The Partizan American Tour came and went largely without occasion, but in their eyes-and mine-the trip was far more successful than the 30-point losses against the Nuggets and Suns would indicate. After losing four players (Velickovic, Tripkovic, Tepic, and Lasme) who accounted for 63% of Partizan’s scoring in 2009, they’ve regrouped and will use seven players still shy of their 22nd birthday to go after a ninth straight Serbian title. Once again, Coach Dusko Vujosevic will need to work magic with the youngest team in the Euroleague. In my article for SLAM, I explain why there’s nobody more amply equipped to lead a youth movement than Coach Dusko. Here’s an excerpt:
As the game clock raced backward to zero, Partizan’s Strahinja Milosevic rose up and guided the ball upward off of his finger tips and toward the rim. The red lights illuminated the backboard’s edges as the shot found its intended target, testing the outer limits of the term “improvement” as it rattled in. Final buzzer. Phoenix Suns: 111. Partizan Belgrade: 80.
Not good. But not bad, either. With their 32-point loss to Denver in the rearview, a 31-point loss in the desert suddenly feels a bit more humane. After all, losing by a wider margin would be a step backwards for the Serbian team, and Head Coach Dusko Vujosevic has never been one for regression…
32-point loss against Denver; 31-point loss tonight against Phoenix. With that kind of improvement, Partizan’s only 31 more games away from walking away with a victory on US soil. If you had watched both games without scoreboards, however, you wouldn’t have guessed that Tuesday’s performance yielded a result anything close to the massacre in Denver. 39 turnovers became 34, 28% shooting bloomed to a much more respectable 41.3%, 13 out of 14 players got on the board, and Jan Vesely made people forget about his “disaster game in Denver”, as he put it, with a complete effort that made the trip worth it for the 12 or 13 scouts in attendance (a final line 16 and 5 with a few terrific hustle plays). Below are the highlights, and I’ll post a link to my SLAM article right when they publish it. Thanks again to all those who followed the action via Euro_Adventures on Twitter. I had fun with it, and I’ll see all my Olympiacos fans in Cleveland.
Here I sit in beautiful US Airways Arena, ready to get underway. A few notes before we get started. Remember, since the kind folks at the various media outlets around the world forgot there was a basketball game tonight, I’ll be posting updates on Twitter at Euro_Adventures. Click here to follow, or you can follow it here on the site on the upper left hand corner underneath the pretty blue bird. Now, to the game:
Serbia got off to a great start before the clock even started with a lovely performance by the children to the right. Don’t know what the dance is called, but I’m a fan.
2-time MVP Steve Nash will not be playing due to a chest cold
0-time MVP (and twin brother of the Nets’ Brook) Robin Lopez will not play with a broken metatarsal in his left foot, and everybody knows that’s the worst metatarsal to break.
ESPN.com’s Marc Stein is sitting to my right. Pretty cool. Not important, but pretty cool.
The three replacement referees are JT Orr, Brian Shelley, Riel Banaria. No word yet on if they’ve ever refereed/ever seen a basketball game.
Partizan starting lineup: Aleksander Rasic, Dusan Kecman, Zarko Rakocevic, Jan Vesely, Aleksander Maric
Suns starting lineup:Goran Dragic, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, Amare Stoudemire, Channing Frye
Here are some video highlights from tonight’s game. I’ll be posting an article on this shortly, but for now I’ll just let you take a look and listen. The Zarko alley-oop was one of the few bright spots on a poor night of shooting for the Belgrade Boys, but it sure was some kind of bright spot. Afterward, he didn’t really want to talk about his personal performance (10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists), but when I told him I knew he’d go watch the replay of this oop, he laughed and admitted he probably would. As will I, Zarko, as will I.
Thanks again for all of the Serbians and Partizan fans who followed the action via my Twitter play-by-play. It was tons of fun for me and I’ll be doing it again October 6 in Phoenix.
The FreaknItinerary is in for the Euroleague American Tour 2009, and the results are in. First stop: Denver. Next up: Phoenix. Will “Birdman” Chris Andersen be too much for Jan Vesely in the post in Denver? Will the scouts care? Will Louis Amundson and Robin Lopez be as tall as Slavko Vranes if you include their hair? Why can’t Slam and Freaknick stop talking about Robert Traylor? And what will Slam and Freaknick do without each other for a week? Probably be far more productive citizens. Anyways, have a listen.
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