By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
Currently holding a 7-0 winning streak, the biggest of any club since the new format of Euroleague was launched this season, Crvena Zvezda is living its own little miracle amongst high-budget giants.
The Serbian club took a very convincing win in Vitoria against Baskonia in Week 19 and evened the 6-0 run of CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid. On top of that, Zvezda also beat Panathinaikos in Belgrade in Week 20 and expanded to 7 straight wins!
Bearing in mind the pressure and the importance of winning at this point of the competition, Dejan Radonjic’s team has achieved a record that means more than just being 5th in the league’s standings. With 2/3 done and 10 games ahead, the team has clearly set the foundations for the playoffs, leaving clubs like Barcelona behind.
The significance of Zvezda’s achievement has also to do with the clubs that have fallen into its path. In Week 14, they took down Real Madrid (that holds its winning streak since then), then the following one CSKA Moscow visited Belgrade and failed to prevail.
Next on came a win in front of one of the most burning-hot crowds in the competition, that of Zalgiris’ in Kaunas, while in Week 17 Fenerbahce couldn’t outlast the battle in “Aleksandar Nikolic” hall. Maccabi resisted in Tel Aviv, yet Ognjen Kuzmic was there to save the day for the Serbians in Round 18.
This past double-game action week, Marko Simonovic and Stefan Jovic led Radonjic’s team to a killer road win against Baskonia on Tuesday, before returning home and taking down Panathinaikos on Thursday.
In other words, Zvezda has played against 5 fellow playoff competitors (CSKA, Real, Fenerbahce, Baskonia, Panathinaikos) during its victorious race and has beat them all. Before entering these back to back wins, the team lost to Olympiacos in Piraeus in Round 13.
To put this into perspective, Real Madrid’s current 6-0 run has been formed with wins against only one present playoff contender: CSKA Moscow. The rest of the wins are against Anadolu Efes, Maccabi, Zalgiris, Brose Bamberg and Armani Milano.
At the same time, CSKA reached 6 consecutive wins twice this season, with only one loss to Darussafaka interfering in the middle (Round 7). Then, Dimitris Itoudis’ team faced 3 defeats in a row against Fenerbahce, Zvezda and Real.
4 more challenging games follow in the last third of the Regular Season: Two away games in Moscow and Madrid, a clash against Olympiacos in Belgrade, then a visit to Istanbul to meet Darussafaka that already holds a 70-73 victory against the Serbians.
Whether the winning path continues or not, Zvezda has surely left an impression this season.