From unbalanced to a two-way menace: an inside look at Partizan's recent form / News - Basketnews.com

After a difficult first part of the season, Partizan Belgrade has been one of the hottest teams in the EuroLeague in the last two months. Defensively, the Serbian squad has made a huge improvement, while offensively, they remain one of the most dangerous teams in the competition. We have decided to take a look at some of the recent numbers that made a big difference for Partizan.

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

Sometimes you need to receive a slap in your face before you can wake up and realize you need to do things differently. It's probably the type of wake-up call Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade went through in the last couple of months.

2-pointers this season

56%20,9Points made:20,9Accuracy:56,0%Place in standings:4Record max:27Record min:13Most made 2FGs:Mathias LessortTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

In their first season back at the EuroLeague level, the Serbian squad had a rough start. The team coached by legendary Zeljko Obradovic won only four of the first 13 EuroLeague games played in 2022-23. The team, although talented, look often unable to keep a certain defensive consistency.

The last two losses suffered in December -- against Crvena Zvezda and ASVEL -- served as a final warning for coach Obradovic and his players. Something needed to change.

Expecting a complex start to the season from Partizan Belgrade was actually also quite natural. This remains a team with a fairly young average age and is in its first season at the highest level in Europe.

That there could be difficulties was quite normal. But when your coach is Zeljko Obradovic and your team is a historical club like Partizan, expectations will always be very high, regardless of the circumstances. Until Round 13, which coincided with a loss to ASVEL, Partizan's main problem was quite clear. Obradovic's men had by far the worst defensive rating in the entire competition, 121.9 points per 100 possessions.

The Serbian club was conceding an average of 87.3 points per game. In four different circumstances, Partizan had allowed 100 or more points to their opponents.

The offense was working, with the Serbian team being third in offensive rating (119.0 points per 100 possessions), but the inability to limit their opponents defensively was too evident and too much of an issue to be a serious contender for a playoff spot.

Dante Exum

MIN:22.88PTS:13.26 (66.32%)REB:2.26As:2.52ST:0.65BL:0.17TO:1.96GM:23ProfileEuroLeague2022/2023

However, after December's defeat vs. ASVEL, Partizan went on a positive run that completely changed their season.

The Serbian powerhouse has a record of nine wins and only two losses in the last 11 games and now they found themselves in the midst of the playoff picture with a total record of 13 wins and 11 losses. It's something that wasn't easy to imagine just a couple of months ago.

While Partizan's offense has remained absolutely elite during this period, the team has the best three-point percentage (42.0%), the best field goal percentage (51.0%), and the best offensive rating (123.5 points per 100 possessions), it's on the defensive end where Zeljko Obradovic's side has made the biggest improvement.

When we look at the last 11 EuroLeague games, the change of pace defensively has been evident.

Partizan has allowed an average of only 76.9 points per game during this stretch, a huge improvement compared to the 87.3 points per match that the team had allowed in the first 13 games.

It's not a coincidence that the only two defeats that Partizan faced in this period were against Valencia and Maccabi Tel Aviv, two games in which Partizan allowed an average of almost 90 points.

During the great path, the Serbian club went from being the worst defensive rating in the competition to the fifth overall (112.8 points per 100 possessions), showing how much they turned around the situation in that regard.

Although Partizan continues to be the team that captures the fewest rebounds in the entire EuroLeague, things have improved greatly on the perimeter, where the team has begun to be much more solid defensively.

The contributions of Dante Exum, James Nunnally, and Kevin Punter have been increasingly important in this respect. But the work brought forth by Zach LeDay should not be underestimated either.

Former Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum should be highlighted here. The Aussie, who made his European debut with Barcelona last season, has become a key element in coach Zeljko Obradovic's system.

In the last 11 games, Exum is traveling at an average of 14.7 points per game and is shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point range over the course of the season.

Compared to his time in Barca, Exum has much more of the ball in his hands under Obradovic. Despite being a forward on paper, the Australian player is the de facto point-guard of the team, with players like Aleksa Avramovic and Yam Madar playing more of a secondary playmaking role.

Exum's combination of size, athleticism, and basketball IQ made him also an extremely effective player on the defensive end, where he's having a really important impact for the Serbian team. Exum has embraced the responsibilities that coach Obradovic gave him and is thriving under him.

"I like that I have the opportunity to make the decisions on the court, I read the game and see where we have the advantage," Exum said in a recent interview with Mozzart Sport. "I can help in many ways, sometimes I play on the wing, without the ball and I try to help in that way too. I can adapt well and the coach uses that ability of mine in every game."

But despite the huge contribution coming from Exum, what makes Partizan such a difficult team to deal with is the fact that pretty much every night can be a different protagonist, as Mathias Lessort noted in a recent interview with our Donatas Urbonas.

"Everybody is focused, we have a lot of people who can contribute, I think that's our strength," Lessort said. "We don't rely on one or two players, we're a team where the threat can come from everybody. The threat is the team itself and that's our main strength."

If there was one coach who could turn the difficult situation around at the beginning of the season, it was certainly Zeljko Obradovic.

The Serbian maestro is proving once again how much a coach of his caliber can make a difference at this level.

In the past two months, he has been able to transform a severely unbalanced team into one of the best two-way forces in the competition.

If this trend continues, Partizan will have all the necessary tools to fight for a playoff spot until the very end.

The fans have definitely bought in and twisted every single home game into a show, with their support and the defensive improvements that we have witnessed in the last couple of months, Partizan will be a must-watch team until the end of the 2022-23 season.

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