KK Partizan - Budućnost 61:64 (ABA Liga, round 7)

We won’t put this game on display for sure... A match we were about to win, but we let it out of our hands.
Though the atmosphere was excellent.

There were some old friends there.

Then jump ball, kickstart.
After 14 seconds Luković was fouled.
More than a minute passed when the first score arrived (0:3).
After one and a half minute came the first technical foul (for Budućnost).
Almost two minutes passed when we could equalize (3:3).
So, you get the point.
Then Vrabac got injured on his forehead after a clash. He got a quick first aid, from then on he played the whole game with bandage on his eyebrow. Hero.
Yet Budućnost was leading. Though I have to think hard to remember when we had such a struggling game. The standing was 5:10 in the middle of the quarter. We were out of order, so was the opponent. A terrible amount of missed out attempts on both sides. Two and a half minutes before the end it was 7:14. We narrowed the standing a bit for the end, but Average Fan could hear the noise of clenched teeth through the stream... The quarter finished with 11:18.

Good boy... Nikolić (19) gets a pat on the head from Majstorović

The second quarter was the sequel of the first in the beginning. Budućnost was slowly tearing us into tiny pieces... Then Novica Veličković took the team on his back and made a fantastic march. The standing was 13:27, we got a free throw, he scored. And then there was no stop. The others also got the gear (17:27 by Robinson, then later 21:30 by Luković) and we came up to 35:29!!!! Good Lord, it’s just IMPOSSIBLE what we did. We made a 22:2 series the Novi Beograd sports hall was about to explode.

It’s Veličković time!

6 seconds were left from the quarter, Budućnost got a free throw (35:30). Then Vrabac got the ball and he ran up, with bandage on his face and after a tremendous solo he made a BUZZER BEATER making it 37:30 for the half-time. This was one of Partizan’s greatest resurrections, for sure.

"Hey mate, you goin’ to the snack bar in the half-time? Bring me two Smokis, kthx"

In the beginning of the third quarter we continued our march. We kept it quite well until the middle of the part (43:37), when Budućnost slowly started to reduce the difference. One and a half minute before the end they equalized (43:43). Luković took back the lead (45:43). They equalized again (45:45). 18 seconds were left, we got a free throw. Robinson brought us a little advantage, enough of a small breath. (46:45).
Then Budućnost took the lead (48:49). Cold shower. Players were wrestling on the court, making a long row of missed-out attempts and free throws, both sides. Nightmare. The guests were leading to 49:56, barely 4 minutes were left from the game. Struggling. We jump to 54:56. Hatcher equalizes for us (56:56).
Less than two and a half minutes are left. Budućnost takes back the lead (56:58). Robinson scores a fantastic 3-pointer (59:58).
One minute and 15 seconds are left. It’s unbelievable. Budućnost also scores a 3-pointer. They even get a bonus shot. They’re leading again... (61:62). Great struggling and fight on the court.
55 seconds are left. Players are fighting with each other. The referee gives the ball to Budućnost. Their coach asks for time-out. The whole sports hall is on their feet. The teams come back on the court. We get the ball, we run up for an attack. Marinković shots from 3-pointer position... and misses it out.
7 seconds are left. Free throw for Budućnost.
Williams scores both. 61:64. Aleksandar Džikić asks for time-out.
It’s all in vain. We run back to the court, Veličković tries an attempt... and misses it out.
The end.

Highlights:

KK Partizan: Robinson (11), Ratkovica (2), Vrabac (5), Marinković (4), Veličković (15), Majstorović, Birčević (6), Koprivica, Andrić, Hatcher (6), Pot, Luković (12)

Budućnost: Reynolds (10), Williams (13), Šehović (8), James (12), Subotić (2), Ilić, Savović (5), Nikolić (7), Popović (7), Vranješ

Current standing of the league:
1. Budućnost 14 points
2. Cibona 13 points
3. Partizan 13 points
4. CZ 12 points
5. Cedevita 11 points
6. Igokea 10 points
7. Zadar 10 points
8. FMP 9 points
9. Mega Leks 9 points
10. Krka 9 points
11. Mornar Bar 8 points
12. MZT Skopje 8 points
13. Union Olimpija 6 points
14. Karpoš 6 points

(photos: hotsport.rs)

Highlights of the transfer market

It’s not that easy.
Monday (31st August) midnight was the deadline of closing the transfer window, and Partizan’s football team was racing with time. On Monday they signed 4 (four) players within 24 hours. The first one was Nikola Leković.  The left back is in fact on loan from Polish team Lechia Gdansk for a year. His shirt number will be No. 3...

