KK Partizan - Crvena Zvezda 65:70 (play-off, final, 4th match)

This is when you feel like a full spittoon. Even when you deliberately slept it over. Even if you were somewhat prepared for this. If I can be this very brutally honest: deep inside I wasn’t surprised on the end result. I had a feeling for the entire final series that this Partizan won’t be able to compete with this very strong, well-organized, well-prepared Crvena Zvezda.
It still feels terrible though :(
Many came again to support the team.

Danilo Anđušić...

...Kosta Perović...

...Miloš Vujanić and Milenko Tepić...

...Nikola Milutinov and Nemanja Bezbradica...

(photos: hotsport.rs)

...Nemanja Mihajlović...

(photo: Twitter)

...on this photo it’s not exactly Nikola Peković is the main figure, but rather Vladimir Volkov in the background... 

(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)

...our water polo players were also there...

A photo posted by Nikola Jaksic (@njaksic) on Jun 9, 2016 at 1:26pm PDT

...as well as Joffrey Lauvergne...

(photo: hotsport.rs)

...who got a fantastic ovation from Partizan-fans

Meanwhile the boys walked out to the court...

(photo: hotsport.rs)

...Lauvergne was singing "Dobro pamtim sve" together with the fans...

...one last group hug and discussion before the start...

(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)

...and we gave it a kickstart.
Less than two minutes passed when Murić got his first foul.

It came to my mind that betting offices should have an option for people to bet not just for the end result or the winner, but also for Murić on how soon he gets his first personal foul. You get what I mean. Within how many minutes or even seconds arrives the first foul. As an extra possibility people could even bet whether he’ll reach his third foul within the first quarter. It would be a smash hit. (I’d like a few-percent-slice for my idea, thank you.)

After 4:4 we took a confident lead (12:6). Zvezda was seemingly confused. Again there were too many fouls, we again missed out a lot of attempts, but we were leading (14:9).

In the 7th minute Murić got his 3rd foul. His performance was catastrophal, not just on this very game, but on every match of the final series. Foul within a minute, 3 fouls within the first quarter... It might be fine on one single match, especially on a derby. But on ALL matches... it’s just too much.
Don’t come up with the counter-argument that Dangubić also got his 3rd foul in the first quarter. I couldn’t care less for Dangubić, and I think a Partizan-player should have enough self-control not to get involved into so many mistakes right at the beginning of the game.

Zvezda jumped from 19:13 to 20:18. Milutinović scored in the very last moment, just at the end buzz. We finished the first quarter with 22:18.

Andreja Milutinović

(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)

At the beginning of the second quarter Zvezda took the lead (22:23). Not much later Micić got a technical foul, we took back the lead by the free throw that followed (25:23). Both teams fought hard so much, that soon Lazić also got a technical foul.

The referee was the same as on the first two games, but this time he was surprisingly (or even shockingly) impartial.

We were leading to 29:23 with a 7-point-series behind us when a firecracker was thrown to the court.

The game halted, everyone was complaining, for this or that reason. Then when we could finally continue, we started with missing out 3 chances for 3-pointer in a row. Aleksandar Džikić asked for time-out, he could somehow shake us up. (31:27)

Did I hear well that fans here started to chant "Duško Vujošević, ša la la la la"?...

Zvezda reduced the difference to 31:30. Jones was fouled 3 times in a row within a few seconds. Veličković kept the spirit in the team. The standing was cluse, but at least we were leading (37:36). The game was tensed, but exciting in the second quarter - definitely better and more exciting than the previous three.
Zvezda took back the lead with a 3-pointer (37:39), and even though we equalized once (39:39, Marinković), they were leading again in the half-time. (39:41)

Fans clashed in the half-time - because no game can pass without war

The third quarter was awful. At the beginning Murić was fouled for the 4th time and it was absolutely legitimate.

We were in the middle of an attack when he pushed Jović to the ground. Obvious offensive foul. Obvious and totally unnecessary.

Zvezda played more and more self-confident while we had beginner’s mistakes. Traveling, running out of time, foul after foul... Jones wanted to throw a 3-pointer, the ball rebounded, someone wanted to push it back to the ring, the ball rebounded again. We fell apart. The opponent was leading (44:50) and the worst was that they played the very same player-to-player defense with full court press tactics they did during the previous matches. As if there's no remedy against them... We got nervous more and more, which brought more and more mistakes (missed-out attempts, long row of rebounds while the opponent controlled the boards). We tried this hang-on-the-opponent-under-the-board trick, but it didn’t work out. It ended with a defensive foul every time, including the usual free throw for the other side. It was 46:54 before the end, when Wilson could score one more just at the end buzz (48:56).

