Valence, a professional basketball team from France, has been on a winning streak in the Euroleague, a top-tier European basketball competition. They will face Hapoël Tel-Aviv this Thursday after defeating three consecutive opponents: Besiktas in Istanbul, Baskonia at home, and ASVEL in Villeurbanne. Valence’s strong offense has averaged 104 points per game, making them the top-scoring team in the competition. Hapoël Tel-Aviv, coached by Dimitris Itoudis, has a 2-1 record in the tournament. They lost their opening match to Bayern Munich but bounced back with wins over Red Star Belgrade and Real Madrid. The Israeli team has an average of 89 points per game, and their performance has been bolstered by the standout play of Elijah Bryant, who was named MVP for the second and third days of the tournament. Bryant averages 16.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game, and his impressive performances have drawn comparisons to past MVP achievements in the competition. Elijah Bryant's impact was particularly evident in Hapoël’s victories over Red Star Belgrade and Real Madrid. Against Red Star, he scored 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and contributed 31 points of evaluation. In the win over Real Madrid, he tallied 22 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists, earning 40 points of evaluation—a rare feat that has not been matched since Sasha Vezenkov’s two consecutive MVP awards in the 2024-2025 season. Vezenkov shared the first of those awards with Neal Sako, who is now playing for Valence. On the Valence side, Nikola Mirotic has been a key contributor despite limited playing time. He has averaged 16 points in under 16 minutes per game, accumulating 48 points and 58 points of evaluation in 47 minutes and 37 seconds. Adjusting his performance to a full 40 minutes, Mirotic would be expected to score around 40.3 points and achieve 48.7 points of evaluation. Other notable players for Valence include TJ Shorts, who averages 18.3 points and 6 decisive assists, and Neal Sako, who has contributed 10 points and 8 rebounds in limited time.