Željko Obradović explained how his team reached victory!
“We beat the leader of the Euroleague who plays excellent basketball. We have many reasons to be satisfied except for the third quarter where we had some problems. The key was to share the ball, we always had good shots then. we sometimes missed, but we had very good shot selection. Thank you to the people of Partizan for another amazing night,” Obradović said at the start.
He was asked if this is the quality of the game that warrants a place in the Top 8, but he did not give an answer. “I don’t know if it is, I know that I’m satisfied with how we played the match. Did we have an unusual amount of training because we didn’t play against Buducnosti, I gave the boys three days to freshen up and that obviously pleased them. It’s also not normal for their 0 /12 for three points,” he added, then continued:
“They had a phenomenal percentage for two points, some misunderstandings about the defense led to some dunks. They ran us a couple of times due to confusion in the attack, but it is impossible to play 40 minutes with maximum concentration. Congratulations to the players, great consumption, great energy.”
One of the biggest candidates for the best player this season in the Euroleague, Saša Vezenkov, had a match to forget, and Obradović explained how he stopped him.
“Jeste, for sure a boy who is a great candidate for MVP. We played team defense on him, a humble guy who is dedicated to basketball and that’s why he plays the way he plays. we conceded some easy points because we insisted on him a lot. As I said, whenever we had a good flow of the ball with three or four passes, we always had a good shot“, he explained, and then touched on the party of Janis Papapetrou:
“For sure he is motivated, he played in Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, his motivation was certainly special. He is a quality man and player. This program we are playing is specific and our priority is to win the next match. And it will be different specific.”
Dante Exum managed to break the match with his triple in the most important moments, and he was also praised by the black and white strategist.
“He has that jump which is incredible and the first step and that’s what makes him different from other players. He uses it, he played outstandingly, he also had two pretty big blunders, but that’s part of the game too. Aleksa played fantastically, he had I guess two points, but aggressiveness on the ball and smart play in attack is very important. What makes me happier than winning is that absolutely none of the players are selfish… They are not selfish and that is the essence of this game.To play for the team, to know that this is the most important thing and that this is the most important thing“, concluded the best coach in Europe.