“Eternal” rivals were the subject of the latest episode of the MONDO podcast “Sixth Personal”.
Ahead of the Euroleague matches of Red Star (against Baskonia on Thursday) and Partizan (against Olympiakos on Friday), the latest episode of the MONDO podcast “Sixth Personal” talked about the “eternal” rivals and their current form.
Commenting on the current moment of Crvena zvezda, Edin Avdić looked first of all briefly at the visit of the red and whites to Barcelona and their defeat in the end, in which Stefan Lazarević missed a shot to equalize. “He has qualities, he plays very good defense, but if he should have scored – he did. There were also many bigger mistakes, but that’s when you have no room for error, and there is a small margin in such away games,” he said.
In his opinion, Kampaco played the best game since he was among the red and whites.
“That’s his real game, where he doesn’t just insist on shooting for three points, but also made penetrations, was aggressive, created excess, distributed assists, put himself and his teammates in good positions. To be fair, he can’t play like in Real because they don’t even have that quality of teammates. Zvezda has problems – they don’t have Nedović and Dobrić, with all their problems with percentages. They don’t even have Lazić to play 10 minutes of aggressive defense or hit a three-pointer from the corner at this stage of his career, but all in all in all – the game wasn’t bad, on the contrary, Zvezda had a chance. When you miss that shot, it’s like someone unscrewing a cap from a tire…”.
Edin also spoke about Zvezda’s problems.
“The star needs to do the work in the Euroleague, to see that they are positioned as well as possible, it is not the same when you are 10th or 15th. At the moment, they seem quite torn. Vildosa’s moves are quite counterproductive in this period and he is not in rhythm with the team. Maybe now there’s also a new role for him, maybe he saw himself as the first at one point, that’s how he played, he and Nedović took turns causing problems for everyone, had a good rhythm. Now a classy player appears, Campaco, realistically better than the two of them , so maybe there is a crowd in the back positions, the roles need to be divided. Zvezda does not get much from the centers and that is quite a sore spot for Red Star at the moment. Duško Ivanović is a coach who makes a lot of changes and likes to play with a large rotation. Apart from Kampac and here is now Mitrović against Barcelona, there is not much mood in continuity”.
The next rival of the red and whites is the team that is the “executioner of Real Madrid” this season. “Basconia is coming, which won Real for the fourth time, now again in Madrid. It was a top game, it was played at an exceptional level and that Basconia is in the fight for a place in the playoffs and is now looking for a victory there. They see this as a game in which they should win,” said Edin.
“PARATIZAN? THE RIGHT FORM AT THE RIGHT MOMENT”
Edin also reflected on the current moment of Partizan, after the great victory against Efes and a week of rest after that game.
“Partizan has a nucleus where if you put Madar in the starting five and if he gives you something, then Exum comes in. As the coaches like to say, I have two players in that position, but let them be different. Someone opposite, a physicist, comes in. When you look at Partizan, it will be different players in different parts of the season – again now you have Naneli who is in great form, while Papapetra more or less does not play. Naneli scores from the dribble. Smailagić’s form is increasing, he had an important block. Panther nothing for a long time and then appeared in at the end of the game against Efes… It’s a really good rotation in the playmaker position, Madar – Egzum – Avramović. No one is a pure playmaker and everyone brings their own”.
“Ledaj is finally burning out on the field, he is not only concerned with his points. He hits very important shots. It is no longer the case that we saw that Lesor had to score 15 points and play for more than 30 minutes in order for Partizan to have a chance. And when you have a sufficient number of fit players, then a coach like Željko Obradović can experiment and even put Papapetrou in the ‘five’ position. At the right moment, they function in the best way and everyone contributes”.
The next rival of the black and whites is Olympiakos and it will be another spectacle with enormous weight in Stark Arena. “20,000 people in the Arena, the rivalry between the two teams, Partizan in great form, with great confidence, we will see how the game will develop, but I would not be surprised at all if Partizan wins Olympiakos. If they manage to neutralize Vezenkov in the right way, and they had have a week to prepare for it and a free weekend…”.
Listen to the latest episode of “The Sixth Personal”