It is safe to assume that when November started, few if any Turkish Airlines Euroleague observers had checked off Brose Baskets Bamberg as a sure Top 16 team, let alone an early qualifier. As November ends, however, Bamberg has punched its ticket to the next phase with four straight victories that featured extraordinarily diverse performances by Nicolo Melli, Euroleague Basketball’s selection for MVP of the Month. Although he had played 85 Euroleague games in five seasons before November, the 24-year-old power forward packed no fewer than seven personal career highs into Bamberg’s perfect month. In November’s first game, Melli became just the fourth player 2.05 or taller this century to dish 10 assists. In another, his 37 index rating was this season’s second-best and his 26 points tied for fourth-best. In a third, his 4 blocks matched the second-most and his 10 defensive rebounds the fourth-most in the season’s first seven games. Simply put, whatever it took for his team to win, Melli did it with a remarkable versatility that not only clinched Bamberg’s place in the Top 16 with three regular season games left, but made him a winning choice as November MVP.
The MVP of the Month honor is now in its 12th season. Although statistics and performance index ratings are taken into consideration for the award, they alone do not determine who is honored. The winner is named by Euroleague Basketball based on his and his team’s performance. The award for November was based on the four regular season games that all 24 teams played during the month.
Source: Euroleague.net
