Griffin claims MVP of the Week honor
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. That's one way to describe what happened in Israel this week where Malcolm Griffin made many of the big plays for AEK in a crucial win.
JERUSALEM (Israel) - Cometh the hour, cometh the man. That's one way to describe what happened in Israel this week where AEK Athens prevailed against Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem, a team that many are picking to win the Basketball Champions League this season.
Great players show up for the big games and AEK's 27-year-old point guard, Malcolm Griffin, was indeed great. He had a season-high 25 points in his team's 83-70 win.
The Chicago native went into the contest having reached double digits in points on just two previous occasions.
Griffin scored at will in this game, though. He made the big plays at the big moments and he did so with a lot of oomph.
“MY ASSIGNMENT WAS (DE'SEAN) BUTLER, ONE OF THE BEST REBOUNDERS ON THE TEAM, SO, I JUST LOCKED IN AND FOCUSED ON THAT AND THEN EVERYTHING ELSE JUST CAME ALONG.”
In the final minute, Griffin had one of those "I'm going to put an exclamation mark on this win" plays, dribbling the ball three-quarters of the length of the court before dunking, which was followed by a shout of exaltation.
"I haven't been at the best on my team offensively," he said. "And just to get this win and finish it off like that, it just felt good. I just expressed my emotions. It was pretty much over at that point."
AEK, who lost the first meeting with the Israeli club at the start of the season, had a very good idea of what they needed to do to be successful. They felt they had to win the battle of the boards.
"The game plan was basically to rebound," Griffin said. "They've got a lot of good rebounders over there and get a lot of second-chance points. Me personally, my assignment was (De'Sean) Butler, one of the best rebounders on the team, so, I just locked in and focused on that and then everything else just came along."
In addition to his points, Griffin had 7 rebounds. He also handed out 4 assists and came up with 2 steals.
Hapoel Jerusalem's 126 offensive rebounds are far and away the most in the competition this season and they did collect more in this game, but only just, 45-44.
So when it comes to AEK, there is certainly a lot to like. They are the defending champions and with 7 wins and just 1 defeat, looking every bit like a team that can finish top of the pile again this year.
With Griffin, who joined the club in the summer after a season at Zenit Saint Petersburg, on board and showing the ability to raise his game in the key contests, they've got another reason to believe they can repeat as champions.