Partizan or Fenrbahce to end their losing streak?
Partizan Belgrade will host Fenerbahce Istanbul on Friday evening in the Belgrade Arena in a game that counts for Round 18 of the current EuroLeague season.
In the EuroLeague, every game matters and this motto is very true for this encounter as both teams are on a two-game losing streak and desperately need a victory to get back on the right track. After a bad season starts, the Serbian team came strong in December, beating Zalgiris and Panathinaikos in Belgrade. Then, Zeljko Obradovic’s team also won in Berlin in a close game against Alba. Last week however they suffered two defeats in the double week, against Lyon at home and Efes in Istanbul. With these defeats, the black-and-white team has a 7-10 record and is two wins behind a play-in place. To make things worse, Partizan also lost in the ABA League against rivals Crvena Zvezda on Monday.
Fenerbahce arrives in Belgrade after losing four out of their last five games in the EuroLeague. Even with this bad stretch of results, they are still in a good position, being just one win behind the first place held by Paris Basketball. The Turkish side could tie the team from the French capital, but the game between the two teams was suspended after Paris had several players missing due to injury or illness. The problem is that Fener lost both of their last two EuroLeague games by almost 30 points against Barcelona (63-90) and Monaco (69-99). Another defeat would start to complicate things for the yellow and blue teams as teams are very close in the standings. Coach Jasikevicius also has to deal with the injury of Wade Baldwin and they recently released center Boban Marjanovic.
Imre Halasz
Photo credit: EuroLeague
