Tyrese Rice on Mirotic winning MVP: 'Barca would still make playoffs without him' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: ZUMAPRESS.com-Scanpix Credit ZUMAPRESS.com-Scanpix

Ahead of El Clasico in the semifinal phase, FC Barcelona front-runnerNikola Miroticreceived his first EuroLeague MVP award.

Free throws this season

82%14,3Points made:14,3Accuracy:81,9%Place in standings:1Record max:42Record min:4Most made FTs:Nikola MiroticTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

"It's been a great pleasure for me to receive this award from our greatest coach Zeljko Obradovic," Mirotic said after receiving the award. "I would like to thank my team FC Barcelona, an entire organization, coaching staff, and all the players."

Mirotic guided the competition in average performance index rating (19.4) in helping Barca finish the regular season atop the standings with a 21-7 record.

Besides the league-best PIR stat line, he registered 16.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists over 36 games.

However, as stated by EuroLeague champ and former Barcelona player Tyrese Rice, Mike James deserved the MVP award more this campaign.

"I think people mistake MVP often for the best player on the best team. That doesn't mean most valuable all the time. Barca would still make the playoffs without Mirotic. Maybe even the Final Four. Monaco would be bottom 4 without Mike and I don't think that's debate," Rice tweeted.

James was the leader and go-to guy for an AS Monaco squad that defied the expectations to reach the playoffs and then took traditional power Olympiacos Piraeus the distance before bowing out.

The agile guard ranked third in the league in both scoring (16.4 PPG) and assists (5.8 APG) and was 10th in steals (1.2 SPG).

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