MUNICH (FIBA Europe Cup) - Basketball may be a five-man game, but having a well-functioning dynamic duo at the top of the totem pole does seem to be a victory-conducive factor.

Ahead of the decisive battles in the Round of 16, let's take a look at the best two-man partnerships still alive and going strong in the FIBA Europe Cup.

Bakken Bears: DeVaughn Akoon Purcell and Jeffrey Crockett

Anyone who watched the Basketball Champions League last season will tell you that DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell was quite a handful for defenders all by himself.  

This season, he has a qualified co-star in Jeffrey Crockett, who burst onto the European scene from Serie A2 in Italy. Together, they are the most dangerous one-two punch in the FIBA Europe Cup, averaging a league-high 35.3 points per game.

The athletically-gifted duo has thrived in coach Steffen Wich's up-tempo style of play, guiding the reigning Danish champions to the Play-Offs in what has already turned out to be the best-ever international campaign in the Bakken Bears' history.

Akoon-Purcell is averaging 20.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals in the FIBA Europe Cup, with Crockett chipping in with 15.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steal per game.

Nizhny Novgorod: Stevan Jelovac and Petr Gubanov

The versatile Nizhny Novgorod big man partnership of Stevan Jelovac and Petr Gubanov has been the Russian side's calling card in the FIBA Europe Cup all season long, accounting for 30.8 points per game.

An offensive-minded superstar with elite range, 28-year-old Jelovac does not have a reputation for being a good defender but the sideline smarts of coach Zoran Lukic and oft-used offense-defense substitutions have masked these flaws to some extent.

Having recently set a new VTB League scoring record with 49 points, the Serbian long-range bomber is averaging 16.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while converting three-pointers at a 38.6 percent clip.

Gubanov, the captain of the team, is also putting up solid all-around numbers with averages of 14.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists. He leads Nizhny Novgorod in three-pointers attempted at 4.7 per game, making a solid 36.5 percent.

Both players represented their respective national teams in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers during the February window, with Jelovac earning his first call-up under Aleksandar Djordjevic and Gubanov being the only Nizhny Novgorod player to receive the honors from Russia playcaller Sergey Bazarevich.

Keravnos: Mohamed Abukar and Anthony King

Mohamed Abukar was the man leading the charge for Keravnos in the Cypriot Basketball League last season, helping the team from the Nicosia suburb of Strovolos recapture the domestic title after an eight-season wait.

Having been at the top of the scoring charts for much of the season in the FIBA Europe Cup, the skilled 32-year-old big man with a smooth mid-range game relinquished the throne in the Second Round.

The power forward is now third on the list, averaging 19.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists and flirting with the elite 50-40-90 club in terms of percentages.

Anthony King, a member of the Cypriot national team, has upped his production in the Second Round after a rather slow start to the Regular Season, bringing his averages to 11.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

Others

No players from the same team among those qualified for the Round of 16 eclipsed 30 points per game, with only Lasan Kromah and Giordan Watson (29.2 points per game) of U-BT Cluj-Napoca and Donar Groningen's power duo of Brandyn Curry and Evan Bruinsma (28.2 points per game) coming within a couple of points.

There was no matching DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell and Jeffrey Crockett even if we expand the scope to include all teams from the Regular Season. Before being eliminated, Darrin Govens and Zoltan Perl of Falco Vulcano averaged 34.9 points per game, with Bracey Wright and Erving Walker ranking third overall with an average of 34.3 points.

From the teams joining the competition from the Basketball Champions League, Scott Bamforth and Darko Planinic of Dinamo Sassari lead the pack at 27.5 points per game and the Sidigas Scandone Avellino backcourt partnership of Jason Rich and Ariel Filloy combined for 26.6 points per game.

FIBA