Jamar Wilson

(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)

For the last quarter we lost control. Zvezda took back the two-digit advantage (50:60). In the middle of the quarter players got into a combat fight. Zirbes started to push Jones, then picked up a fight with Wilson, too. Everyone was nervous. Lazić was fouled out, followed by Wilson not much later. We struggled, but all our attempts rebounded. Zvezda was leading (61:65), then 39 seconds before the end we reduced the difference to 2 points with Murić’s free throw (63:65). Zvezda’s head coach asked for time-out. Tension grew, only 25 seconds were left. Free throw for Zvezda (63:67). Aleksandar Džikić asked for time-out. We walked back to the court, Jones scored (65:67) only 19 seconds before the end, after great struggle. Zvezda again asked for time-out. We walked back to the court. Vitkovac got fouled, free throw for Zvezda (65:69). A last, desperate attempt by us for a 3-pointer. We miss it out. The whole team is totally nervous. Only 7 seconds are left. Free throw for Zvezda. They score one (65:70). We have time only to throw the ball in to the court. End buzz. The end. That was all.
Grave Diggers welcomed the team as if they had won the title, and not the other side.

The organizers learned from their mistakes (a few years ago Partizan won the title, the championship silverware was put on display, and Simonović simply stole it and disappeared with it among their fans), this time security guards kept the chalice

Novica Veličković at the end of the game. He was the only one here, or even at the entire final series who really deserved Partizan’s jersey

(photos: Twitter)

At the post-match press conference Aleksandar Džikić confirmed that Kevin Jones leaves Partizan. The reason is simple: he asked for such a salary that Partizan cannot afford. Jones will probably continue his career in NBA.
Still not confirmed though, but it seems most players will stay at Partizan. Vrabac, Marinković, Cvetković, Andrić and Koprivica are more or less sure. Veličković’s contract expires, but the team will do everything to keep him. Murić is not sure, but his stay cannot be excluded either.

KK Partizan: Aranitović (3), Jones (12), Murić (4), Marinković, Veličković (19), Vitkovac (4), Đumić, Magdevski, Milutinović (4), Williams (5), Vrabac (1), Wilson (13)

Crvena Zvezda: Kinsey (15), Rebić, Dangubić (3), Mitrović (10), Lazić, Micić (5), Simonović (15), Gudurić, Jović (3), Miller (4), Zirbes (15), Štimac

Inline hockey championship, round 3 - Partizan is still undefeated

The third round of the inline hockey championship was last Sunday, we went there and got an easy training.
We played 3 games, the first one was the most important one, the eternal derby. That was maybe the only game that made us sweat a bit. Zvezda took the lead twice, first to 0:1, then it was 2:4 for them in the half-time. In the third quarter we scored 3 goals (5:4), then in the final one we knocked them out (9:5). Nemanja Nikolić and Vladimir Ljutovac were our best players.
The second game was against Spartak. It was smooth, we won to 8:1. Nikolić was on fire, he scored 4 goals. At the end we clashed with NS Stars, it was a postponed game from the first round. We completed it with 10:3. Ognjen Stoiljković scored 3 goals for us, Marko Brkušanin and Lazar Leštarić both earned 2-2.
We are leading the league table with 24 points, we are in fact going for the championship title. (Vitez is on the second position with 7 points behind us.) The association will decide about the next round(s), as everyone is focusing on the upcoming world championship qualifiers that take part between 22nd and 25th June.
A few images from this round:

Eternal derby

These few images were taken at one of the next games (I’m guessing it was against NS Stars, but correct me if I’m wrong)

(photos: Facebook/Savez hokeja na ledu Srbije)

Current championship standings:
1. IHK Partizan 24 points
2. HK Vitez 17 points*
3. CZ 15 points
4. Spartak 9 points
5. Vojvodina 3 points
6. NS Stars 1 point**

Team marked with * have got 1 more game left, team marked with ** have two more games left.

Crvena Zvezda - KK Partizan 72:75 (play-off, final, 3rd match)

We won.
We should mention though that we could make it with greater-than-life luck and we could take advantage of Zvezda’s boosting self-confidence thinking that this night they would celebrate. If I can be brutally honest: this game was rather lost by Zvezda than won by us.
But sports are not about "rather"-s and luck, but about points and/or goals. At the end it’s only the result that matters.

