The black and white coach spoke after the defeat by Real Madrid!
He is a partisan painfully lost to Real in Madrid and for the third time in a row, he was eliminated from the playoffs after having three “match balls” to qualify. After the match in the Vizink Center, the coach spoke about that match and the entire season of the black and white team Željko Obradović.
“You don’t have to be smart and understand that we played two different halves, in the first we played outstanding basketball, although I’m not satisfied with some decisions in the attack. At half time I said that Real is a team that has quality, pride and that they will do everything to come back. At each time-out, I tried to raise the team, to ask them to play with concentration until the last ball, and we had problems in defense, we conceded very easy baskets. Real gave away a lot of easy points, but even in that situation we managed to come back, the defense was good and a very good shot by Kevin Panter could have led to an equaliser, but it didn’t go in. I have to point out how he played, as a captain,” he said.
“Fouls by tall players also affected the game, Smailagic played nine minutes with five fouls, Lesor and Dante each had four fouls, all of that was important. They rarely waved, and then we lost the defensive rebound. The impression is that we also helped to lose, but congratulations to Real. Great team, great club. And this game ended in one ball, Kevin Panter’s shot was it. It could have been different, we saw that in the first, third, fourth and fifth match. It should be an experience for us,” Obradović added.
“Partizan returned to the Euroleague after eight years, we have many reasons to be satisfied. The players in the locker room are very sad. We must have the strength to forget this from Friday and the preparations for the ABA League and we have a big goal in front of us, to win the ABA League. There were also some fans from Malta here, thank you to the fans for their support throughout the season. And in front of the Spanish journalists I said that Partizan is a team and a club that should be a permanent member of the Euroleague. It was said that there would be an unsportsmanlike atmosphere before the third and fourth games, and you saw how nice it was. There is no club, coach, player or fan who does not want to come to the Arena. I hope we win that status in the Euroleague, that is my great wish. I repeat, I am proud of all that we are seasons achieved in the Euroleague”, emphasized “Žoc” at the end of the address.
Partizan now turns to the ABA League and prepares for the quarter-final playoff series against the Student Center, with two wins.
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THAT BALL DIDN’T GO IN, IT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT! Željko knows what was decided: “I repeated at every time-out”