...another left back, the former captain of Borac Banja Luka, Aleksandar Subić has signed for 4 years to Partizan. His shirt number will be No. 19...

...16-year-old Đorđe Jovanović, player of Partizan’s youth school has signed his first ever professional contract with the team...

...and finally, in the last minute Partizan signed Swiss-born Serbian national team winger Alen Stevanović, whose number will be No. 91.

Besides it was an open secret that Partizan, but most of all Zoran Milinković had wanted to sign Vojvodina’s midfielder, Mirko Ivanić. The team allegedly offered one and a half million (!) euros for him

where would they have taken that money from?...

but Vojvodina just rose and rose the price, finally at two million euros Partizan backed out of the debate. Though Miloš Vazura keeps on waving his flags that Partizan did not give up signing Vojvodina’s young talent.
The only weird part of it all is that nobody asked Marko Ivanić about it all.

Then there were those who left the team. They are out mostly on loan, but Ivan Petrović permanently left ul. Humska and signed to Borac Čačak. Nenad Marinković is on loan (at FK Voždovac), so is Miroslav Bogosavac (Teleoptik). There are rumours, that Novi Pazar was into getting Predrag Luka on loan, but Luka refused to accept the offer saying he rather fights ahead to get into Partizan’s starting eleven.
GIGARESPECT. This is Partizan-heart.

Upon some nasty rumours not only Predrag Luka but also Petar Grbić refused an offer to get on loan - and both players were allegedly punished by the team management for choosing rather Partizan than wearing another team’s jersey. If this is true, then I wish the entire management, every single one of them to get such a nasty diarrhea, in public, that even the closest toilet would be too far for them.

***

There’s a change in the basketball team as well. Milenko Tepić has left KK Partizan. The player’s contract has expired at the end of the previous season, still he started the preparations with Partizan. Now he has found a new team for himself, and it is not else than Greek team PAOK.
As soon as there is any official announcement, I’ll update the blogpost.

Update: fresh, crusty and official. PAOK announced the signing of Milenko Tepić on Facebook.

O Milenko Tepic στον ΠΑΟΚ... #pamepaok http://www.paokbc.gr/news/news/4441
Posted by PAOK BC / ΚΑΕ ΠAOK on Thursday, September 3, 2015

***

For the end of the post I serve you with the obligatory PR-grin of football players. Audi, being their official sponsor, offered brand new A3 and A4 cars for the players as well as to Zoran Milinković. After the usual commonplaces the players and the head coach were photographed in the company of their new machines.

There’s video about the event as well.

(photos: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)

Basketball news

Partizan's basketball team will not participate in the Eurocup-series next season. It was confirmed by team president Predrag Danilović. The reason behind is financial difficulties. The team’s finances do not allow Partizan to enter the competition.

A big thanks to everyone who is responsible for this. We appreciate it. We’ll show our gratitude, too, you can be sure.

***

Partizan basketball team’s captain Dragan Milosavljević signed to German Bundesliga team Alba Berlin for 2 years. Alba Berlin confirmed it on their Twitter page.

