Sasa Obradovic weighs in on Partizan's series, names Monaco's advantage over Olympiacos / News - Basketnews.com

Sasa Obradovic admitted his surprise over Partizan missing out on the Final Four. The Serbian coach referred to Monaco's historic qualification for EuroLeague's main event and commented on the upcoming duel with Olympiacos.

Credit: Valery HACHE/AFP Credit Valery HACHE/AFP

Last Wednesday night at around 10 p.m., Serbia could have had two coaches in the EuroLeague Final Four in Kaunas.

Player of the Game EFF 24 Jordan Loyd Points 21 Accuracy 4-7 Rebounds 2 Assists 1

Zeljko Obradovic with Partizan Mozzart Bet was close, since his team had a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter of Game 5 against Real Madrid.

At the same time in Monaco, Sasa Obradovic was doused with beer following AS Monaco's historic qualification for the Final Four. He took Monaco to the final tournament for the first time.

While Sasa's celebration was going on, Real made a huge comeback from -18 in Madrid and Serbia was left with only one Obradovic in the final tournament of the elite basketball competition.

"I am convinced that in the future there will be two of them in the Final Four", Sasa Obradovic told Mozzart Sport.

"I was so focused on my games that I really couldn't follow the rest in detail, but I just find it surprising that Partizan did not qualify for F4. Everything was in their hands."

The topic of discussion, however, was not the match in Madrid, but the one in Monte Carlo where the historic success was celebrated.

"I don't know how we did it, but I know we did it," Sasa Obradovic continued with laughter.

Few expected Monaco to be among the top four teams in Europe alongside Olympiacos, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

"With so many irrational things going on this year, we are where we are. It's really an honor to be part of this club, it's an honor to coach these guys and we've really done something big, but as I told everyone in the locker room, we have two more games."

The next opponent is Olympiacos Piraeus, who finished the regular season first in the table, but they had to struggle hard before knocking out Fenerbahce.

Points this season

46%82,9Points made:82,9Accuracy:46,3%Place in standings:7Record max:102Record min:63Best scorer:Mike JamesTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

"Now it's all about one game, the chances are always 50-50. I dare to say that we may be individually better than them, with all due respect to [Kostas] Sloukas and others. Olympiacos play an outstanding team basketball and that is why they are among the top four teams, always playing for each other."

Monaco reached their goal by adding more quality to their roster last summer, whilst keeping a core of players that included Mike James, Donatas Motiejunas, Donta Hall and Alpha Diallo.

"Obviously we are an indicator that there are different paths to a goal. I know that my team sometimes looks like it doesn't play like one, but people also like to watch it. In the end, we justified the investment of people in this whole project. We'll see if it can be crowned with a title. We have a great job ahead of us, even though we have done something beautiful and commendable," the 54-year-old coach continued.

Quite often, rumors about the relationship between Sasa Obradovic and the team's star Mike James would surface, but the two of them managed to do what they had set out to achieve with the help of several other players.

"Great players make great coaches," Obradovic --an important player himself-- said.

"These boys were the ones who deserved it the most. I'm often asked to comment on it, but I really don't like it. Jordan [Loyd], for example, showed on the court what kind of mentality he has, that he wants to win and play beyond the limit of pain, and he is a guy who did not practice because of injury.

These things affect the team, and I'm proud of him and everyone else because it's not easy to please everyone. There's ego, there's everything. I say again, I don't know how we did this, but I know we did. Only I know how hard it was".

Sasa Obradovic is now entering the elite group of Serbian coaches who were part of the final tournaments of the EuroLeague during their careers, like Dusan Ivkovic, Svetislav Pesic, Zeljko Obradovic, and Bozidar Maljkovic.

"It is a great honor for me to be mentioned next to them, to be compared to such coaching sizes. There's a symbolism with Boza Maljkovic, who put his stamp in France with Limoges.

I am very sorry that there will not be two Obradovics in Kaunas, but as I said at the beginning of the conversation, I am convinced that both will make the Final Four very soon," concluded Sasa Obradovic.

Thank you for reading us! Help us even more.