Red Star Lose 80-81 to Hapoel: Navarro Takes the Blame
The coach says responsibility is his, a hundred percent, two hundred percent, president Drcelic promises success will come, and Anadolu Efes visit the Arena on Thursday.
When Ibon Navarro sent Jonathan Motley to the bench midway through the third quarter, whistles rang out from the stands of Belgrade Arena. The American center is only in his second game in a Red Star jersey, and he has already earned the displeasure of part of the crowd, in a loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv that left the team without a win after two EuroLeague rounds.
After the game, the same coach sat down at the press conference and was asked whether he feels the pressure. His answer was short:
“I can’t control the pressure. I don’t understand Serbian and that’s great for me.”
How did Red Star lose a game they were chasing?
Red Star lost to Hapoel 80-81 on Tuesday, September 29, and are now 0-2 in the EuroLeague. Both defeats came at home, after Zalgiris won the opening round 83-77. The team of Dimitris Itoudis led for almost the entire game, and Hapoel opened a double-digit gap in the first quarter, 28-18.
Red Star came back and briefly led in the second quarter. The sources disagree on the exact score here: Sportska centrala reports the turnaround at 35-34, while nova.rs says the hosts first went ahead at 36-35. Nova.rs also records what followed: the red-and-whites did not score a single point in the last three minutes of the first half, and Hapoel punished them with an 11-0 run. The visitors’ lead reached 13 points in the third quarter.
Sport Klub journalist Sasa Ozmo singled out the end of the third quarter as the best illustration of Red Star’s confusion:
“Down four and with possession, 14 seconds to go, and it ended with Hapoel up by eight.”
In the finish, Ebuka Izundu dunked to cut the deficit to five, and Vasilije Micic, who had been shooting 1 of 10 from three until then, hit two triples that shut down the hosts’ push. Jared Butler hit a three at the buzzer for the final 80-81. The sources differ on a detail here as well: nova.rs records only the buzzer-beater, while Sportska centrala says Butler missed an equalizing three on the previous possession and only then made his shot. In both accounts there was no time left for overtime.
The numbers left behind by the game:
- Red Star: Butler 19 points (7 of 12 from the field), Jordan Nwora 13, Tyson Carter 12
- Hapoel: Elijah Bryant 18 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, Zach LeDay and Jared Blakney 12 each
- Micic: 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, including the two threes that decided the game
- Red Star lost 14 balls and pulled down 13 more rebounds than Hapoel
That last line is interesting because it clashes with the impression of the game. Ozmo admitted he had misjudged it:
“I think I have never been more wrong when eyeballing something than today, when I saw in the final stats that Red Star had 13 more rebounds than Hapoel.”
Red Star player David Kramer explained what was hiding behind that gap, telling Meridian sport: “Offensive rebounds were killing us.” Ozmo adds that in the key moments Hapoel kept getting to important loose balls on offense and turned them into points more often.
What did Navarro say after the game?
The Red Star coach did not look for excuses. Right after the game, he summed up the reason briefly for Arena Sport: “We lacked consistency, Vasa Micic’s threes decided the game.”
At the press conference he was more expansive. “We made a lot of bad decisions, we had a lot of swings, and the opponent punished all of it successfully,” Navarro said. About Motley, whom the stands whistled, he said:
“Motley has the will and the desire, but he is still not at the level where we want him to be, and where he wants to be as well. We all have to help him together.”
Asked why Red Star’s play is slow and without ideas, he said the players are afraid of mistakes and that after one mistake they go to the next, then added: “Whose responsibility is that. Mine, a hundred percent, two hundred percent. I don’t read the newspapers or social media.”
Asked how long it will take the team to find its rhythm, he answered without hedging: “I would like it to be already against Efes.”
What do Drcelic and Kramer say?
Club president Zeljko Drcelic spoke after the game, and his words were carried by TV Arena sport:
“Yes, it’s hard and painful, but I am sure of what we are doing, success will not fail to come. Work, dedication and patience will bring us to the goal.”
Kramer was even calmer in his conversation with Meridian sport. “There is no pressure. We are a very talented team. We know very well what we need to do. It just looks bad right now,” the Red Star player said, then added:
“I have no doubt, we will be good.”
A start like this is not new at the club. A year ago Red Star also opened the season with two losses, to Armani and Bayern, though the Bayern defeat came in Munich. This time both losses came in front of the home crowd, at Belgrade Arena.
When do Red Star play next?
On Thursday, October 1, Anadolu Efes come to Belgrade Arena, having beaten Real Madrid 94-84 in Istanbul in round two. In my reading, Red Star are not losing on rebounds or on fight, as Navarro himself says, but on turnovers and on the ends of quarters. Efes will show right away whether that has been fixed.
