Fan blog of Partizan Sports Society (JSD Partizan) in Belgrade, Serbia. Football, basketball, volleyball, handball, ice hockey, water polo, news, players, all that are a matter of curiousity.
A subjective blog. English is not my mother tongue.
English version of http://jsdpartizanfan.blogspot.com/
With an awfully lagging net and sometimes unwatchable stream, but Partizan won again - as Fellow Fan was kind enough to inform me, by "smashing them". Looking at the final result it’s no doubt at all.
That day was also the 71st anniversary of founding Partizan sports society. Grave Diggers did their best to celebrate it.
The steam engine started to roll in the first quarter at 9:11. We jumped to 9:20 scoring a lot of 3-pointers. Then 14:27. Easy, smooth, absolutely non-problematic first part, finished with 16:29.
Hatcher had a fantastic performance, he was the MVP of the game
That's how it was going for the rest of the game as well. In the second quarter our advantage was more than 20 points (20:43). Even ArenaSport's commentator was shocked. We had the chance to make some spectacular tricks, too, like Ratkovica here.
Half-time result: 25:48.
Birčević too was in excellent shape
The second half was merely about whether we can keep the 20-point difference or we can improve it to 30. We did. We were leading to 50:85 in the last quarter. At the very end we took it too easily and missed out a few chances, Skopje reduced the difference from 52:90 to 62:93. But 30 points are 30 points.
This season has already killed me in numerous ways. My by default worn-out nerves have been torn by the football team, their non-existing success and all the scandals around them. The continuous fiasco of the basketball team made this weight even heavier (and let’s not talk now about the volleyball team, please).
And then there are these matches, like this one.
It started right with a foul and a free throw for Skopje (1:0). No problem, we switched the standing easily (1:7, with the scores of Vitkovac, Wilson and Jones). Then the home team reduced the difference and even took back the lead (10:9).
From then on Skopje kept things under their control for the rest of the first quarter. We could switch the standing only once (12:13), but it didn’t last longer than a few seconds. Our defense seemed to be non-existent, Macedonians threw 3-pointers one after the other, while for us nothing worked. Really nothing. None of our 3-pointer attempts were successful (and it went on like this for long), while Skopje’s defense line was so brutal that we couldn’t throw even a hook. The first quarter ended with 27:19.
Vitkovac is trying to stop Skopje’s player, the two Americans assist him from both sides
(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)
In the second quarter the difference was already 10 points for Skopje (33:23). They threw two 3-pointers, while we were just blinking like a frog in the Hungarian meat-jelly. With blood and sweat we made it to 33:29 (Anđušić + Wilson), Skopje sped up (37:29). We equalized with big effort (38:38, again Anđušić and Wilson), but Skopje’s defense line locked up (they practically blocked even our brains off), they even threw a 3-pointer (41:38). At the very end Vitkovac scored, we finished the first half with a one-point difference (41:40).
In the beginning of the second half the home team quickly made it to 47:40. Petar Božić asked for time-out, but it seemed to be in vain - Skopje again crossed the 10-point difference line (53:42). We struggled hard, we had to pick our points almost one by one. We reduced the difference to 53:47, but Skopje again increased it from free throw (55:47). After Vrabac’s 3-pointer (55:50) we seemed to wake up. We made it to 57:56 (Cvetković, Đumić and Jones scored), but here again the same happened as earlier in the game: we approached the opponent to 1-2 points, but we can’t equalize, nor can we switch the standings, while they speed up and increase the difference. That’s what happened at this point, too, though we missed out two free throws in a row. We faced the last quarter with 62:56.
Murić trying to block
(photo: Facebook/KK Partizan)
In the last quarter we continued where we stopped. We made it to 62:61, Skopje quickly rushed away, 66:61.
Here came the drama, but at this point Average Fan was so weary that there was energy only for a dry smile instead of scratching the floor insanely.
First we equalized. 66:66, scorers: Jones and Milutinović.
Wilson came, saw, we took back the lead (66:69).
Skopje equalized (69:69). They took back the lead (71:69).
Jones equalized (71:71).
Average Fan just writhed one or two, in a half-laying, half-sitting position. Mouth half open, sometimes with a bit of froth. Nothing mattered anymore.
There were barely 2 minutes left, when in the most critical moment Skopje accidentally dropped the ball.
The only problem was that when we wanted to run up for a counter-attack, the ball was stolen from Anđušić. We got the consequences, too. 74:71.
