Crvena zvezda is in crisis and has to react urgently
Winning the Radivoje Korać Cup usually gives teams a boost, boosts the winner’s confidence and brings him a dose of relief. That’s how it usually happens, but this winter Crvena zvezda Meridianbet experienced the opposite, because after the success in Niš, she experienced a drastic drop in form that from game to game is already raising alarms at Mali Kalemegdan.
Zvezda’s long-time “executioner”, Alba, gave the red and whites a basketball lesson at the end of the game in the “Pionir” hall, which she completely silenced, sucked all the energy out of her and left the fans wondering – what happened to Red Star? That shock jolted Zvezda to play more evenly against Bayern in Munich, to gain a big nine-point lead five minutes before the end thanks to the “drive” of Nemanja Nedović, but then it experienced a complete blackout. And again, as against Alba, she impatiently rushed into the attack, looking for a three-pointer that would bring victory and was shared at the nets, but not the game that brought her within reach of victory in Munich. And she lost again.
And then came the most painful defeat of all and, along with Zadar, certainly the most painful this season – against Cibona. In Zagreb, Crvena zvezda played lukewarm and at times completely deconcentrated in defense, and in attack they played the way the people of Zagreb wanted, because the home team freed up space for the red and white team to “shoot out” dozens of three-pointers (even 41!). In such a situation, Zvezda gave up its game, just kicked and kicked as if it forgot that it is more often a path to defeat, not to victory. Even when it comes to a match against a complete outsider, not a Euroleague player.
After Alba, Duško Ivanovic said that “he can’t play like that”, pointing to even 28 three-pointers fired and five hits. Then, after Bayern, he said that his team was waiting for time to pass instead of “finishing” the game and failing in defense, and then in Zagreb he repeated what was completely obvious – that Zvezda cannot allow themselves to play like they did in Dražen’s home.
In that match, the red-whites did not have captain Branko Lazić by force of circumstances, probably by the coach’s decision they did not count on Ben Bentil (he was not in the squad) and Ognjen Kuzmic (zero minutes) and they failed again and at the same time threatened their fight for first place against Partizan. Zvezda doesn’t have much time to react, but the reaction is necessary and extremely fast, because although placement in the Top 8 will inevitably become less of a topic when it comes to the red and whites, the two-time consecutive European champion, Efes, will already arrive on Thursday, and on Monday plays a very important “eternal” derby against Partizan. And Zvezda’s games do not bode well for the red and white.