Milos comes of age
This season has already been seen as a “Next Level” step for the 22-year-old and with Euroleague officials of naming him Player of the Month for January 2010, the confirmation of Milos Teodosic as the first great new star of the ‘10s is here.
After the youngster was named to the Eurobasket 2009 All-Tournament Team, Euroleague – and particularly Reds fans – have awaited the megastardom of Teodosic. Through the 2009-10 season, the guard hasn’t disappointed, shooting at an incredible 71.9% rate in the big league while maintaining a line of 11.5 points and 4.5 assists per game.
Congratulations, Milos, and may your promising career continue prosperously!
(Euroleague.net) – Although Olympiacos was already qualified for the Top 16, it opened 2010 with the higher goal of winning its regular season group despite an injury to team leader Theodoros Papaloukas. The Reds had quickly hired another veteran point guard, Scoonie Penn, for their potential group-clinching trip to play Efes Pilsen in Istanbul, but Milos Teodosic was more than ready to step up.
The second-youngest player to take the floor in that game, Teodosic stayed for 41 minutes, providing key points and assists in the second half and overtime, when his game-tying triple and go-ahead pass sparked the Reds to an 85-93 victory. When the buzzer sounded, Teodosic had 17 points to go with 12 assists – only five people have ever dished more in a Euroleague game – for a performance index rating of 34, which tied Teodosic for that week’s MVP honor. More importantly, Olympiacos now had a grip on first place in its group.
Next, Olympiacos avenged an earlier loss to Partizan with a resounding 81-60 home win to finish the regular season. (In its very next game, Partizan would defeat Olympiacos rival Panathinaikos in Athens to open the Top 16.) Against Partizan, Teodosic took fewer shots but was no less effective, dishing out nine more assists to go with four steals and three blocked shots: an unheard-of figure for a point guard.
Next came perhaps the month’s biggest challenge as Olympiacos started the Top 16 as the only regular-season winner that had to play a second-seeded team on the road. In a tremendously entertaining game at Baskonia in Vitoria, Spain, the Reds prevailed 85-89 as Teodosic again made major contributions all night long: 14 points, six assists and decisive connections with Papaloukas in the closing minutes for a tandem that must be a dangerous thought for any Olympiacos opponent.
By the end of January, Teodosic had some great raw numbers to contemplate: 13 points, nine assists, 2.3 steals and a 25.3 index rating per game. Most impressive of all, perhaps were his turnovers – or lack of them – at only one per game despite playing an average of 34 minutes, with the ball in his hands almost every time down the floor.
And though he can score from anywhere, Teodosic spent the month racking up his Euroleague career highs in other, team-oriented categories: assists (12), steals (4), blocks (3), index rating (34) and minutes (41). Olympiacos moves forward out of January with the certain knowledge that its young point guard can be relied on as a complete player ready to lead in any way necessary to help the team win. With two of the month’s major victories having come on the road, the Olympiacos fans in Pireaus will no doubt be ready to show their appreciation when Milos Teodosic receives his January MVP award at an upcoming home game.
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