2-Jahres-Vertrag für #Partizan-Kapitän Dragan #Milosavljevic. Herzlich willkommen in Berlin! https://t.co/VZJwNTX1xx pic.twitter.com/GJ2OuSIs6I

— ALBA BERLIN (@albaberlin) June 25, 2015

Three other players are still unsure about the future. Well, I should correct myself, because Milan Mačvan will surely not play in Partizan in the next season, there are no infos though where he will continue his career. The contract of Milenko Tepić and Saša Pavlović have expired, and Nikola Milutinov is looking forward to be drafted by an NBA-team (most probably by Cleveland).
As for Tepić, nothing is known. The player himself also just shrugged when journalists asked him about his future. While rumours about Pavlović talk about the possibility that he might end his professional basketball career.

Captain,
A big big thank you for everything. It’s hard, maybe even impossible to put our gratefulness into words for all that you did for Partizan. You risked your health, you won matches, you carried the whole team on your back. You always acted and talked like a real sportsman. You were a role model for young players and children. We will miss you a lot, still it had to happen. Good luck to you and show those Germans what Partizan-heart is like.

As for us, dear fellow fans, from now on we’ll watch German basketball Bundesliga matches as well.

Crvena Zvezda - KK Partizan 58:54 (Serbian SuperLiga final, 3rd match)

That’s it, folks. It’s needless to attenuate it. We failed at the basketball final and lost the championship title.

We can analyze it though. We can blame the terrible financial state of the team, we can blame all the injuries, we can call it bribe, we can shame the absolutely not impartial referees, we can even call political tailwind. The fact will still remain fact. We could not win even one game during the final.

At the beginning we warmed up.

Little Mara, everyone’s angel helped Marinković to warm up

The boys were wearing these T-shirts during the warm-up. They are for the benefit of Humanitarna fondacija Novi Beograd

Pavlović warms up

A handful of Partizan-fans were allowed only, but they overscreamed red fans even in the beginning, holding torches, making smoke. In the first quarter the two teams battled bitterly with clenched teeth. It was a nip and tuck game, the standing was 16:16 soon before the end. There was a great fight on the court, Zvezda pressured one more basket into the ring (18:16), the end result of the quarter was 18:17 after Marinković scored 1 from free throw.
In the beginning of the second half we took the lead. Milutinov dunked Pavlović’s rebound. What is more, Milosavljević scored a giant 3-pointer from at least 8 metres (18:22). In the meantime Pavlović was wrestling with two Zvezda-players. The referee didn’t whistle, instead he let Zvezda equalize. That’s the right thing to do, isn’t it, Mr. Referee?... (22:22) Never mind, Mačvan took us back the lead (22:24). Kalinić rubbed himself to Pavlović with a homoerotic twerking, hoping for the referee to whistle foul (he did). Despite all we kept our advantage. At 23:26 Andrić scored a 3-pointer (23:29). Kalinić took full advantage of the "moron idiot" mode, but eventually he was freaked out when the referees validated Andrić’s next score (23:31), even though he, or rather He, Nikola Kalinić personally smashed the ball off the backboard, just when it was about to fall into the ring. (Rules of basketball say it clearly: when the ball is about to fall into the ring, but an opponent player blocks it right before it touches the ring, it must be still validated as a regular score.) Mitrović also yelled at Andrić after referees whistled the 3rd foul on Zvezda’s player. Yet this was the point when the fuse was blown for the referees. They gave a lot of free throws to Zvezda while whistling foul for Partizan-players, one after the other. Zvezda reduced the difference to 27:31. At this point Mačvan, Milosavljević and Milutinov put their reserve energies into action and increased the difference to 27:37. Our advantage was 10 points. We could have made it for the half-time, but referees just had to whistle a free throw for Zvezda right before the buzz. (28:37)

Fans again sent their greetings to everyone

When 3rd quarter started, the stream collapsed. A desperate search for a working one started - thanks to KLS’s stream I could see Zvezda brutally reduced their difference.

I wish I didn’t see that.

At first it was 33:39

at this point I found ArenaSport 2’s stream, thank God. I watched the first half on RTS - their speaker was beneath criticism

then it was 44:44. What the hell was going on?... Did these red-white striped trolls lick plutonium in the locker-room during half time or what?...
And then came the coup de grace. Right at the buzz.

