Basketball classic in Belgrade, @PartizanBC is hosting Cibona (@ABA_League)

Partizan NIS will be host of Cibona Zagreb in “Aleksandar Nikolić” Hall in the Round 17 of ABA League next Saturday night.

Games between Cibona and Partizan are always considered as big matches, and this time around is no different especially because both teams have a chance to reach Playoffs.

Black and Whites are still one of the main contenders for a spot in Top 4, but team from Zagreb haven’t completely lost their hopes of booking a spot in Playoffs.

Team from Belgrade is currently on fifth place with 8 victories, while Cibona has wins less, but if they win as guests against Partizan, they will complicate a situation in regional league again. So, victory against Partizan is top priority. But, that won’t be easy, because Black and Whites are having the same goal as their opponent and home court advantage. It is always heated in Pionir when these teams are playing against each other, and everyone in Partizan are hoping that this time will be a great atmosphere also.

Nenada Čanak’s team lost one of their best player Patrick Miller, but two players will debut for Partizan – Kwame Vaughn and French player Bandja Sy, who is the latest reinforcement in Black and Whites family.

But, those two players won’t be only one in focus in this clash. All eyes will be pointed at match-up between Đorđe Gagić and Luka Žorić. Partizan centre has proven that he is a great reinforcement for Black and Whites, but question at this moment is whether he would be able to stop Luka Žorić on the other side, that is not only dominant when it comes to rebounding, as he is averaging 6.25 rebounds per clash, but is also Cibona’s top scorer (18.75 points per game).

Stopping Žorić will be the main goal of Partizan’s centres in order to try to help the team to win the game. In the last match between these two teams, Black and Whites won in Zagreb with a score os 74 – 90. In total Partizan won 24 games and lost 10, and in Belgrade the score is 15 – 1 for the team from Serbia.