Following Partizan NIS‘ victory in the big battle against Budućnost VOLI (75-66), Aleksa Avramović pointed out the importance of this victory.
“This game was important for two reasons. The first one was to get back from the loss to Crvena Zvezda in the previous round. We played badly in that game, but we forgot about it. The second reason, it is important for us to win if we want to qualify and get the home game advantage at the very end of the league.
If we want to get that we need to win against teams, like Budućnost, Cedevita and Zvezda. And I am sure if we have a good approach, especially on defense, we can follow that road. It is true, we had a lot of issues on offense in that third quarter today. We didn’t play organized basketball, but we broke the opponent with four steals in the last part, with ten easy fast-break points,” said Aleksa after the match.
“Generally, this should be a good example of how we should play. In the end, we had 12 steals and from those steals, we scored a minimum of 20 points,” added Aleksa Avramović, who had six steals in the match against Budućnost.
“In the previous games, we didn’t run that well like tonight. But in this game, and the last one in the EuroCup, we really did run. We scored between 20-30 points like that and those points were important to get an advantage. The game needed to be played for 40 minutes, it is a long period and during that time every point is important, every possession, every defensive move. We led by 8 when Micov (Vladimir) scored a difficult three-point shot. And then get closer, down to 3. We managed to get out of that and to finish the match,” he noted.
Next week, Aleksa Avramović will be with the Serbian national team, and the first game will be against Latvia on Thursday, November 25th.
“Now we, who have been invited, will have national teams obligations. To all of my teammates, I wish them a stroke of good luck. We, who are representing Serbia, are going for the wins. We have a new coach, a new introduction. Everything will be new but we will give our maximum. Honestly, I can’t wait,” said Avramović, who won’t wait too long because the team will gather on Sunday.
Aleksa Avramović is still remembering the tournament in Belgrade from the previous summer when Serbia lost the chance to go to the Olympics.
“It took me too long to recover from that. One of the opportunities for one generation was on that tournament in Belgrade. I wish we won so we would have a chance to feel the Olympics. To be a part of that manifestation is, in my opinion, the dream of every athlete. I wouldn’t mind being there because it is the biggest competition that exists for a single athlete. That would be a dream come true. But we have a new chance. We now have qualifications for the World Cup, and, with God’s help, I am hoping we will qualify. And also we have a chance for the Olympics in Paris. So that is a new cycle. We will have our sights set on that. And for now, we are focus on Latvia we are facing on Thursday.”
All Partizan players, who were invited to join the national squad, had the meeting with the national team coach Svetislav Pešić the day before the game against Budućnost.
“We had the meeting with the national team coach yesterday as a group. All Partizan players that were invited to be part of the national team and we get to know him. Tomorrow we are all gathering and that is it. We are starting,” Aleksa ended the interview.
