The last artist: John Brown record lifts him among the all-time EuroLeague leaders / News - Basketnews.com

John Brown III made the headlines again. His all-around performance against FC Barcelona, including seven steals that set a new EuroLeague season record, lifted UNICS Kazan forward among the all-time greats.

John Brown

MIN:30.95PTS:10.74 (53.21%)REB:4.42As:1.21ST:2.95BL:0.16TO:1.05GM:19ProfileEuroLeague2021/2022

"It's a lost art," John Brown described the art of steals in basketball on EuroLeague TV.

"You want to be one of the last artists or currently known artist in that field. It's a good feeling," he smiled.

Barcelona's rising star Rokas Jokubaitis recently celebrated his 21st birthday, but don't get fooled by that appearance.

One moment he was smiling and joking around with his teammates. But the next minute, he was destroying EuroLeague champs with decisive last-minute shots.

He had that swag, just chilling but killing on and off the court until he met John Brown III on January 20.

John Brown came at him every time he called Brandon Davies to set him a screen. Both Browns, John and Lorenzo, trapped him, and the young Lithuanian point guard just couldn't get out.

Again, again, and again.

Jokubaitis ended up turning the ball over three times in one minute. He made four turnovers in 6 minutes of play before halftime. John Brown forced all four turnovers.

Upon his trip to Kazan, Jokubaitis was averaging 12.5 points and 3.6 assists in the last five games. But this time, Sarunas Jasikevicius couldn't keep him on the floor anymore.

The New York Knicks draftee spent less than 4 minutes in the second half and left the court with one of the season's worst performances: 2 points, one assist, and four turnovers in 10 minutes.

But you can't blame a 21-year-old young man. John Brown III pulled Barcelona's stars down, and UNICS got their revenge 70-64.

"I like to make it difficult for anybody to score," Brown said on EuroLeague TV.

Points this season

47%78,5Points made:78,5Accuracy:47,3%Place in standings:7Record max:109Record min:41Best scorer:Isaiah CanaanTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

John Brown stole seven balls, just as much as the entire Barcelona team, to set the EuroLeague single-game record this season.

He tied 11th best result in the EuroLeague history (since 2000-01). In the last 14 years, only one player managed to record more than seven steals. That was Maccabi Tel Aviv guard Yogev Ohayon with eight steals in 2014.

The all-time record belongs to Jeff Trepagnier, who made 11 steals to help Ulker Istanbul destroy Partizan Belgrade 100-64.

Brown made at least five steals in 6 different games this season. He owns 6 of the 17 best EuroLeague performances in steals this year.

Brown averages 2.95 steals per game. For comparison, Pierria Henry is second with 1.84 steals, Scottie Wilbekin third with 1.58.

Brown is the first player of the new EuroLeague format era (since 2016-17) to average at least two steals per game since Charles Jenkins. Former Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade defender averaged 2.07 steals in 30 games in 2016-17.

In 22 years, only three players averaged more steals than Brown (among the players with more than 10 appearances). The all-time high belongs to Frederick House, who averaged 3.38 steals per night in 13 games.

Ricky Rubio comes second with 3.2 steals per game in 2006-07, wearing Joventut Badalona jerseys. What makes this number incredible is the fact that Rubio was 16-years old.

Jeff Trepagnier (Ulker) was also ahead of John Brown with 3.05 steals per game in 2005-06.

And that's it. That's where the list ends before an exciting EuroLeague rook from Kazan.

"His heart, how he plays, how he enjoys basketball is something I never saw before. He competes every day, every practice, every game he wants to be the best," Velimir Perasovic said on the AREA52 podcast.

"When we prepare for games, sometimes we tell him that we have to double-team some of the players he is guarding," Perasovic added. "But he says: "No, I want to play D 1 vs 1."

To no surprise, UNICS lead the EuroLeague by steals (9.47 SPG). That's the most since 2009-10 when Montepaschi Siena had 9.69 steals per game in 16 games (among the teams with more than ten games played).

UNICS also top the tournament by points in transition, with 13.6 per night.

They share the second-best offensive rating in the EuroLeague after Real Madrid.

On top of that, John Brown recently produced an elite all-around game.

In a solid victory against Barcelona, Brown also scored 20 points and added four rebounds.

Per Darius Garuolis, he became only the fourth player to score at least 20 points, grab four rebounds and get seven steals.

John Brown averaged 20.3 points (on 60% shooting from the 2-point zone), four rebounds (1.7 ORB), 5.7 steals, and 1.3 assists in the last three games.

And it's not that Brown played against the mediocre EuroLeague teams. UNICS faced Anadolu Efes once and FC Barcelona twice. That's the EuroLeague finalists of the last season.

He averages 10.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 2.9 steals per game throughout the whole season.

Per BBallytics, Brown is 3rd best EuroLeague player by +/- (+146), with only Lorenzo Brown (148) and Kyle Kuric (+157) in front.

The seven steals was just another crazy highlight on an impressive John Brown journey. He found success long after others would have given up.

At the age of 29, John Brown just rediscovered this exciting art that makes others' life so hard.

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