Isaia Cordinier, Iffe Lundberg and Awudu Abass became the heroes late on.
Virtus trio delivered clutch plays in key win over Partizan
Artikel
3 Lesezeit
Regular Season
Round 25 of 34
Regular Season
Virtus Segafredo BolognaVIR
8884
Partizan Mozzart Bet BelgradePAR
Overview
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Basketball is a highly tactical sport which allows coaches to make a big impact on the outcome with their schemes, personnel decisions and play calling.
Sometimes, though, games are decided by something much simpler: players making plays.
That was definitely the case on Friday night as Virtus Segafredo Bologna returned to third place in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague by overcoming Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 88-84 after a game that exploded into life in a crazy final quarter.
Virtus looked comfortable with a series of double-digit leads in the third quarter, but the visiting team came roaring back and the final period delivered four lead changes, five ties and several spectacular plays at both ends.
Virtus trio made key plays late on
The first player to step up when it really mattered for the Italian team was Isaia Cordinier, who scored 6 points in just 42 seconds as the game headed into the final 2 minutes, including a remarkable steal from an inbound pass which allowed him to drive the baseline for a tough layup.
Next it was Iffe Lundberg, who had produced a series of big plays all night to eventually co-lead the team with 20 points. The last of those came with just 35 seconds remaining, as he calmly sank a three-pointer to give his team a lead, 82-81, which would never be lost.
Partizan were staying in the game by conjuring up plenty of magic moments of their own, including James Nunnally scoring 6 points in a row, P.J. Dozier rescuing a broken play and beating the shot-clock buzzer by 0.2 seconds, and Balsa Koprivica rising high to throw down an alley-oop.
But the last and most decisive crucial moments came from Awudu Abass, who firstly stayed cool to sink a pair of free throws for a 3-point lead with 9 seconds remaining. Then Abass authored one of the highlights of Virtus’s season, stealing the resulting inbound pass after a timeout and accelerating clear to detonate a game-clinching dunk.
There was still time for Marco Belinelli to make extra sure of the victory from the foul line after Kevin Punter’s improbable three-pointer gave Partizan some hope, before a breathless contest concluded with Virtus sealing a tenth straight home win.
Victorious coach Luca Banchi summarized perfectly as he said: “We’re talking about two talented teams with a lot of weapons in their arsenal,” he said.
"When you arrive in the clutch, individuals can make the difference. They have many clutch players...[cue pause for dramatic effect and a cheeky grin]...we have, too.”
And you can’t argue with that.