Partizan in ABA League final against Dubai, first game 4 June

After two straight wins in the semi-final against Crvena Zvezda, Partizan closed out its semi-final series. Dubai went through five games against Buducnost, the fifth decided by a six-point margin in Podgorica.

The ABA League announced the final series schedule on Friday morning. Five potential games, first two in the Emirates, the third and possible additional two in Belgrade.

Series calendar

Dates are set through 16 June. The UAE side will host the first two games, giving Dubai home advantage in a 2-2-1 format.

• game one, Thursday 4 June, Dubai home
• game two, Saturday 6 June, Dubai home
• game three, Wednesday 10 June, Partizan at Pionir
• game four, Friday 12 June, if needed
• game five, Tuesday 16 June, if needed

Half of the Partizan fan group that travelled to the Emirates has already booked tickets for Dubai through 6 June. The club announced a sector for the Grobari at the third game at Pionir.

The venue question

Dubai has not yet announced a host location. In its previous games as host, the team played at neutral venues in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to ABA League regulation.

The Emirati club must provide an arena with capacity above 5,000 seats, air conditioning and media facilities matching ABA League standard, the league statement read.

If Dubai brings the games back to Sarajevo or Mostar, Partizan fans’ travel becomes cheaper than a direct flight to the Emirates. If games shift to Dubai, costs rise five times.

What Partizan expects

Zeljko Obradovic went on a break immediately after the semi-final, and training resumed on Wednesday with five core players. Preparations target a specific opponent.

Partizan played Dubai twice during the season, the result is 1-1. The season games were finished in January and March, both at Pionir. Now Dubai has turned into a team that reached the semi-final through Vienna, Igokea and Zadar.

A potential extension of the series to a fifth game would land on 16 June, two days after Serbia national team preparations begin. The six Partizan players on national team duty enter the calendar late.

Partizan’s position before the series

Partizan enters the final as defending champion, having won the ABA League last season in the final against Crvena Zvezda. The club has been more than steady this season, with nine wins in its last ten regional matches.

Obradovic’s coaching signature gives the series additional weight. The head coach agreed to a clause when joining Partizan that he stays as long as the club is in the EuroLeague final or the ABA League final each season. After elimination from the EuroLeague, the ABA final is a required result.

We’re back to preparing for Dubai from Thursday, this is a team that could surprise us if it gets space in the first two games in the Emirates, the Belgrade club said in its official statement.

The Dubai composition

In its first ABA League season, Dubai walks into Pionir as a team with the biggest budget in the competition’s history. The club built chemistry through the early months of the season, and after the January phase found a stable balance and strung together wins in the playoffs.

The lineup from the middle of the season worked as a single playing philosophy. The club ran a budget almost three times bigger than Partizan, which led to investment in players with EuroLeague experience and three players with NBA backgrounds in brief stints.

Dubai won nineteen of its thirty regular-season games, a solid starting coefficient, but the semi-final showed the club has to prove itself with a bigger margin in the closing phase of the season. Five games against Buducnost opened doubts that will only be settled at Pionir.

Is Dubai immune to resistance at Pionir, or will the third game in Belgrade decide which approach defines the series?