Odzelej Injured, Aris Beats Red Star 98-74 in Cyprus

Only 68 seconds had gone by in the game between Red Star and Aris in Nicosia when Semi Odzelej went into a duel near the basket. The Red Star wing twisted his ankle, fell to the floor, and it was immediately clear he was in serious pain. The bench rushed on in an instant. The third place game of the preseason Neofitos Handriotis tournament had barely started, and Red Star’s starting five was already down a player.

Doctors reached Odzelej right away. Telesport reports that he walked off the court on his own, with the medical staff beside him, while Nova.rs writes that he left with their help. The two sources agree on one point: the pained look never left his face, and he could not play through the injury. How serious it is will only be known after further examination, but for a player regarded as one of the most physically fit in the Euroleague, and one who rarely complains about pain, the image alone said enough.

Without him, Red Star spent the rest of the night playing as if it had twisted its own ankle too.

Aris won comfortably, 98-74, with quarter scores of 34-18, 17-22, 22-17 and 25-17. The opening period was a disaster for the Belgrade side’s defense, as Robinson and Lidell drove into the paint and scored with no resistance while Red Star’s offense looked completely out of sync. After a technical foul on the Aris bench and a missed extra free throw, the Greeks kept punishing every lapse and closed the quarter at 34-18.

A comeback attempt came at the start of the second quarter. Andrej Bjelic hit a three to spark a run, Dobric converted a free throw after an unsportsmanlike foul, and Wyler Beb drew three fouls and made two of the resulting free throws. The surge did not last. The gap never dropped into single digits, and over the third and fourth quarters Aris, with organized defense and easy transition points, kept extending its lead all the way to the final 98-74. Jonathan Motley led Red Star’s scoring with 13 points, followed by Chris Jones with 12. Ibon Navarro is in charge of the Belgrade club’s bench.

This was Red Star’s second loss in Nicosia in two days, not its first. As already reported when Red Star and Olympiacos played in Nicosia, the Belgrade side fell short by two points, 89-87, on September 11. The loss to Aris in the third place game came on September 13, two days after the Olympiacos game, and Red Star finished the tournament in fourth place.

There is not much time left to make amends. Red Star plays its next and final preseason game on September 18, again against Aris, this time at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade. Ten days after that, on September 24, the Euroleague begins, and Red Star opens the season at home against Zalgiris. By then, the club should know how serious Odzelej’s injury is and whether it needs to rework its plan for the starting lineup in round one.

A losing run at the end of preseason rarely means much on its own, since few teams in Cyprus play the way they will in October. What is concerning is the image of Odzelej leaving the court after barely a minute and a half of play, ten days before the opening round, at the exact moment Red Star still needed to settle its rotation on the wing. The answer comes on September 18 at the Pionir Hall, when it will become clear whether the Belgrade club’s bench is short a player for the long run as well.