The referees validated it. Rules say, if the player drops the ball, and the ball leaves his hands still before the buzz, the score must be validated. Well, after numerous re-watching I’m still not sure whether Zirbes threw the ball before or after the buzz. I admit though, I’m not impartial.

We finished the third quarter with 46:44.
It quickly became 48:44. Kalinić pushed Mačvan to the floor within the paint, but the referees didn’t mind it. We kept the pace even though everything was against us. Red fans yelled disgusting swearings on Partizan-players, referees openly favoured Zvezda, but despite all we kept ourselves to 50:48. Again it looked like whenever we had a chance to reduce the difference, equalize, or God forbid, took back the lead, Zvezda immediately got a free throw gift to keep them safe. That’s how 50:48 quickly became 54:48. Yet when Tepić was pushed down to the ground heavily, and someone from Zvezda squeezed the ball out of his hands, nobody whistled (maybe only Partizan-fans, as the sign of their disapprove). But when someone from Partizan wanted to tackle Kalinić, referees immediately whistled foul. There were only 9 seconds left. We got a free throw. Milosavljević stood to the paint.
And a rotten bastard from the red mass dazzled him with a laser pointer. The green laser dot was clearly seen in the replay.
May your hand rot off your arms, you lousy moron, who did it.
The Captain missed out the first throw, well, no wonder. He scored from the second. 56:54.
9 seconds left. Hell broke loose on the court. Players were wrestling and fighting. And in the very last moment referees gave a free throw to Zvezda, because it couldn’t have happened any other way.
58:54.
The end.

Players went up to the tribune among fans at the end

They were a bit out of clothes when they walked back to the locker-room, but this time nobody bothered

Mačvan will not stay at Partizan. He himself announced, he’d play at another team in the next season (no details yet).

Rumours say, Dragan Milosavljević might also leave for Spain

(Photos: Twitter)

KK Partizan - Crvena Zvezda 69:72 (Serbian SuperLiga final, 2nd match)

Partizan was the home team at the second clash of the superliga final. On one hand it meant Grave Diggers could finally occupy Pionir Hall (only a handful of red fans were allowed this time, in a well-separated corner of the hall, surrounded by security guards and gendarmerie). On the other hand a lot of honourable guests came to see Partizan.
There was Novica Veličković...

...Danilo Anđušić...

...Aleksandar Mitrović...

...Aleksandar Atanasijević.

Ideeeemooooo⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️!!!dobro pamtim sve!!! @bojanjanic4

A photo posted by Aleksandar Atanasijevic (@atanasijevic.aleksandar) on Jun 15, 2015 at 1:15pm PDT

...as well as Jan Vesely and Bogdan Bogdanović.

Visiting my family last night with Jan Vesely ! ! ! #partizan #belgrade
Posted by Bogdan Bogdanovic on Tuesday, June 16, 2015

When these two players entered, Pionir Hall exploded. They got an amazingly warm, loving welcome, that only Pionir Hall can give to its former players.

National team coach Saša Đorđević was watching the game, too, from the VIP-tribune.

(screenshot)

The team started to warm up way before the arrival of the guests. It is always elemental.

Then the match started.
Not even one and a half minutes have passed when Lazić already got his second personal foul. Blažič hit Pavlović on the face, and when he was fouled for this, he just threw the ball to Pavlović.

(photo: sportske.net)

The standing was 4:4. Pavlović, who was burning on 10 000°C already at this point made a giant block - as a result, referees whistled free throw for Zvezda. Not much later Đumić also got his second personal foul (barely 3 minutes passed from the game...). The two teams had a nip-and-tuck game. We switched the standing from 8:11 to 12:11. From 12:15 we equalized with Pavlović’s amazing 3-pointer (15:15), and we even took back the lead (17:15). Duško Vujošević got into heated debates with the referees every now and then, while Andrić was fouled after Kalinić hit him (!!!). Milosavljević was also hit inside Zvezda’s paint, but none of the referees seemed to be interested. Even at this point it was clear we’d have a tough game against a 8-member team. We finished the first quarter with 17:19.

