February 09, 2012
Partizan shows promise in its American Tour '09 finale
Euroleague American Tour 2009 Aleksandar Maric - Partizan, Euroleague American Tour 2009 (Photo: Peter Anderson)Partizan Belgrade finished its participation in the Euroleague America '09 Tour on Tuesday night with a 111-80 defeat at the hands of the Phoenix Suns at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, USA. Although Partizan finishes the tour with a 2-2 record, having lost both games against NBA competition, head coach Dusko Vujosevic's men can hold their heads high. At the end of a lengthy road trip, Partizan, featuring seven players aged 22 or younger – including five newcomers – was Phoenix's equal for the first quarter and despite having a tough time in the second and third, bounced back for a strong fourth quarter.

"We played better than in Denver," Vujosevic said. "We were really good in the first quarter, but we didn't played at the same level in second quarter. Especially in the last two minutes when we let Phoenix to go from 11 to 21 points difference."

Jan Vesely led Partizan with 16 points, Aleksandar Maric added 14 points and 6 rebounds in just 16 minutes and Aleksandar Rasic contributed 12 points and 5 assists. Partizan's troubles came from turnovers (32), three-point shooting (the team was 0 for 12 aside from Rasic) and getting back on defense in transition (Phoenix scored 32 fast-break points to Partizan's 11).

"We made same mistakes as in the first game," Partizan captain Petar Bozic said. " And we didn't fight the way we are supposed to do. I won't say that in this case we would have won, but we should have played better. We had to many turnovers. Phoenix scored at least 15 very easy points after our mistakes. Now we have to see what was wrong and fix it before the season starts."

Phoenix head coach Alvin Gentry commented on Partizan that “there are a lot of good young players. Some of them are very interesting.” Former Union Olimpija playmaker Goran Dragic paced the winners with 16 points, Jason Richardson added 15 and Jared Dudley 14.

Aleksandar Rasic - Partizan, Euroleague American Tour 2009 (Photo: Peter Anderson)It was a promising start for the Serbian champs as Vesely banked home the game’s first points after just 2 seconds. Amare Stoudemire and Richardson helped Phoenix gain control and race to an 11-2 lead, but Vesely got going and kept Partizan in the picture. Rasic drilled a three-pointer and then dished to Strahinja Milosevic as Partizan took a 16-17 advantage. After Vesely stretched the lead with another basket, Dudley fired in a triple to give Phoenix a 20-19 edge at the end of the first quarter. The momentum remained with the hosts as Partizan tired and failed to make a field goal for nearly nine minutes in the second quarter. Grant Hill and Dragic led the way as Phoenix battled to a 55-34 halftime lead. Partizan found its feet in the third quarter, but by then Phoenix was coasting with Stoudemire, Dudley, Dragic and Leandro Barbosa taking turns at scoring. Maric had a strong fourth quarter and Rasic added two three-pointers as Partizan finished the game and its first-ever trip to America with some highlights.

In summation, Vujosevic explained "if the players that helped Partizan to so much success in recent seasons were here for this American Tour, we would have made better results against the Nuggets and Suns. But this is a great experience for our young players. Now they know what they have to do to reach the level to play against such athletes. The positive effects on the tour team will be seen not just after we get back home but also in the important moments of the season."

  • Phoenix Suns 111-80 Partizan: STATS | PHOTOS
    • Wednesday, October 07, 2009
    Euroleague.net
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