Zeljko Obradovic on Uros Trifunovic incident: 'He was terribly wrong' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: ABA League j.t.d/Dragana Stjepanovic Credit ABA League j.t.d/Dragana Stjepanovic

Partizan NIS Belgrade dominated against Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade in Game 4 of the ABA League final series, outscoring their opponents by 28 points and bringing the series to a decisive Game 5.

Uros Trifunovic

MIN:18.07PTS:5.15 (46.48%)REB:2.08As:0.77ST:0.08BL:0.08TO:0.38GM:13ProfileEuroCup2021/2022

After the ABA League imposed serious sanctions on the Partizan team following the incidents in Game 3, much of the talk after the game was once again not about the match itself.

After hitting a corner three with just under five minutes left in the 4th quarter, Partizan's Uros Trifunovic expressively gestured towards the Crvena Zvezda bench. After receiving an almost immediate response, a scuffle broke out with most of the players and coaching staff being active in the altercation.

"Trifunovic was terribly wrong because he reacted the way he reacted, regardless of whether he was provoked or not," Partizan's head coach Zeljko Obradovic explained after the game. "The moment it happened, I approached Dejan Radonjic and apologized. After the game, I told Zagorec and Trifunovic to go to Crvena Zvezda's locker room and send a sincere apology. The Zvezda players accepted it."

The Trifunovic incident was the main point for Crvena Zvezda's coach Dejan Radonjic after the match as well.

"Nobody is happy if we have a situation where the opposing player behaves the way he does," he told the media. "I would not like that detail to lead the game in the wrong direction. None of us behaved badly towards the rival in these four games."

"I will use the opportunity to invite our fans to support us on Monday, to beat the eternal rival. To be loud and correct," Radonjic used his chance. "Fans, don't watch the behavior of the opposing player, but encourage us and help us do something."

Talking about the game itself, Obradovic downplayed the easy Game 4 win at first.

Uros Trifunovic

Team:Partizan BelgradePosition:SF, SGAge:21Height:200 cmWeight:88 kgBirth place:SerbiaProfileNewsStatistics

"The most important thing is that it is 2-2. In the playoffs, it is not important what difference you win, but to win and move on. We deserved to come back and play the fifth, decisive game," the coach said.

"Everything I said after the last two games remains - dedication at the top level, the response to Zvezda's early wins is excellent," the legendary specialist continued. "I really want to congratulate the players on an extremely good game. I hope we will be able to gather enough energy, desire, and morale to play a good game on Monday."

Partizan scored a whopping 68 points in the first half. With Zvezda being touted as one of the best defenses in European basketball, it was shocking to see Obradovic's team score with such ease. Partizan missed only 8 shots in the first 20 minutes.

"I sincerely congratulated the players at halftime. They were extremely concentrated and spent a lot of energy on defense, but we were also exceptional on offense, above all smart, we knew where to attack," Zeljko explained.

"The game will be demanding, it's a matter of psychology, desire, workload. We will try to do everything we can, I know that Crvena Zvezda will too," the coach continued. "I hope that after the fifth game we will only talk about basketball."

The all-deciding Game 5 of the final series is scheduled for Monday at 20:00 CET.

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