Playoffs
Game 2
Playoffs
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Real MadridRMB
8095
Partizan Mozzart Bet BelgradePAR
playoffs c
Overview
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Partizan on the verge of reaching Final Foul after beating Real twice
Article
3 Mins read
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade took a huge step towards sealing a Final Four berth after winning back-to-back road games against Real Madrid this week, taking a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five Turkish Airlines playoff series. Having ground out an 87-89 Game 1 win on Tuesday, Partizan blew away Real 80-95 in Game 2 on Thursday, which ended prematurely.
The officials called it a night with 1:40 minutes left on the clock after a full-scale brawl erupted on the court. Following the chaos which involved more or less the entire rosters of both teams, the game could not continue as the ejections of players who took part in the chaos meant neither team could carry on.
After its dramatic Game 1 win, Partizan took Game 2 by the scruff of the neck from the offset and romped into a 21-31 lead in the first quarter, with Dante Exum coming off the bench to score 11 points in the opening 10 minutes.
Real, which was missing its towering center Walter Tavares who suffered a knee injury in Game 1, looked exposed in the paint and could not contain Partizan’s shooters who made a barrage of perimeter shots, while big men Mathias Lessort and Zach LeDay dominated the paint.
The visitors took a 37-51 lead into the locker room at halftime as their balanced roster kept firing on all cylinders, although Real had slashed the deficit to just 3 points (28-31) at one stage.
The hosts looked capable of turning the tide when they cut the gap to 5 points early in the third quarter after an 11-2 run (48-53), but Partizan pulled away again thanks to its long-range artillery, with Kevin Punter, James Nunnally and LeDay nailing clutch three-pointers to give the visitors a 62-75 lead at the end of the third quarter.
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Real was unable to close in and, with Partizan carving out a whopping 71-90 advantage late in the game, nothing suggested the game would suffer an ugly and premature ending. With the score 80-95 to Partizan, tensions boiled over as Punter and Sergio Llull squared off in the middle of the court, while Real’s Guerschon Yabusele clashed with Exum and the Partizan player appeared to have sustained a foot injury, having left WiZink Center in Madrid on crutches.
Game 3 is scheduled for Tuesday in the cauldron of Belgrade’s Stark Arena, where a full house of some 20,000 fans is certain to create a fervent atmosphere as 1992 EuroLeague champion Partizan aims to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2010.
A possible Game 4 is also set for Belrade next Thursday, and if the Real manages to even the series at 2-2 a decisive Game 5 will be played in Madrid on May 9.
