Partizan beats Dubai and extends ABA League finals
Partizan downed Dubai 84-70 in Belgrade in Game 3 of the finals, cutting the series deficit to 2-1, with Game 4 set for Friday.
- Partizan beat Dubai 84-70 in Belgrade in Game 3 of the ABA League finals.
- The series now stands at 2-1 for Dubai, who took both games at home in the Emirates.
- Bruno Fernando and Carlik Jones led Partizan with 15 points each.
- Game 4 tips off on Friday, June 12, again in Belgrade.
When the scoreboard at Stark Arena flashed a thirteen-point lead, the building finally roared the way it cannot fake. After two cold nights in the Emirates, Partizan was at last playing its own brand of basketball, and Dubai suddenly looked like a team that had flown in from a different series. The hosts refused to let that cushion slip away.
Partizan won 84-70 and pulled the ABA League finals back to 2-1. After dropping the opening two games on the road, the first win in the series came exactly where everyone expected it, in front of a packed Belgrade crowd. Friday brings Game 4, again at home, and a chance to level the matchup.
What Partizan had been chasing for a while, grit on defense and calm on offense, came together precisely when it had to. Dubai had set the tempo through the first two games, but in Game 3 it ran into a wall. The hosts surged ahead, stretched the lead to thirteen, and protected it to the buzzer, never letting the visitors slip back into the rhythm that had made them look untouchable.
How the numbers shook out
For Partizan, the load was shared by a short rotation in which the frontcourt stood out. Bruno Fernando and Carlik Jones each finished with 15 points, and Tonye Jekiri chipped in 11. That is the kind of spread a coach loves to see, when the scoring does not lean on one man but arrives from several directions, because an attack like that is far harder to shut down.
On the other side, Dubai had its two pillars. Mfiondu Kabengele and Davis Bertans poured in 17 points apiece and were the only visitors who genuinely threatened. The trouble for the side from the Emirates was exactly that, everything funneled through the two of them. When the help off the bench and the wings dries up, even 34 points from your top duo are not enough to win on the road.
Partizan finally imposed what it does best, a tempo that smothers the opponent and a pick-and-roll that pulls the defense apart. Dubai had no answer for that energy, and when Stark Arena gets loud, visitors rarely have it easy.
What Game 4 brings on Friday
The series still belongs to Dubai, yet Partizan reclaimed something the box score does not capture, the belief that this matchup can be turned around. Leveling it at 2-2 would mean everything starts over, with a decisive Game 5 scheduled for June 16 in Dubai.
The hosts now know the recipe. Dubai knows its road edge is no longer untouchable. Friday in Belgrade is not just another game, it is the point that decides whether this series becomes real drama or fades without a fight. Can Partizan summon the same energy once more and square the finals?
