Ready for this new challenge
Hello, everyone. It is the final conutdown until the beginning of the Final Four, and of course, the excitement just keeps growing. But don't worry, we've got it under control!
From the moment when we qualified for the Final Four, we've played a lot of important games and we did a lot of hard practices. We won the Adriatic Legaue in an unbelivable way! On the opponent's court in front of 16,200 fans we beat Cibona in overtime with an azming three-point basket by Dusan Kecman! Not only for a win, but for the title! We were lucky, but I think we deserved that luck. That victory and trophy mean a lot for our self-confidence and gave a significant contribution to our preparation for the Final Four.
Of all our players, only Kecman has played the Euroleague Final Four previously. For the rest of us, this will be a new experience. The fact is, however, that this year we played a lot of important and tough games. Even if we have a young team, we won two trophies, so I think we are all ready for this new challenge.
The best that European basketball has to offer will be in Paris, and we know that. All four teams deserve to be there, because of their outstanding seasons and quality. Olympiacos, CSKA and Barcelona were favorites for this Final Four at the beginning of this season. It was not the same story for Partizan, but that's the beauty of this game.
Our opponent in the semifinals, Olympiacos, last year lost in final seconds of the same game against Panathinaikos. This year, they made a new team to be better and to go one step forward. They already won the Greek Cup and proved their quality many times. Regarding our semifinal, we respect them very much and they are favorites, but we are aware of our strengths. Also, we know that in a Final Four, favorites are not necessarily winners. The winning team is the team that shows in each segment of the game more desire and capability to win, during all 40 minutes.
In Serbia, everybody is speaking about basketball, Partizan and the Final Four. For our fans, we are already champions. They say that we already made a big success and that now it is important just to be focused, relaxed and to give our best. Unfortunately, it’s not possible for all of our fans to come to Paris, but we know that they will support us, wherever they are.
Together, with them and for them, we will give our best to represent our basketball, our country and our club. We have a great desire for victory and if that is enough for another step forward, we are ready!
POSTED BY
Petar Bozic - Belgrade
DATE:
Monday, May 03, 2010