Partizan basketball players were defeated by Split 74:67 at the Belgrade Arena last night, marking their sixth loss in this year’s ABA league. Many believe that the main reason for this is fatigue, or the players’ lack of interest in matches that are not a part of the Euroleague. What do you think?
The „Yellow“ from the Gripa are the sixth team to have „taken the measure“ of the current regional champions.
Before them, it was done by Mega (88:86), Igokea (91:89), Cedevita (95:91), Zadar (84:68) and Crvena zvezda (88:86).
Displeasure with the performance in the Belgrade Arena was not hidden by coach Željko Obradović after the tough loss.
„I apologize to all the Partizan fans for watching this disgrace. I feel a great shame,“ said Žoc.
And indeed, the black and whites have played very poor basketball on several occasions this season and below all expectations, especially for the defending champions. For a long time, the main problem was the lack of the player roster due to injuries, so Željko Obradović patched up the first part of the season without captain Kevin Panter, Zeke Ledej, Aleks Avramović, Alen Smailagić, and Mateuš Ponitka.
Now all 15 players are healthy and ready to help, but the results don’t show that. A drop in form has also occurred in the Euroleague, but the chances for the playoffs have not yet disappeared.
On the other hand, the home court advantage in the playoffs of the regional championship is in the realm of theory, and last year was a good indicator of how much it means, especially when Red Star and Partizan clash. Do the players take the ABA league lightly, after tough matches and travels around Europe, or is perhaps the Partizan’s lineup much weaker compared to last season?
We ask you…
