By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
A disappointing team showing in the second half led to an unexpected defeat for Partizan Mozzart Bet in the Dejan Milojevic Training Center on Monday.
Tied at 1-1 with Mega MIS in a best-of-three series, Game 3 in Aleksandar Nikolic Hall on Thursday will decide the team advancing to the championship series of the AdmiralBet Basketball League of Serbia Playoffs.
“I’ve never experienced that kind of bullying in my career,” revealed Partizan head coach Zeljko Obradovic after Game 2, “The referee says to me, ‘sit down, let me officiate’, when I speak to him in the most normal way.”
💢🗣 Zeljko Obradovic says he had never experienced this kind of bullying in his entire career after Partizan’s loss in the Serbian League semifinal. pic.twitter.com/FevjXtXUme
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) May 28, 2024
The winner of the next clash of the Belgrade outfits will face fellow Belgrade team Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet in a best-of-three series for the BLS championship. Due to an MMA event in Belgrade Arena on Saturday, Game 3 was moved to Aleksandar Nikolic Hall.
Coming out of the AdmiralBet ABA League championship series against Zvezda, on the wrong end of a 3-0 sweep, the team coached by legendary tactician Obradovic hopes to bounce back at the domestic level to wrap up the 2023-24 campaign.
Earlier in the season, Partizan settled for second place in the ABA Regular Season behind Zvezda and from there was swept in a best-of-five Finals series versus their archrival. A loss to Zvezda marked the Final of the Radivoj Korac Cup in February. At the continental level, Partizan fell one win shy of qualifying for the Play-In Showdown of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.