The home team almost threw away its victory after the French side had turned the tide with late 0-22 rally
Lady luck smiles on Partizan in a heart-stopping win over Monaco
Izveštaji utakmica
3 Min čitanja
Regular Season
Round 10 of 38
Regular Season
Partizan Mozzart Bet BelgradePAR
7876
AS MonacoASM
Overview
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One could not make up a more thrilling climax to what looked like a lop-sided basketball game after Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade snatched a 78-76 home win over AS Monaco from the jaws of defeat after throwing away a 20-point fourth quarter lead.
The contest seemed to be heading for a dull finish with Partizan ahead 74-54 ahead early in the fourth, having hit a barrage of three-pointers for fun as they ran the visitors ragged for three quarters in front of a raucous 20,000 home crowd.
Monaco looked down and out for the count, as the visiting team’s body language suggested it had thrown in the towel. Suddenly, Partizan’s offense was ground to a screeching halt as the hosts committed a flurry of turnovers while the French outfit kept hitting nothing but net at the other end, slashing the home team’s lead to bits.
Then the unthinkable happened. Monaco completed a 0-22 run, which turned the game on its head, silencing the home crowd as the visitors nosed ahead 74-76 in the home straight. The festive atmosphere inside Belgrade Arena gave way to utter shock and disbelief with 2 minutes left on the game clock.
And then the final twist, as Partizan scored the last 4 points of a heart-stopping rollercoaster and sent the bewildered crowd into a frenzy after treating them to an ice-cold shower.
“We just couldn’t find the bucket in the fourth quarter and that’s something we’ve been struggling with,’ said Duane Washington, who paced Partizan on a game-high 22 points, including 11 of his team’s opening 15 in the first quarter. “Today we got lucky in the end, but that’s still not good enough on our part, we’ve got to finish games a lot better than that,” Washington added in his postgame comments.
Washington’s effort was complemented by that of Aleksej Pokusevski, who came up with his best display of the season as he racked up 17 points and 7 boards. Sterling Brown and Nick Calathes added 10 apiece, the latter producing his most mature performance since he joined Partizan from Monaco a fortnight ago.
“Our fourth quarter meltdown was unacceptable and we’ll have to look at the video to ascertain how it came about,” said Pokusevski. “We played very well tonight and stuck to the game plan until that late collapse, but fortunately we showed character and composure in the last 2 minutes to grind out the win,” he added.
Partizan head coach Zeljko Obradovic seemed less distraught, having gone through the grinder a fair few times during his illustrious 35-year long career on the sidelines, during which he's won a record nine EuroLeague titles with five different clubs.
“I keep saying that focus is the most important thing and whereas we have some creative players on our roster, they become ineffective when they tire,” said the 65-year-old tactician. “The fourth quarter was just ridiculous, but lady luck smiled on us after we found ourselves on the receiving end a few times this term. We committed far too many turnovers in the home stretch, but it’s part and parcel of the game and we just have to keep working hard to eradicate the errors.”
Obradovic referred to Partizan’s heartbreaking home defeat by FC Barcelona in Round 8, when Will Clyburn’s 3-pointer from way downtown gave the Catalan side a 76-78 win after the visitors trailed for the lion’s share of the contest. Having tamely lost the Round 9 fixture at Olympiacos Piraeus, Partizan headed into the Monaco clash hard-pressed to snap a four-game losing streak and the Serbian side nearly cracked under the most intense pressure.
Monaco, which was paced by Nikola Mirotic on 17 points while Mike James and Alpha Diallo added 13 apiece, missed a chance to make it four wins in a row, as the unlikely late opportunity that presented itself in the home stretch vanished in thin air over the last 2 minutes.
“For 30 minutes, we just weren’t on the court, but for 10 minutes we played really well and I am proud of my players for staging the fightback,” said Monaco head coach Vassilis Spanoulis. “We missed some shots in the end but we showed character and we’ll move on to continue playing good basketball.”