Warning: I might anger some people with this blogpost, but despite the end result I won’t be gentle and forgiving to anyone.

We had a horrible start. There’s nothing to attenuate on it. I have never seen such a terrible, crappy game start by this team (I’ve been watching them for 3+ years now). We could score ONLY FIVE (5) POINTS in the entire quarter. Not more, not less. Five.
They were all scored by Jones.

Kevin Jones

(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)

We shat into the pants. There were five scared field mice on the court running circles. It was a shame. No excuse.
The quarter ended with 13:5. Okay, Zvezda didn’t push themselves either, but as I said earlier, they were too sure about their victory.
The second quarter started with the fight of Veličković and Miller.

(photo: hotsport.rs)

Referees solved it by giving technical foul to both.

This time the main official of the game was a different referee, not that one from the previous two games. If I wanted to crack a weak joke, I’d say maybe that was the reason why we could win now. What’s sure is that this time (at least at the beginning of the game) there were definitely much less fouls and openly biased judgements by the referees. Though later they made it up for the large-scale production, so to speak.

We picked ourseves together a bit (15:10). We took advantage of Zvezda missing out many attempts. Veličković was on the top. He scored a lot of 3-pointers, we can thank mainly to him that we reduced the difference to 24:22 and we could even keep it. Once we even took the lead. Murić first equalized (26:26), then he got a free throw as well and scored one (26:27). It didn’t last long though (28:27). Both teams struggled with no result. Finally referees commiserated Zvezda and gave them a free throw at the end of the quarter. We finished the first half with a two-point drawback (29:27).

Zvezda-players were not too friendly with Murić

(photo: hotsport.rs)

In the third quarter Williams joined us

where the hell was he in the first half?...

and we immediately sped up.

Darrell Williams

(photo: hotsport.rs)

We equalized (29:29), we took the lead (29:31) and kept it (37:39). Williams made a fantastic series and he didn’t stop (39:41). Zvezda equalized (43:43), for a short while they took back the lead (45:43), then we were leading again with Murić’s 3-pointer. This was when Zvezda’s overconfidence striked back. We didn’t just lead (47:50), but what Vrabac did at the end buzz, that was unbelievable.

He threw the ball at the half-court...

...the ball perfectly fell into the ring. Time to celebrate

(photos: hotsport.rs)

There’s a video about this scene:

The quarter ended with 47:53.

Yes, we were leading. Still there was something that made me sad, or at least turned off my mood enough that I could't be happy with the standing. Namely I saw nobody with enough pulling power for the whole team. Neither this time, nor during the past 5-6 games. Okay, Veličković and his great routine helped us getting out of the bottom, but he had to do it all alone, because the others did not help or assist him. Okay, a few players had some good moments, e.g. this great 3-pointer by Vrabac, or Williams’s performance in the 3rd quarter. But on one hand none of these had a balanced performance, on the other the rest of the team was just a grey mass. Wilson was invisible, Murić excelled mostly with his faults during the past games. As for the rest, the only reason I remember them is because I see a few of their names in my notes near the scores. None of them had any remarkable moments. And this is unadmittable, because this is PARTIZAN and not just a nameless team from the countryside.

Then came the last quarter where we demonstrated how to gain a 15-point advantage, then we demonstrated right there how to lose it until almost the last point.
At first we were leading, almost confidently (50:59). We reached the two-digit difference (52:62). Hey, people, it’s the last quarter and we are leading with 10 points! What is more, with Jones’s 3-pointer it was 52:65. Aranitović showed himself, too (52:67). 15 points, in the last quarter!!!
Oh, wait...
It was reduced immediately to 10 points (57:67). Murić scored a 3-pointer (57:70) three minutes before the end. At 62:72 Veličković was fouled out, while Zvezda sped up (65:72). Full court press, combat fights, Vrabac was fouled in an impossible situation. Even ArenaSport’s commentators didn’t believe their eyes... Only 50 seconds were left, the standing was 70:73. Zvezda was struggling hard, while we desperately tried to defend the result. Wilson raised our advantage a bit from free throw (70:75), Zvezda scored 9 seconds before the end (72:75). In the most critical moment Wilson dropped the ball out of his hand. For our XXXXL-sized luck there were only 2-3 seconds left and Zvezda had no time to change the standing.
Here’s a video about this circus:

Then it ended. The standing is 2:1 now for the neighbourhood. The next game will be on Thursday, at 21:00 on ArenaSport 1.

