By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Partizan is hot and ASVEL proved to be easy prey in Belgrade. The Serbs prevailed without any trouble by 21 points (92-71) and never felt threatened on the way to a solid 11-11 record which keeps them near the playoffs.
Partizan led even by 29 points (75-46) near the end of the third period, after getting a solid 50-36 halftime lead, while the guests couldn’t react in any part of the game making just 4/15 threes and 17 turnovers.
Kevin Punter with 22 points was the top scorer of the hosts, Dante Exum added 13 points and Matthias Lessort had 12.
“It’s a much-needed win”, said Punter after the game. “We hit the part of the season when we need to start getting these wins, so it feels good to win at home in front of all our great fans, and we just have to keep going. We had a nice little lead going into the second half, so we had to open the game up in the third quarter so we could rest. It was much needed.”
Υousoupha Fall and Yves Pons with 14 points each tried their best for ASVEL, but it was not enough as the French side with a modest 8-14 record remains near the bottom of the standings.
“It was tough for us to match their energy”, said ASVEL coach TJ Parker. “The atmosphere, I don’t need to explain it. Probably the best in the EuroLeague. When you see the fans with you if you are up or down. If you are going down a little bit, they bring the voice up. You can’t beat that. Like a sixth man. It is awesome.”
Βig test against Zalgiris coming up
And what’s even more important for Partizan coach Zeljko Obradovic is that his tick is clicking just before the big game with Zalgiris: “I think we played good basketball, we deserved to win. I also cared about minutes, because on Friday we have an important game against Zalgiris. We continued to play the second half the same way we played in the first. We played good basketball. I don’t think we relaxed in the fourth quarter; we had some open looks that did not go in”.
His center Mathias Lessort also talked about the importance of the win in the playoffs race: “Every game is important in the playoff race, but right now we don’t even want to try to think about this. We just want to win games and at the end, we will count.”