Crvena Zvezda continued their excellent play in the EuroLeague, defeating Monaco in Round 11, and Sasa Obradovic spoke at the press conference.
Sasa Obradovic, who was fired by Monaco last season, has now beaten his former team with Crvena Zvezda and shared his first impressions of the game.
Claim Now “We deserved to win. Under conditions that haven’t been easy in the last few days, this victory carries even more weight. Practically without half the team, we defeated a great opponent. I’m happy for my players, proud of the job we did. We won this primarily with defense, everyone contributed, and everyone played at the highest level.” the Serbian coach emphasized.
The Crvena Zvezda coach couldn’t single out one thing that made the difference in his team’s victory:
“It’s hard to single out one thing. The entire coaching staff did a good job with the tactics we played, changed, and stuck to during the second half, when Monaco scored 33 points. They couldn’t adjust. We eliminated their main players in scoring actions — Mike James and Elie Okobo. With timely double-teams, we created a good advantage. We outrebounded them — that’s why we won here, and lost in Dubai. I’m very satisfied. This is a game we won with mental strength. I wasn’t feeling well this morning because of the travel to Dubai, and that’s another reason why this is even sweeter.“
He also commented on the Monaco team, which he coached for many years:
“I know them well, and they know me too, all the actions we run. We prepared well — as much as we could in one and a half days. It’s important to have the personnel to execute the tactic. We responded at a high level. I’d like to point out something that bothers me and needs to be said. Plavsic needs support. People jinx him, and it’s not easy to play like that. He needs support from everyone who supports Crvena Zvezda. He played a phenomenal game. I don’t know if this is Dobric’s best EuroLeague game, if he ever scored more than 22 points… As captain, he did the job. Kalinic is phenomenal, a true leader of the team. He knows exactly what needs to be done. When he’s most tired, he’s the smartest. He remembered a special play we used to run, not so often. Sfairopoulos’ special — he remembered it in the moment and set everything up. Hats off to him. He has huge basketball IQ.“
Crvena Zvezda’s newest signing is Jared Butler, who scored 20 points today and was key in creating the decisive advantage in the final minutes:
“If we had made them, the difference would have been bigger. Butler still has to learn. Now people have at least seen what it’s about. I haven’t seen a first step like that in a long time. He finishes everything through contact phenomenally. He is definitely a major reinforcement — he still needs a bit more conditioning and understanding of what we want. He certainly brings guarantees.“
The Red Star coach then spoke about leaving Monaco, and what this victory means to him:
“I told them now that there are no emotions. Everyone knows how I left Monaco, how everything came out — I’d say undeservedly. I will enjoy today and tomorrow since it’s a day off, but that’s it. I know how long everything lasts, we are waiting to recover the players coming back from injuries to slowly integrate them. When everything comes together, we should look good. If we continue playing like this, then we’re about to become EuroLeague champions (laughs). I have high expectations, I know what I have — in terms of mentality and talent. We just need to stay together, with these fans.“
In Monaco, Sasa Obradovic often played with three ball-handlers, and now he is doing the same at Crvena Zvezda:
“I hope the defensive mistakes will be fewer — there were some slow reactions due to the time and conditions in Dubai. It will surely get better; it’s not a button you can press for everything to click at once. We have size, speed, and talent at different positions, and the idea is to adapt to what we have — whether that means three or four ball-handlers, it’s a quality that can be used. My idea is also positionless basketball. And that takes time. I started like this, and on the go I will make adjustments. We have players who are extremely motivated and can do many things at different moments.“
He then spoke about his team’s defense:
“This is nothing new — my teams have done this before. It’s hard for opponents to figure everything out. Those open shots are not easy shots. The main focus was that the players who shouldn’t be shooting — didn’t shoot, especially in the second half (James and Okobo). There were some details we could comment on, but everything looked great in transition and boxing out, all the small things we executed at a high level.“
Finally, he addressed the team’s injury issues:
“We even have an injured coach — his calf gave out. He needs to come back too. Tragicomic (laughs). Nwora is here, he’s practicing, but after just one practice he couldn’t help us. For the others, we’ll see — there will be some evaluations. Graham needs to start conditioning more, since he’s been out the longest,” Obradovic concluded.
Crvena Zvezda is now 8–3, while Monaco, after their second straight loss in Belgrade, falls to 6–5.
