Partizan's big men joined forces to stun Efes
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade stunned Anadolu Efes Istanbul, the two-time reigning champion, on Thursday night at a packed Sinan Erdem Sports Hall. The visitors turned a 17-point first-quarter deficit into a 13-point, 84-97 win, and they did it with a pair of players who have rarely, if ever, appeared on the floor together this season.
In the penultimate minute of the third quarter, Partizan head coach Zeljko Obradovic briefly put the team's only two centers, Mathias Lessort and Alen Smailagic, together on the floor. It lasted for all of 42 seconds, before Zach LeDay returned after a brief break.
Up to that point, LeDay had been Partizan's best player, with 16 points to his tally after playing 29 minutes through the first three quarters. However, at the start of the fourth, Obradovic went back to his idea of playing with his two biggest players, pairing Lessort and Smailagic together.
The two centers, who have spent this entire season subbing for one another, this time did a tremendous job playing together, especially defensively.
Partizan opened the quarter with an 8-24 spurt, capped by a 0-16 run, and during that span the big men duo allowed just one magnificent three-point play by Vasilije Micic in a heavy traffic and a low-post basket by Elijah Bryant.
Smailagic delivered 2 blocks, and his presence allowed Lessort to do his usual damage on the offensive end, with the Frenchman scoring 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Uros Trifunovic and Aleksa Avramovic contributed on defense during a big fourth-quarter run, before Kevin Punter and James Nunnally delivered final punches on offense as Partizan grabbed another memorable win in Istanbul.