(photo: hotsport.rs)

Crvena Zvezda: Kinsey (10), Rebić, Dangubić (4), Mitrović (4), Lazić (4), Micić (3), Simonović (15), Gudurić (3), Jović (5), Miller (5), Zirbes (19), Štimac

KK Partizan: Aranitović (4), Jones (13), Murić (12), Marinković, Veličković (13), Vitkovac (4), Đumić, Magdevski, Milutinović (8), Williams (12), Wilson (4)

KK Partizan - Crvena Zvezda 86:87 (play-off, final, 2nd match)

Fuck you all, whores.
It’s just impossible. It’s just... no.
First we presented how to gain a 20-point-advantage in full cross-wind, while the referees openly support the opponent.
Then we presented how to lose this 20-point-advantage.
Finally we presented how much a basketball team can be humiliated.
And all these we presented before the very eyes of a lot of old friends. So many of them came to support the team.

Aleksandar Atanasijević (right), OK Partzan’s former player and his company

Nikola Ninković was also back from Italy

(photos: hotsport.rs)

Miroslav Bogosavac

(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)

Kosta Perović

Milenko Tepić and Miloš Vujanić

(photos: hotsport.rs)

Bivši igrači Partizana Tepić,Drobnjak i Vujanić na utakmici finala plej ofa.#playoff #superliga #vecitiderbi pic.twitter.com/qnKRqETnGs

— Telegraf Sport (@TelegrafSport) June 5, 2016

In the meantime we warmed up. Magdevski was present this time, after Cvetković’s injury at the previous game.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but Magdevski still didn’t play one single minute.

Andrej Magdevski at the warm-up

(photo: Twitter)

Još malo do početka 2. utakmice @PartizanBC @kkcrvenazvezda #kls #sportmts pic.twitter.com/UiDYSowZj9

— sportmts (@tvojsvetsporta) June 5, 2016

Serbian anthem

(photo: hotsport.rs)

Then we gave it a kickstart - so much that less than 30 seconds passed when Đumić got his first personal foul. (For the middle of the quarter he got his third from the kind-hearted referees. Three is the truth, isn’t it?...) We were leading, but we struggled. The opponent used their well-working man-to-man-fight tactics, just like last time. They were aggressive, whenever a Partizan-player approached the backboard, he immediately got again at least 3 Zvezda-players in his neck. Referees were superfluous. They could have joined Zvezda’s team, nobody would have noticed it. The rate of fouls was 5:0 at the beginning

yea, for us... why, what did you think, for Zvezda?...

and it just worsened as the game was going on. (Of course free throw was always a gift at every single foul.)
Never mind. We were leading, we even made the 10-point-difference here (25:15). Murić was on fire. He made a giant block, if needed, or he stole the ball and slam dunked it or just scored, simply as that

well, at least when he was not fouled by the referees

(photo: hotsport.rs)

For the end Zvezda reduced the difference to 25:21.
The second quarter brought even more struggle. At first Murić got his 3rd foul, because why not. Then ArenaSport’s broadcast died. (Me, too.) When it came back to life, the standing was 27:26. I could just see that great moment when Novica Veličković scored a 3-pointer for Partizan after a very very long time.

At the previous game we scored no 3-pointers. We could now, at long last, in the 2nd quarter.
Though, I guess I won’t make too big spoiler if I tell you, we didn’t score that much for the rest of the game either.

Novica Veličković (here fighting with Quincey Miller)

(photo: hotsport.rs)

We were leading, we kept our advantage, meanwhile we were fouled always. Vitkovac got a technical one, when the referee made an irrational judgement for the x-th time and he lost his temper and threw the ball to the ground. We were still leading, now with 20 points (50:30), even though referees did everything to find any reason to foul us.

We used the same tactics now as Zvezda. Whenever they appeared at our backboard, their attacker got at least 3 Partizan-players on his neck. The problem was that Zvezda could use these tactics without any hiccup, while we were always fouled for this defending style.
Impartial judgement, my a.......

Wilson and Kinsey found each other again

(photo: hotsport.rs)

The half-time brought 54:37.

The atmosphere was great

The third quarter made it clear that it wouldn’t be as easy as we thought first. At the beginning Zvezda made a 8-point series (54:45), our advantage was only 9 points. Marinković and Williams made us jump to 59:47.
The atmosphere was so tensed that Wilson and Kinsey got into a fight. Teammates had to separate them... Needless to say, Wilson was fouled and Zvezda got the gift free throw (59:49).
The opponent reduced their difference step by step. Our advantage was only 7 points (60:53). Then Zvezda’s player Jović was hit with something. All that could be seen was that he runs up with the ball, then suddenly grabs his head with a painful face. Partizan-fans were singing on the top of their voice and hell breaking loose was just a few millimetres away.

