Partizan into ABA League final without a decider against Zvezda
The Black and Whites took the semi-final series 2-0, settling the second game in the Pionir hall 89-78; the third match scheduled for May 26 was no longer needed.
When he walked into the Pionir locker room, Vladimir Lucic did not stop smiling for twenty minutes. Water bottle in hand, towel on his shoulder, his team-mates around him, the same ones who had just been carrying him on their shoulders. The second game of the ABA League semi-final series against Crvena Zvezda was over, Partizan had taken the series to the bench 2-0, and the final was here, without the third match that had already been pencilled in for Tuesday May 26 in the same arena.
The Black and Whites beat their rivals 89-78 on their own parquet on Wednesday May 21, after winning the first game 100-94 at home three days earlier. A two-game sweep without an away match became possible because the league has this season brought back the old “best of two wins” semi-final format, which hands the advantage to the host of the first game.
How did Partizan come out on top in the semi-final?
The key to the match was the second quarter, when Zvezda made three technical errors in the first five minutes of the second period and then went ten minutes without a field goal. The coach of the Red and Whites, Yannis Sfairopoulos, tried to change the rhythm with a 2-3 zone, but Partizan quickly found the answer through Sterling Brown out of the high pick-and-roll. By half-time the hosts led 49-34, which in a series with that dynamic was effectively the decisive blow.
With a shortened bench in the last quarter, Zvezda cut the gap to nine points with three minutes left, but Aleksa Avramovic ended the story with two pick-and-rolls in succession. The former Serbia international finished the game with 19 points and six assists, while Lucic added 17 points with five rebounds. On the other side, the most efficient was Filip Petrusev with 21 points, but on 8 of 19 from the field, which says enough about Zvezda’s late attacks.
Partizan coach Zeljko Obradovic at the post-match press conference said he had told the players just one thing, “you can’t survive a series by going five out of ten, you have to be ten out of ten”, as reported by regional portal Mondo. Avramovic added for the same outlet that the atmosphere in the locker room after the first quarter “was more serious than before the derby at the Arena”, which confirms that the team entered the match aware that a third game was in nobody’s interest.
What next for the final?
In the other semi-final, Dubai meet Buducnost, with the series starting on Wednesday May 20; the winner of that pairing will be the second ABA League finalist. Dates for the final matches will be announced during this week, according to the ABA League statement.
For Partizan this is the fifth league final in the last seven years and a chance to close, with a trophy, a season that ended in the EuroLeague without a play-off spot. For Zvezda, the ninth consecutive football championship from three Saturdays ago will not compensate for this defeat in the changing room of the Aleksandar Nikolic hall. Club sources from the Red and White camp say the season review will already be done at the start of June, and that the contract of coach Sfairopoulos through the summer is not in question, but that there will be conversations about the squad ahead of next season.
Personally, I think the difference at the back end of the season was the shortened bench. Zvezda in the last fortnight lost their guard rotation to injuries to Sheik Milosevic-Djurisic and Zarko Lazetic, and Partizan exploited exactly that. On the other side, Partizan had two full guard rotations in the closing quarter of the series, which in the moments when it was crucial to play an attack without a technical error meant a world of difference.
Special mention has to go to the role of Carlik Jones, who after two weeks out of the rotation with a foot injury returned to the starting five for the second game of the series and gave 12 points in 22 minutes. His threat with the ball in his hands, which Zvezda could not control in either the first or the second game, opened up space for Lucic to close out attacks from the high pick-and-roll. Coach Obradovic said in January he hoped Jones would be ready for the play-offs, which has now been confirmed.
Expect the final winner by the end of May. The first game most likely on May 30 or 31, according to informal information from the league.
