By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Partizan Belgrade suffered its sixth straight and eighth overall EuroLeague loss by falling to Olimpia Milano at home in Round 10. The Serbian powerhouse is facing a near-unprecedented situation in its history in the competition since the last time they were defeated in four consecutive home games was back in 2001-2002.
The once-feared home court of Partizan has become a place where almost every team can get a win.
This is a rather frustrating situation for Partizan that has been facing several issues. Among them are the poor percentages from downtown since Zeljko Obradovic’s players shot 9 – 21 3-pointers vs. Milano in their second game in a row with below 30 percent on threes.
“It’s more about concentration,” Obradovic commented. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. About the details in the attack, the exact instructions, the player forgets, then runs from the other side, I say to make a feint, two players alone, we force. Our shooting percentages are terrible. You can watch these two games and see, it’s a disaster. I talk to them. I also tell them that during time-outs. ‘Hello, you are the leader, play freely, the attack is yours, I call what I constantly give you in the attack, play relaxed’.
“That’s how it is,” Obradovic added. “Is it normal that in a situation when we win the ball, we start, a player who plays exceptionally, [Brandon] Davies, then the center dribbles the ball and it happens that they take the live ball from him? And now I need to teach Brandon to stop and catch the ball. I’m not blaming him. It’s amazing what we talked about in the last seconds. It is always deserved, when someone fights and wants, far from thinking that my team is not fighting. The fact that we have the support of the fans is incredible. Thank them for that. What else can we do but say that we will fight and work? I talk to them [[players] every day both individually and as a group, they haven’t forgotten to play basketball, that’s what it looks like in certain moments.”