Zeljko Obradovic slams Serbian authorities over fan behavior / News - Basketnews.com

Zeljko Obradovic once again appealed to Serbian authorities and local journalists, citing unacceptable fan behavior as only prevalent in the domestic games.

Credit: Partizan Mozzart Bet/Dragana Stjepanovic Credit Partizan Mozzart Bet/Dragana Stjepanovic

In what was an epic fight among the hottest rivals in European basketball, Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade suffered a defeat against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade in the Radivoj Korac Cup last night.

Points this season

50%84,3Points made:84,3Accuracy:49,9%Place in standings:3Record max:100Record min:58Best scorer:Kevin PunterTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

The game had to be stopped multiple times due to fans misbehaving and throwing things onto the court. Branko Lazic and Danilo Andjusic had to publicly calm their respective fans down using the announcer's microphone.

When things got out of hand, the game's referees left the court and the game was stopped for approximately half an hour.

Talking about it after the game, Partizan's head coach Zeljko Obradovic publicly slammed the local authorities.

"I have nothing to add. My position has been known since day one, why some other people don't come forward and don't want to talk about it, I don't know," Zeljko started off the post-game presser. "I will always respond if someone is called names. I have been and will be against it. I don't think it's a problem that can be solved by one coach or players. The pen is in your hands, do you write about it?"

"Why do we have problems when the competition is in our country and not in the EuroLeague? We always behave the same, it is solved on other levels, [and] neither I nor the players, nor anyone else can solve it. You have to write about who is heating up the atmosphere. You know that very well," Obradovic appealed to the journalists in the press conference. "Don't pretend like we're whistling and don't know what we're talking about. It is very well known."

It is worth noting that, as Obradovic said, his stance has remained the same throughout the season. When BasketNews asked the coach about the atmosphere in the first-ever eternal derby in the EuroLeague back on December 8th, Zeljko was critical of the local authorities as well and commended the fans and the organization for keeping it without any incidents.

This was the fourth match between the teams this year. The first battle in the ABA League in late November had to be suspended as well. Notably, the two latter bouts in the EuroLeague went incident-free.

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