Smoke above the Gravediggers-tribune some time in the 3rd quarter

(photo: Twitter)

Finally again Aleksandar Džikić had to calm down the fans.

260 000 dinars. That’s the amount of fine Partizan has to pay for the atrocities.

But oh well, we were still leading with 15 points (70:55). We kept the two-digit difference even at the end of the quarter (72:62), though these games are those that teach you the reality of match endings: matches always end when the end buzz comes. Never earlier.

Novica Veličković

Adin Vrabac

(photos: hotsport.rs)

Don’t ask what happened in the last quarter, because I have no idea.
We opened it with Murić’s 3-pointer. Excellent start (75:62). Zvezda scored back (75:64), then no baskets were threwn at all for long. None of the teams could score.
Then the opponent scored two 3-pointers and whoooppss, our advantage melted to 5 points (75:70). In the meantime referees fouled Murić twice within 40 seconds. Partizan’s Slovene got his 5th foul, he had to leave the court.

(photo: hotsport.rs)

Zvezda got a row of free throws. Our advantage was only 1 point (75:74). Zvezda took the lead for a moment (77:78), which was quickly wiped by Marinković and his giant 3-pointer (80:78). Barely 2 minutes were left. Zvezda got a free throw, but they couldn’t equalize (80:79).
But don’t be afraid, children. The kind-hearted referees gave them another free throw and then they managed (80:80).
Then Veličković took back the lead for us with an unbelievable, impossible 3-pointer from the other side of the street. (83:80)

The whole Partizan-bench is on their feet...

(photos: Twitter)

Veličković scored, Pionir Hall exploded

(photo: hotsport.rs)

(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)

It was already the last minute. There was a hand-to-hand combat on the court between the players of the two teams. Referees fouled Vrabac, Zvezda got the gift (83:82). The combat continued, now we got a free trhow. Jones scored (85:82). Only 19 seconds were left. Zvezda’s coach asked for time-out. Then we came back to the court and here the referees fouled Williams with a trumped-up reason. Hell broke loose. You can watch it.

Our advantage was only 1 point. 11 seconds were left, when we got a free throw. Wilson scored one (86:84).
What came here, has no explanation. Only 6 seconds were left, when Gudurić got the ball, and then he threw it from a distance, probably thinking something like "whatever, what could happen".
He scored.
86:87
Time was up. We could only have a threw-in from behind the baseline, but even that only because the regulations say that the end buzz can come only when the ball is in play.
We lost.

I don’t know what happened. Really. I’ve been thinking of this since last night. We screwed up a 20-point difference. I can’t help but think of Duško Vujošević. Such a thing could have never happened during his era. Dule would have torn off each player’s head in live broadcast, ignoring the cameras around him. Something was missing from this team. They fought, they battled, but...
...but for God’s sake, I could see this fighting spirit from the Dule-times only on Novica Veličković. Only him. For this he deserves a big salutation from you.
I don’t know if that’s the maximum Aleksandar Džikić can bring out of the players, or players themselves can’t jump higher than this level. At the previous game we lost with 31 points, now we wasted a 20-point advantage. All these in a championship final, against the eternal enemy. (If we had done the same against e.g. Barcelona or Fenerbahce, I’d keep silent. They are world-renowned teams.)
I have no idea what can be behind it, but one thing is sure, it can’t go on like this.

(photos: hotsport.rs)

.@PartizanBC #mondaymotivation #svikaojedan @NovicaV12 pic.twitter.com/r83EZ3uHC1

— sportmts (@tvojsvetsporta) June 6, 2016

(photos: hotsport.rs)

The third game will be on Tuesday from 21:00. ArenaSport 1 will be broadcast it live.

KK Partizan: Aranitović (9), Jones (10), Murić (9), Marinković (6), Veličković (17), Vitkovac (4), Đumić, Magdevski, Milutinović, Williams (13), Vrabac, Wilson (18)

Crvena Zvezda: Kinsey (13), Rebić, Dangubić (13), Mitrović (8), Lazić (8), Micić (10), Simonović, Gudurić (11), Jović (13), Miller (6), Zirbes (13), Štimac (2)