for 22:20 without any five, without Tavares or Poirier due to their foul problems. Hezonja also received four personals to accumulate a PIR of 34 in 34:34. He lost four balls, but made very few mistakes for all the volume of play he took on.
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Distribution of points, ownership and average
Of his 30 goals, 5 came in the first quarter, 15 in the second, 3 in the third and 7 in the last., with a three-pointer and two decisive free kicks in the final two minutes. After traveling to Croatia at the beginning of January for a personal matter that affected him a lot, andn the last three days of the Euroleague he has startedsomething that seems to have given him confidence. The feeling is that you have found your place. Until then, only in three of the 18 previous continental meetings had it been from the game. average now 10 points in 18 minutes with 58% two and 47% three.
The 30 so many of Super Mario They are a significant mark, because, in addition to his personal record (he added the PIR and assists record in Monaco), only six other players have reached that figure with the white jersey in the Euroleague, which was born with the 21st century. Only six, eye to the data. Some are easy to imagine; others, not so much.
The other six players with 30 goals
The first to reach exactly 30 was Alberto Angulo, who did it against Russian Ural Great in March 2002. Since then we had to wait more than seven years, until October 2009 to see a newly signed Darjus Lavrinovic (by Messina) put him 32 al Khimki. The 30s were an almost forbidden figure until things picked up in the Laso era, more speed, more rhythm, more spectacle and more points. AND Jaycee Carrollof course. boom boom nailed him 31 against CSKA in one of those performances to remember (the game too) on the last day of January 2013. Five weeks later, in March 2013, he was the youth squad Nikola Mirotic the one who signed 31 against Zalgiris. Carroll raised the mark to 32 against Nizhny Novgorod in October 2014. And we would have to wait 25 months to see Sergio Llull knock down Panathinaikos with 30 (November 2016).
From that and until Hezonja’s great game on Friday, that is, the present, Six years and two months have passed. In between, only Luka Doncic managed to break the barrier with 33 against Olympiacos in December 2017. The Slovenian did not go over 30 in any other match, something that in the NBA is his daily bread.
In these 23 years of the century there have been other madridistas to shine with 30 goals, although in other competitions. Latvian center Kaspars Kambala added 35 in the ULEB Cup in 2003 and the remembered Louis Bullock had seven games with between 31 and 35 points from 2004 to 2008, although all in CBAsix in the League and one in the Cup. Other Meringue references who made 30 in this time in the League were Alberto Herreros (2001) and Rudy Fernandez (2014). in the CBA Carroll finished with 36 against Zaragoza in 2012which is the Madrid record in this century.
