February 07, 2012
Partizan loses American Tour '09 opener
Euroleague American Tour 2009 Aleksander Rasic - Partizan - Euroleague American Tour 2009, vs. Denver Nuggets (Photo, Peter Anderson)The chance to get its young players some valuable experience proved to be the only consolation on Sunday morning as Partizan Belgrade lost its Euroleague American Tour '09 opening game by 102-70 against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center in Colorado, USA. Partizan's first-ever game in North America or against any NBA team was played on the 64th anniversary of the club's founding in Belgrade. It was also the only NBA preseason game of the night. Some fans of Partizan in the stands brought a little bit of Pionir Arena-spirit to the mile-high city, but the Serbian champs could not convert that to serious competitiveness beyond the first quarter-and-a-half.

Two prior exhibition-game warm-up victories over a regional all-star team were just a memory for Partizan shortly after Sunday's game started against an NBA semifinalist from last season. Denver raced ahead 14-1 and, although Partizan responded with its own 12-15 run, the hosts never were in danger and amassed leads as high as 36 points later in the game. Partizan was hurt mainly by turnovers and poor shooting throughout the course of the game. The visitors attempted 13 three-point shots in the first half and missed them all, contributing greatly to a 50-33 Denver lead at the break. Partizan's cold shooting contined through the third quarter, when Denver extended the lead to 27 points. By the time Partizan started making some outside shots, finishing 5 for 27 on the night from behind the arc, the outcome was long decided.

Zarko Rakocevic - Partizan - Euroleague American Tour 2009, vs. Denver Nuggets (Photo, Peter Anderson)What showed Partizan's inexperience most, though, was the 40 turnovers listed in the boxscore. "It seems like they have a lot of young kids," Denver coach George Karl said after. "I didn't check the ages of the opposing players, but some of them looks like they are in high school."

Partizan coach Dusko Vujosevic was well aware that his younger players were going to have it tough. "We have a unique opportunity to play these kind of games," he said. "It is not important if we lose by 15 points with older guys on the court or by 20 with young kids who will have a great expirience. I chose to lose with kids because I think this is a big investment."

Olympic gold medalist Carmelo Anthony scored 17 points to lead Denver, while Arron Afflalo added 15. The bright spot for Partizan was new center Alex Maric, who pulled down an impressive 21 rebounds to go with 16 points in 33 minutes. Aleksander Rasic added 11 points for the visitors.

"On the one side, we had a new, young Partizan team that started the game very tight, and on the other one of the best teams in the world," Partizan captain Petar Bozic said.

Partizan continues its tour with a second and final game over Tuesday night against the Phoenix Suns in Arizona.

  • Denver Nuggets 102-70 Partizan: STATS | PHOTOS
    • Sunday, October 04, 2009
    Predrag Sarić, Sportski žurnal Belgrade, in Denver
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