Again, something extraordinary

May 25, 2012

This is my sixth year in Partizan. During that period, I have accomplished almost all the dreams that a profesional basketball player can have. I've learned basketball, played in a lot of finals, won trophies, and been cheered by one the best crowds that you can imagine.

During these six years, many players were part of Partizan. I watched young players grow, improve themselves, become better and, when the time came, leave the club. I very often get the chance now to play against those same players, my ex-teammates. When that happens, during those 40 minutes on the court, it's all about professionalism, while emotions are something that needs to be put aside. After the game, however, everything goes back to the way it was. We are all proud of them, because they represent their new clubs in the best way, with the quality and behavior they learned mostly from their time at Partizan.

Even if this team is known for developing young players, even if for budget reasons Partizan needs to change its roster each year, that does not mean that we don't get results. And all the credit for that consistent performance despite the odds goes to the work ethic and values of our head coach, Dusko Vujosevic.

This season, a lot of new players came to our club. As usual, they had to deal with the expectations that they fit in very fast and take important roles in our game. At the beginning of the season, the public in Serbia put a question mark above the results that Partizan would make this season, in all competitions, but especially in the Euroleague. It takes time for everything, to put everything where it should to be. After bad start to the season, our new team started to show quality and results. And once again, the basketball public in Serbia and in Europe was amazed.

On our home court, Pionir Arena, we defeated Olympiacos, Efes, Orleans and for sure, the crucial moment was our game with Lietuvos Rytas, when we needed win by a big difference to make the Top 16. We did it, and we turned a corner that night. In our new, Top 16 group, we faced both the defending European champions, Panathinaikos, and a team that was unbeatable at that time, Barcelona. Again, our hopes and wishes were stronger than expectations and predictions. After we beat Panathinaikos on the road to start the Top 16, unbeatable Barcelona came to Pionir. The crowd exploded all night, and though the last seconds of the game needed to be reviewed, the result was – victory! One more moment I need to mention was after our re-match with Panathinaikos in Belgrade. Even if we lost by a lot, our fans were singing and supporting us, in a magnificent atmosphere, even one-half hour after the final buzzer. Even though we didn't take our chance to qualify that night to the Playoffs.

But still we succeeded. We can say that entering the Playoffs, although we did so the previous two years, is again something extraordinary for this team, this year. But of course, we won't stop now. We will give maximum of our energy in this race to Paris and the 2010 Final Four. That is our dream. Even while we are aware of the fact that road is very, very hard, we believe that with our enthusiasm, hard work, devotion - not to mention the skills of our coach and selfless support of our great fans - we have a chance.

POSTED BY

PETAR BOZIC - BELGRADE, SERBIA

DATE:

Monday, March 22, 2010