Real, Partizan recall a bittersweet playoff series

Round 16 on Thursday delivers the first rematch between two teams who staged one of the most memorable playoff series in EuroLeague history.

The best-of-five playoff series between Real Madrid and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade last season was unforgettable for many reasons, both good and bad.

Of course, Real not only became the first team ever to overcome a 0-2 series deficit, but it also took that momentum to win the club's 11th EuroLeague crown later last spring.

The series had already drawn attention for regrettable reasons, however, starting with an unprecedented on-court altercation that stopped Game 2 with 1:40 to play and left several players suspended for the next game or more.

"We started to think we cannot finish with this bad image," Chus Mateo, Real's head coach, recalled. "We tried to think [within] four sides of the court, and just to think to play basketball."

Partizan had taken home a 2-0 series lead from Madrid, but its momentum was halted.

"There is a lot of different emotions about it," Partizan guard and team captain Kevin Punter, who was suspended two games for his role in the altercation, remembered. "Sometimes, I replay it my mind."

Sadder still, on the morning after Game 3 in Belgrade, the Serbian capital was convulsed by a school shooting tragedy that completely changed the tenor of the Game 4 there as fans honored the victims with a shower of flowers on the court and observed complete silence during the first half.

Partizan could not overcome the emotions and Real evened the series 2-2.

"This is my 13th or 14th season in the EuroLeague," veteran guard Sergio Rodriguez of Real said, looking back, "but I never experience something like what we experienced" in Belgrade.

In Game 5, again Partizan seemed in control, leading by 18 points in the third quarter, only to see Los Blancos rally anew.

"They pulled out Rudy, Sergio and Chacho, and they played amazing," Partizan's Aleksa Avramovic recalled. "That's the character of the champion."

Real overcame the deficit and went on to register a 98-94 victory to secure its place at the Final Four.

"They deserved it. We didn't deserve it," Avramovic concluded. "They deserved it and they won."