With lots of love, from the fans of Partizan

In the second quarter Zvezda switched the pace of defense to "brutal", while referees kept on giving us fouls. Still we switched from 17:21 with blood, sweat and the scores of Tepić and Mačvan to 22:21, when something happened. There was an upheaval at Zvezda’s bench.
As we got to know, an angry Partizan-fan threw a chair to Jović. Maybe the target wasn’t actually Jović (or maybe he indeed was), nevertheless the chair hit the Zvezda-player’s head. Jović was surrounded immediately by medicals and finally he left the court and walked to the locker-room with an icebag on his head.

Players were a bit confused

The match could eventually continue, Pavlović equalized (23:23), but from this point on things really started to be very tough for Partizan. Referees openly whistled against us, while Zvezda-players switched to moron mode. Blažič intentionally - and brutally - pushed Milutinović to the floor (it was so clear that the referees had to give us a free throw, though they did not whistle technical foul to Blažič), then Williams smashed Dallo brutally. At this point there was no foul or free throw. But when Milutinović tried to block a Zvezda-attack, the referees didn’t just validated the score but gave an extra bonus shot to Zvezda (31:37). Mačvan reduced the difference (34:39), we finished the first half with 36:40.

Mitrović cheering for Partizan

In the half-time Bogdanović was surrounded by journalists

In the half-time break there was some terribly corny music flowing from the speakers, for the great amusement of Grave Diggers. (I do not want to get into details, as I would cross the delicate borders of political correctness - in short, everyone who knows what’s going on will laugh at it as hard as I did.)

In the third quarter we took back the lead with the scores of Tepić and Mačvan (41:40). Then Milosavljević equalized (43:43), while Zirbes was hanging on him with all his weight. Then Tepić was brutally pushed down by Kalinić. No foul, no free throw, nothing happened.

Pavlović couldn’t watch it passively. Zvezda came up for an attack, Pavlović ran up and clashed into Kalinić with full force, so much that Zvezda’s player flew out of the court with an elegant arch. Pavlović immediately got a technical foul. Then Milutinov got an offensive foul, who knows, why. Duško Vujošević complained heavily, referees gave him a technical foul as well, as an answer. After the lot of free throws Zvezda increased their advantage to 43:51, even making the 10-point difference (45:55). We finished the quarter with 51:58.
In the final part we reduced the difference to 2 points with Marinković’s fantastic 3-pointer (he could even throw an extra bonus shot) and Milutinov’s hook. This time Kalinić pushed Dallo to the ground. Dallo stood up, bent very closely to Kalinić, right into his face and whispered there what Zvezda’s player should do and with whom.

My life for a video. Or at least a gif.

The unsportsmanlike behaviour was clear, so we got a free throw. We equalized (58:58). Kalinić switched the moron mode to full force

interesting, while Blažič is this backboneless rat-alike idiot, Kalinić plays the dirty, stuck-up asshole card

Zvezda increased their difference to 58:64. We reduced it to 63:64 with the 3-pointers of Tepić and Pavlović. Zvezda wanted so much to increase the difference, but we kept on hanging on their back. Finally Mačvan equalized (69:69), Marinković was so happy with it that he jumped on Mačvan and hugged him.

Then, in the very last minute Zvezda got a free throw. The first shot got to the ring (69:70).
The second rebounded! We can still make a counter-attack!!! There are a few seconds left!
But no.
Because Kalinić jumped up, caught the rebound and smashed it into the ring with an evil grin.
69:72.
And after all these this rotten bastard ran up to the Grave Diggers after the end buzz and made it clear what a wonderful, fair-play knight sportsman he is.

May it be a terrible example for everyone.
At the other side Partizan-players were desperate.

Marinković was especially down. Here he is comforted by Milutinović

Tepić comforts Pavlović

And if it’s still not enough, the basketball association punished Partizan for that chair-throwing incident. Partizan must pay 200 000 dinars and they must play their next home court match behind closed doors.
Third match will be on Thursday, from 21:00.

(Unmarked photos: Twitter)