By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Crvena Zvezda finished with a new club record 17 3-pointers to rout ASVEL Villeurbanne 94 – 73 in the opener of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.
The many new players of Zvezda lit up the crowd in Stark arena. Shabazz Napier had 21 points (on 5-8 triples), Rokas Giedraitis registered 17 points, five rebounds and four assists while Marko Simonovic delivered 14 points in his first-ever EuroLeague game, upon his return to Europe from the NBA. Nemanja Nedovic, represented the “old guard” with 12 points.
“Great organization win. From the fans, who were incredible, from everybody who stepped on the floor, from the coaches. We brought it on together,” Napier said after the game. “I’m excited. This is the first out of the many steps we have to take to become a great team. The atmosphere was just incredible… I couldn’t explain it.”
“The fans pumped us to play better and better,” Giedraitis added. “Their energy seemed to come from… nowhere.”
Giedraitis actually had 4-4 threes and 14 points by halftime to push Zvezda towards grabbing a 52 – 31 lead behind 12-21 3-pointers. ASVEL patched things up a bit after halftime to cut the deficit to 64 – 50 shortly before the end of the third quarter. TJ Parker’s players made some efforts to maybe come back in the game but didn’t manage to put the margin lower than 14 points.
“There are two halves in basketball and we didn’t start the way we wanted,” Parker said. “After that, you are behind, you want to compete. But it’s hard against teams like these.”
Joffrey Lauvergne put up 18 points and six rebounds for ASVEL. Nando De Colo had 13 points and five assists while Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Mike Scott scored 13 apiece as well.
“Very important victory for us,” commented Red Star coach Dusko Ivanovic. “Every time, the first game is difficult, dangerous. There’s pressure and desire to play. But I think that all these turned out positive for us. We started the first half pretty good, we shoot the ball well and got a big advantage. It’s clear that we have to play better and improve though because shots won’t fall in every day like that.”