By Nikola Miloradovic / info@eurohoops.net
Partizan is back on the winning track. Zeljko Obradovic’s side defeated Virtus in Bologna, improved to 12-12, and climbed to ninth spot in the EuroLeague standings after 25 rounds.
The Belgrade team stayed focused until the end, repelling all of the opponents’ attempts to take back the game, and Obradovic was pleased with his team’s effort.
“A real EuroLeague game. We knew they would play with maximum aggression regardless of the standings and try to win by any means. They played exceptionally well in the first quarter with an incredible shooting percentage. We insisted on changing our defense and being much more aggressive. In the second quarter, we played much better, which boosted the team’s confidence. We extended the lead further in the second half, but then came some rash decisions, turnovers, and certain defensive mistakes… That’s the EuroLeague for you. You saw a bit of a scuffle between players, which only shows how much both their players and ours wanted to win. Congratulations to my players on an important victory,” Zeljko Obradovic said to Serbian media after the game.
He ended up using only eight players, with Aleksej Pokusevski playing just around two minutes, bearing in mind that another difficult game awaits Partizan in two days, on the road against Monaco.
Sterling Brown was the top scorer with 20 points, Carlik Jones added 19, but the most decorated European coach spoke about Arijan Lakic’s important defensive effort.
“Arijan has been doing this job for a long time. He sets the tone for our defense, a guy who fights for every ball until the very end. I congratulate him and the entire team. In two days, we have another game, and we’ll need the players who didn’t play tonight. Monaco has incredible quality,” Zeljko Obradovic concluded.