Skopje’s defense again grew into a concrete wall, while something seemed to break at Partizan. First, again nothing ever worked. We couldn’t score, neither from distance, nor from under the backboard. Foul came after foul, all from us, Skopje got a row of free throws.
What is more, all these fouls were real and just. Referees worked quite well at this game.
At 78:71 Wilson scored from free throw (78:73). He tried to keep the spirit somehow in the team (79:75). Milutinović reduced the difference to 80:78 with a 3-pointer, but 7 seconds before the end Jones was fouled out. Skopje got a free throw and they won the game with it. (82:78)
You can watch the last one and a half minutes here.
At first there was no introduction, no discussion, Tepić opened right with the epilogue and THIS assist for Milutinov:
In the first quarter Skopje clearly wanted to show the world they are not afraid of the famous guests. They sent the awfully fast Dixon in the battle - we had a troll Mačvan. The result of the first period was 19:24, at first glance it looks as a smooth game. In reality we sweated blood, we had to switch back the result to our side three times. Mačvan was on full speed, Pavlović was our nuclear reactor, who scored our first 3-pointer at the end of the quarter, while Murić added a sophisticated elegance to all this teamwork.
In the second quarter the Macedonian team went flat, like a used tyre, compared to that pace they had at the beginning. They became dull and missed out a lot of chances. We took a nasty advantage of them, Pavlović kept on scoring as if there was no tomorrow, Andrić brought a 3-pointer with a broad smile and it couldn’t happen without Mačvan and Milutinov (especially Mačvan, his performace was simply brutal in this match, he was like a granite foundation). The standing was 30:38 in the half-time.
Home team again pulled themselves together for the 3rd part. As a beginning they made a 7:2 series (37:40) and at a point they took the lead (47:46) as well as control over the game. We missed out too many chances and it paid off, as always. The result was 49:48 at the end of the quarter, and even in the beginning of the last one the Macedonian team opened with a free throw (51:48). They even started to send wide grins to each other as something like "hey, look at these Belgrade big boys, they are so out of themselves".
Then came Marinković and an awesome, 10-point series.
First he scored a 3-pointer (51:51), then Murić (51:54) also Milosavljević (51:57) and it was also him who topped it all from a free throw (51:58).
Then , the truth is, that was more or less all about the quarter. Nothing else happened. Both teams slowed down and the only mentionable event was when Gagić needed medical treatment after falling and hitting himself hard to the floor. At the end there were some free throws left (one for Skopje, two for us) and one weak action goal on both sides (by Andrić, for us). We won (55:63) and right now that’s the most important.
It was high time for this win. It was also as extraordinary as possible.
In the beginning it was still tough though. The guests led to 3:6, when Milutinov got the ball for Partizan with a sensational block, then at the other side he score with a dunk. Better to be safe than sorry.
Mačvan - he returned from his injury - adjusted on the standing (7:10), then at 8:13 we could witness this weird situation, when Gagić was roughly elbowed on the ground by a Skopje player, but still the guest team got a free throw. The first half ended with 11:15, when just a few seconds before the end Marinković scored a wonderful 3-pointer.
(And that was just the beginning.)
In the second quarter Milutinov equalized (15:15), so did Gagić (17:17), then at 17:19 Marinković threw another amazing 3-pointer (20:19). The guests sped up and made it for 20:26, but at this point Marinković kickstarted the steam roller and he himself made such a series that made all jaws drop on the floor and the team having again equals with Skopje (29:29). This was the result of the half-time.
The next half was even more sweeping.
31:29. Then 34:29, Bogdanović also scored a 3-pointer, to make it even more beautiful. Skopje equalized (34:34), then Marinković threw another 3-pointer (37:34). Tepić topped it (39:34), Milutinović also had his word (41:37). Then 43:37 (Bogdanović), 45:40 (Milutinov), 48:40 (Bogdanović and a GIANT 3-pointer). At the end of the quarter Andrić settled the double-digit result (50:40).
The final quarter was a festival. The difference was more than 10 points, thanks to Milutinov (52:41). From this point Partizan barely let Skopje take a breath. Dallo threw a basket (54:43), Milutinov raised the difference (56:43), aaaaaaaaand Marinković, the hero of the day, 58:43, then 60:43, he was scoring like there was no tomorrow. Here Skopje picked themselves together a bit and made it to 60:50, but Dallo threw a 3-pointer, and even settled the final result from a free throw (65:50).
