Shavon Shields has entered Olimpia history last night, as a great Clutch Player. In the most important Olimpia game at a European level since 1997 when Ljubljana conquered the Mediolanum Forum and kept Olimpia from qualifying to the Rome’s Final Four, in a do-or-die Game 5, Shavon Shields set his career-high of 34 points, of index rating with 41 and immediately improved the record he just set in Game 4 for most free throws made in one game (11, it was 10). His 34 points represent the third best scoring performance of a Olimpia player in the EuroLeague behind the 36 scored by Samardo Samuels in 2015 in Nizhny Novgorod and the 35 scored by Mike James in 2019 in Madrid. The 41 of index rating is instead the second best-ever after the 47 accumulated by Samuels in that same game. Shields placed himself ahead of Sergio Rodriguez and Mike James, who both have had a 37-index rating score in one game. Shields’ previous career-high in scoring was 26 and was set early in the season in Moscow against Khimki, when he went 10-for-11 from the field. Then he had also scored 23 points against Zalgiris, in Kaunas.

Shields has had the best statistic season of his career, averaging 13.9 ppg and shot 43.3 percent from three-point range. But in the series against Bayern, he increased his average up to 16.4 points per game. And even though the percentages went down in a tough battle, with little or no room to shoot for everyone, Shields drew 5.0 fouls per game and went 28-for-31 from the line. In the end, he was the fourth-best playoff scorer with an average of 16.8 points per game, and was second only to Cory Higgins of Barcelona in free throws scored and earned.