Crvena Zvezda center played in a game for the first time since March of last year
Joel Bolomboy makes injury return after 10-month absence
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Joel Bolomboy has made his official return to playing basketball on Saturday night. Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade center played 8 minutes and 34 seconds in team’s ABA League 77-90 road win over Zadar. He had 4 rebounds, including 3 on the offensive glass, and a block, while going scoreless missing his only field goal attempt.
The long-awaited return for Bolomboy, who suffered a Lisfranc injury on March 13 last season, is a huge boost for Crvena Zvezda for the second part of the EuroLeague season.
Before going down with an injury, the veteran center was arguably Zvezda’s best player last season, his seventh in the competition as he posted 10.3 points and a EuroLeague-best 8.3 rebounds. However, as he did not play more than 50% of the games last season, he did not qualify for the rebounding title.
Zvezda made its EuroLeague postseason return last season as a 10th-placed team, but lost in the first round of the Play-In Showdown in overtime against FC Bayern Munich.
But it had to do without Bolomboy, as it did the first 22 games this season while the injuries piled up. Zvezda’s frontline not only missed Bolomboy, but also newly signed Jasiel Rivero since the season opener, as well as rookie Ibuka Izundu for parts of the season.
It means coach Sasa Obradovic had to rely on veteran Donatas Motiejunas, and also playing forward Semi Ojeley as a ‘five’.
It will surely take Bolomboy a bit of time to get into game shape, but the 2019 EuroLeague champion with CSKA Moscow gives a significant boost to Zvezda’s frontcourt as the team sits at 12-10 record going into the double-round week in which it travels to face AS Monaco and Virtus Bologna.