The Serbian team overcame a slow start to protect its home court and stay in the playoff picture.
Resilient Partizan turned the tide again to beat Zalgiris
Artículo
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 23 of 34
Regular Season
Partizan Mozzart Bet BelgradePAR
8172
Zalgiris KaunasZAL
Overview
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Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade boosted its hopes of making the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs after digging deep to earn an 81-72 home win over Zalgiris Kaunas, improving to 12-11 while the Lithuanian team slipped to 8-15.
Partizan stretched its home record to 9-2 after yet another impressive comeback, akin to those against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, in Belgrade’s Stark Arena.
Partizan fought back from huge deficits against Milan and more recently Maccabi to win both games in a fervent atmosphere. It was very much the same script against Zalgiris as the visitors raced into an early 4-15 lead on the back of fine shooting from Keenan Evans.
Partizan responded and then fought off Zalgiris
Roared on by a passionate home crowd, the hosts came storming back to lead 45-43 at halftime and 61-59 at the end of the third quarter before they finished off the visitors in the fourth.
A hectic game produced a barrage of turnovers and few assists at both ends. Partizan had 9 assists and 14 turnovers while Zalgiris dished 13 assists and committed 15 turnovers, testament to a physical battle from start to finish.
Ultimately, it was Partizan’s superb shooting from two-point territory (25-of-33) and a solid job from the foul line (19-of-23) which made the difference, coupled with the home side’s ironclad defense in the second half.
Player of the game Zach LeDay used an interesting analogy to describe Partizan’s frequent game plan of not overthinking things too much and just going with the flow. “We’re like a mustang with no saddle and when we play like that we can beat anybody,” LeDay said in a flash post-game interview after he racked up 21 points and 5 rebounds.
A great performance by Dozier
PJ Dozier also enjoyed a brilliant evening as he paced Partizan with a joint season high of 23 points, 15 of them in the first quarter when Zalgiris, powered by Evans who eventually amassed a game-high 25 points, threatened to pull away.
Dozier’s athleticism and soft touch was a telling factor as he roasted multiple Zalgiris players from mid-range, having also worked tirelessly at the other end to help Partizan’s defensive effort.
Dozier emphasized how important it was for Partizan to come out on top after losing at Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens in the previous round, as we head into the regular season’s home straight. “We have a tough stretch coming up, so we just wanted to get back to winning ways,” he commented. “It’s as if we like being in the hole and digging ourselves out, but the important thing is that we kept fighting.”
Head coach Zeljko Obradovic credited steely defense, with Partizan conceding just 48 points in the last three quarters after giving up 24 in the first. “We beat a good team,” stated Obradovic. “Andrea Trinchieri is doing a great job there, but we found a way to win in the second half. We got aggressive and contained their firepower.”
Visiting head coach Trinchieri stressed the glaring fact that Evans cut a lonesome figure on the offensive end for Zalgiris: “We needed somebody to step up and help Keenan Evans score, but it was a very tough game and we were not good enough to win tonight,” the Italian tactician reflected.