In a meeting of coaching masters as Pablo Laso welcomes Zeljko Obradovic, Bayern (2-5) is desperate to end a four-game losing slide as it takes on a Partizan (3-4) team that was boosted by last week's thrilling win over Fenerbahce.
Alen Smailagic, Partizan: 'We should go out on the court with more motivation than Bayern'
Seasons
3 Χρόνος Ανάγνωσης
Regular Season
Round 8 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Partizan leads the league in two-point shooting conversion (60.4%) and has youngster Tristan Vukcevic in great form since returning from injury, scoring 6 of his 7 field goal attempts in his two appearances. Bayern has the worst three-point shooting record in the competition, making just 27.5% of its attempts from beyond the arc, and will hope that shooters like Andreas Obst (6.1 ppg. on 26.3% 3FG) can rediscover their usual long-range accuracy.
Pablo Laso, Bayern head coach
"We knew that we would have a difficult November ahead of us, with many away games and twice with Belgrade fans who bring a lot of atmosphere to the arena. But for us, it is still a significant advantage to have our familiar environment. If we rebound better on both rims and lose the ball less, it would help us. Partizan has an aggressive team, but it is important for our process to gain confidence through victories. Bonga's groin problems are manageable, so his participation is not ruled out. Regarding Obst (foot), it is a bit more difficult, but I hope that Izzy is okay and Andi will be okay this week too."
Zeljko Obradovic, Partizan head coach
"We know the opponent well. They are a team that plays similar to Fenerbahce, with a lot of three-point shots and they are the best when it comes to offensive rebounding. Those are the things that are important for this game, to stop the three-point shot and to box out. They change the defense a lot, and they try to surprise us for sure. Personally, I think that after each timeout, they will change the defense."
Alen Smailagic, Partizan player
"We are coming off after a very heavy defeat in ABA League. We had two good training sessions, we tried to prepare as well as possible. We worked on their defense, on their offense, and we will try to go out on the court and play the best game we can. We should go out on the court with more motivation than Bayern."