Red and White night, Red Star the Champion! After 17 years! (PHOTO) (VIDEO)
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A long, long time the supporters of the red and whites waited for this moment, more than a decade and a half that their team becomes the champion of his country and were welcomed to celebrate the 16th title in the club's history. Red Star received with triumph the triple crown having previously won the ABA league in home cup Radivoje Korac. This is the most successful season of the club in the XXI century, because with all this play and the Top 16 of the Euroleague.
The man who decided the game, and was the x-factor, is certainly Branko Lazic who shot for the red-and-whites at key moments when they caught connector ball from the black and whites, despite the bad shots they had. He successfully hit baskets when needed and the defense tightened in key minutes. In the end, he was the most efficient with 13 points, as much as Luka Mitrovic.
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Red Star, thanks to Williams and the excellent movement of Zirbes in defense opened the match, but Partizan had an answer in the personage of Milan Mačvan who from the start set out violently and motivated.
However, after several introductory minutes, the red and white were completely stopped by a shot from distance and had to sober some new solutions primarily to the balls of higher players. On the other hand, the black and whites skillfully used every bit of space that they received in the attack to get points.
Vujosevic noticed in the middle of the second quarter that the host can not manage a shot, especially beyond the line of 6.75 meters, because they had few successive failures and his team switched to defense zone that completely confused Radonjic's figureheads who did not respond to it.
During this period, the content Mačvan was joined by Mihajlo Andric, who with his speed, but also an accurate shot added a new dimension to the game of black and whites and good team defense crowned with successful scores. In this period, they were able to make a series of 9.1 and came to the first appreciable advantages in the game.
The players of the red and whites were completely outplayed and simply did not know where to go with the ball in the attack in those moments, and they were even more surprised when their opponents backed man to man defense. So it is no surprise that for the entire half they managed to throw only 28 points, which is below their averages, while Partizan players were close to their own level with 37 points.
The key man in this match Lazic with five consecutive points kept the Red star connection at the beginning of the second half, while Milutin was the one Partisan was attacking and who worked well with Marjanovic under both baskets and kept the lead until the end of the third quarter.
That's when Red Star tightened up their defense, and the trio managed to equal out the game. The controversial moment occurred at the end of the third quarter when Zirbes reached the basket, and a siren for timeout sounded. The judges assessed that the German managed a shot in time, while the slow motion showed something else, but the score was acknowledged.
It is in these moments, the match was decided eventhough it was far from finished. Many different chosen players of Dejan Radonjic had the change to play, and gained over Mitrovic and Zirbes a large 8-point lead three minutes before the end. In those moments it seemed they crushed opponents, but Sasha Pavlovic did not agree.
He scored a three and a deuce, five points and brought the black and whites back into the game, but then a confounding minute and a half followed, no others managed to reach the net. Eventually, Zirbes' points from the free throw 3 seconds before the end when he brought the elusive four-point lead for his team was the deciding factor, and also signaled the championship trophy.
Red Star - Partizan 58:54
Red Star: Williams 5, Rebic, Dangubić, Mitrovic 13, Lazic 13, Blažič 2, Kalinic 5, 6 Marjanovic, Tejić, Jenkins 5, Jovic, Cirbes 9.
Partizan: Pavlovic 6, Tepic 2, Marinkovic 1, Dalo, Milutinov 17, Milosavljevic 8, Mačvan 8, Đumić 3, Andric 9, Milutinovic, Glisic, Bezbradica.
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