MIES (Switzerland) - For the first time in their five Basketball Champions League seasons, Galatasaray reached the Quarter-Finals.
With Otis Livingston down with a serious injury, and Will Cummings coming back after one, coach Yakup Sekizkok knew he had to find somebody who can take over games at will.
That's where James Palmer Jr entered the stage. The 28-year-old turned in some of the finest all-round games of his career, sending the Turkish juggernauts to the elite eight phase of Season 9.
Palmer was kept to just 6 points in a blowout defeat to Rytas Vilnius at the beginning of the Round of 16, but that just fueled his motivation to go off in the next five games.
Against Manisa Basket Divissa, he flirted with a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, and followed it up with a 13-point performance against the defending champions Unicaja.
In fact, he was the one hitting the game winner against the Malaga team, handing them their first BCL defeat after 18 straight wins.
He also had 6 assists and 5 rebounds in that game, then came back with 16 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds in the reverse fixture against Unicaja.
Galatasaray needed two more wins to secure their spot in the Quarter-Finals, and Palmer scored a total of 34 points on 15-of-29 field goal shooting, with 9 assists and 8 rebounds against Rytas and Manisa.
Palmer's fine form was officially rewarded, as he was named the Most Valuable Player of the Round of 16.
To put his influence on the game into context, would Galatasaray be here without Palmer's efforts?
"Of course not, we would not be here. He’s a big part of the team and we rely heavily on him to make plays and score like he has done all season," Will Cummings said.
It's no accident we asked Cummings for opinion, because he was the MVP of the Play-Ins in the BCL back in January.
Unfortunately, he picked up an injury which slowed him down, and once Livingston went down too, Palmer became the point forward of the team.
It was easy to read in the boxscore, as he dished out 30 assists over the six Round of 16 games. He had a total of 26 assists in the previous nine games this season.
"To me the best part of his game is being able to pass out of the pick-and-roll. Of course a lot of guys can score, but being able to make the right reads and get others involved while continuing to be a scoring threat, is impressive," Cummings explained.
Up next for the two MVPs - facing ERA Nymburk in the Quarter-Finals. The Czech champs defeated Galatasaray twice in the Regular Season, but it was a different Galatasaray team then.
And it's definitely a different, much improved James Palmer Jr now.
He will receive his award in person ahead of Game 2 in Istanbul.
MVP award winners in Season 9
MVP of the Group Phase: Gytis Radzevicius (Rytas Vilnius)
MVP of the Play-Ins: Will Cummings (Galatasaray)
MVP of the Round of 16: James Palmer Jr (Galatasaray)