Partizan has finally woken up in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. Partizan has three straight wins. They are looking to prolong the winning streak when Panathinaikos are visiting Belgrade in an anticipated clash in the Euroleague.
Since Partizan joined the Euroleague and the hired the nine time Euroleague winner, Zeljko Obradovic, as their head coach they have been a breath of fresh air in the top tier in European basketball. Obradovic is most successful coach ever in Europe. His dream is to win his 10th Euroleague title with the club in his heart. Obradovic won his first with Partizan.
The season started out badly for them and at one point they had a record of two wins and eight losses. They lost two key players in the off season in Kevin Punter and Zach LeDay. Since Partizan lost to Milano on November 15th they have beaten Crvena Zvezda in the Belgrade derby (89-77), Olympiacos (78-70) and Zalgiris (84-78). Partizan is playing well in the domestic league with nine straight wins. Partizan currently sit at the 14th spot in the standings with a record of five wins and eight losses.
The reigning Euroleague Champions Panathinaikos are a stacked team with the likes of Mathias Lessort, Kostas Sloukas, Kendrick Nunn and Cedi Osman to name a few. The Turkish Head Coach Ergin Ataman has probably the strongest roster in Europe at his disposal. Panathinaikos have a record of eight wins and five losses and sit at the 4th position in the standings. Panathinaikos are ruthless in the Greek domestic league with eight wins out of eight possible.
Panathinaikos defeated Barcelona 90-89 in their prior Euroleague game. They had two straight losses before that against Monaco (88-91) and Zalgiris (77-84). In their last six games in the Euroleague Panathinaikos are 3-3. Lessort will be extra important to night. It is always emotional for him to come back to Partizan where he has played and was much appreciated by the Partizan fans. Lessort also has to stop Partizan’s dangerous center, Tyrique Jones.
