By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Partizan arrived in Athens on a negative streak but opened the game well at OAKA, controlling the rhythm all the way until the final minutes of the second quarter.
From there, everything unraveled. Panathinaikos seized momentum, Kendrick Nunn took over, and the hosts delivered a devastating 25-0 run spanning the third and early fourth periods.
After the game, Partizan’s head coach Željko Obradović tried to explain what happened to his team during the collapse.
“Two different halves. The first was very good basketball from both teams. Unfortunately, we played the third quarter really badly — or better said, Panathinaikos played excellent. They have a really good team and they play excellent basketball. Congratulations to them, I wish them all the best,” Obradović said, tipping his hat to the Greek side.
He went into more detail about the way the game unfolded.
“From the first quarter on, we didn’t score a single three-point shot. After the first quarter, we were something like 0-17. What’s the reason? Some shots were open, some were very bad. The problem is definitely something, but in that moment… I don’t know what the real reason is. I don’t know. In the first quarter we scored 31 points, and in the third quarter we scored six — same players, everything the same. How can you explain this? It’s very, very difficult.”
On what Partizan must do to reverse the poor run and look like a contender again, Obradović added:
“I don’t know. Until now, the way I think and believe, the solution has always been to work hard on the court. With the schedule we have, it’s very tough, we don’t have much time. It always depends on motivation and the desire to play. From my experience, this is the main thing — how you react, if you have character, and if you want to keep fighting even when you’re playing badly.”