PREVIEW PARTIZAN MOZZART BET BELGRADE-VIRTUS SEGAFREDO BOLOGNA
The championship match against Tortona has been postponed to a later date due to bad weather disasters Virtus returns to the Euroleague in the advance of the 5th round, stopping in Belgrade, Partizan side. Obradovic‘s revamped team has had an up-and-down trend so far, 2 defeats at the start, both in Spain, followed by 2 victories in Belgrade (Maccabi plays its home matches there). Internal balances still to be defined in a very long roster but so far rotation not pushed. Among the wingers, the former Lundberg stands out, not the killer seen in Bologna but with a substantial contribution in a large department that includes the South Sudanese international Carlik Jones, the former NBA Ntilikina (currently with 64% from 3) and last come Washington has not yet taken the field. The former Alba Sterling Brown is in excellent evidence, Bonga’s contribution is fundamental while the great return of Marinkovic has not yet produced much. The former Bourg En Bresse Mike, a possible added danger, only returned to the ABA League on Sunday (where Partizan went 5-0, 1st place alone). Among the big men, Davies plays further and further from the basket while Tyrique Jones still doesn’t make that loud voice that would be useful for rebounding. The indigenous band is more marginal than in the past, excluding Marinovic a few minutes for the various Pokusevski, Koprivika and Nakic, we are far from the golden times in which young people were varied and absolute protagonists. Partizan is by far the worst in the competition in rebounding, 5 per evening less than Segafredo. The assists were good despite not having any turnovers, the physicality of the wingers forces many balls thrown, there is no comparison with the Bianconeri. Slightly better at shooting but not excessive in possessions, paying the price for those missing rebounds, to all these cold numbers he will however be able to add the very numerous and warm support of over 20,000. A factor that in itself does not necessarily make the difference, last season Segafredo achieved a prestigious away victory right here on 28/12, on the evening in which Cacok broke down, still in the pits. For the Black Vs, an away match would not only be essential to clear the 0 mark, but would serve to boost morale for a group that doesn’t find that little bit needed to complete a single match, beyond spacing, defense and so on. It remains to be seen whether Pajola (the most active so far) will be able to join the ranks and if so how he will be able to play, but a step forward is expected by everyone, players and staff, primarily Žižić who refused the move to Besiktas, so as not to find themselves out of contention in the first month of the Euroleague.
