Lithuanian Rapolas Ivanauskas (208-F-1998) had a great game in the last round for Fukushima Firebonds and that's him to receive a Hoops Agents B2 League Player of the Week award for round 59.
The 26-year old forward had the game-high 29 points adding eight rebounds and three assists for Fukushima in his team's victory, helping them to outclass Aomori W. (#6, 21-39) with 26-point margin 109-83. Firebonds maintains the 7th position in their group in the Japanese B2 League. The season is in a full swing, so it's only a dream for the team to make it into top half of the standings. For contrary they may face relegation if the situation turns from bad to worse. Fukushima have already lost 45 games and recorded just fifteen victories. In the team's last game Ivanauskas had a remarkable 100.0% from 2-point range. It's his second year at Firebonds and it's hard to imagine this team without him. Rapolas Ivanauskas averages this season 15.3ppg and 8.3rpg.

The second most remarkable performance in last round's games was young Czech Republic power forward Patrik Auda (206-PF-1989, agency: Octagon Europe) of

Aomori Watts. Auda impressed basketball fans with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Bad luck as Watts lost that game 83-109 to slightly lower-ranked Fukushima (#7, 15-45). Aomori W. managed to keep the same 6th spot in East. His team is not often considered as one of the league's best with a mere 21-39 record. Auda is one of the most experienced players at Aomori W. and has a reputation of one of team's most reliable players. He belongs to the best scorers in the league with 18.2ppg (#6). He also registered 6.4 boards per game.

The third best performed player last round was Australian Angus Brandt (208-C-1989) of

Shizuoka Veltex (#3). Brandt scored 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds (!!!). Despite Brandt's great performance the Shizuoka lost 70-75 to slightly lower-ranked Bambitious N. (#5, 26-34). But his team cannot count on just a single player as he also needs help of the other teammates. The last thing Shizuoka needs is to lose another game like this one. They lose more and more distance to the top teams in the West. Their record is 34 victories and 26 lost games. Brandt has a very solid season. In 57 games in Japan he scored 9.5ppg. He also has 6.6rpg and a FGP of 57.3%.

Other top performing players last week:
4. Taichi Nakamura (190-G-1997) of Fukuoka R. - 32 points and 2 assists
5. Kei Sugimoto (184-G-1992) of Chiba - 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists
6. Shaquille Hines (201-PF-1993) of Bambitious N. - 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists
7. Dererk Pardon (203-C-1996) of Chiba - 15 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists
8. Rashard Kelly (203-PF-1995) of Aomori W. - 18 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists
9. Andrew Randall (198-F-1990) of Fukuoka R. - 14 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists
10. Shota Yamamoto (188-G-1999) of Kumamoto V. - 22 points and 4 rebounds

The Player of the week is selected based on efficiency calculation, but also including game result, importance of the game, if played recorded double-double/triple-double, etc.
The efficiency formula is a combination of various formulas used by different basketball organizations/leagues. We got involved many basketball scouts and journalists to assure it's accuracy.
The formula: 1.5*PTS + 3*(REB+AST+ST+BL-TO) - 2*BSAG - 4*PF + 3*PFRV + 4*(2FGPM+3FGPM) + 1.5*FTM - 3*(2FGPA-2FGPM) - 3*(3FGPA-3FGPM) - (FTA-FTM)

Tags : RAPOLAS IVANAUSKAS, FUKUSHIMA FIREBONDS, JAPANESE BASKETBALL,