Mega - Red Star
International - Liga ABA, Round 24
The basketball Expert
Mega are playing excellent in 2023. They won nine of the last ten games in the ABA League, while in the Serbian Cup they reached final game where they were defeated by Red Star 96:79. As every year, Mega has many talented players. Croatian centers Danko Brankovic and Matej Rudan control the paint, while Malcolm Cazalon and Nikola Djurisic consistently scoring more than ten points. In this season, Mega also has a promising head coach. Marko Barac was Dragan Bajic's first assistant in Igokea for several years. He had a lot of problems in the first few months to impose his regime, but when the players accepted it, Mega started to win.
Red Star lost pole position in the ABA league with defeats against Cibona and Partizan. If Partizan wins all games until the end of the regular season, Red Star will enter the playoffs from second place. In this way, road to title will be very difficult because breaks happen very rarely in the final series of this competition. At least that's what history teaches us. Given that they lost all chances to reach quarterfinals in the Euroleague, red and whites' full focus now will be on the ABA League. They will do everything they can to win all the remaining games and to hope for some setback from Partizan.
For a reason, Red Star are absolute favorite in this clash. Difference between these two teams was best seen in the Serbian Cup final. Since Mega has no fans, the whole hall will cheer for visitors. After an emotional statement a few days ago, Luca Vildoza again started to play at the level expected from him. Facundo Campazzo quickly became Red Star leader on the floor and anything but a double-digit win for red and whites will be a surprise. Simply, they are way better than Mega. It's not even close.
Pistol Pete
The spectacle of attacking basketball in the regional ABA league is potentially waiting for us on Monday evening in Belgrade, in the match which has remained under the radar of the basketball public.
Both the host Mega Basket and the clear favorite, the Euroleague team Crvena Zvezda, significantly improved fluidity of their attacking game during March, but also began to insist on shorter attacks.
Mega Basket is an excellent example: a team that is currently in sixth place in the ABA league, with a 12-11 record, and is undefeated in its last five matches. During March, in each of the four matches (home or away), this team scored at least 86 points.
Mega Basket is now in a position that guarantees a place in the playoffs and that place is not threatened three rounds before the end of the regular season. This also means that the host will play more relaxed.
On the other hand, Crvena zvezda is aware that it will be difficult to reach the first position before the playoffs. However, they will play with an exceptional imperative to win. Behind them are two consecutive triumphs in the Euroleague last week, and it is crucial for the guests to show that they have enough freshness left for this fight. Especially because it is known that this will be a match with a lot of running in both directions, with an emphasis on the transition game.
Crvena zvezda has shown in the previous weeks that the focus of the game has shifted to attacking, since the famous Argentinian playmaker Facundo Campaco plays an increasingly important role as the "commander" of the team on the field.
The Belgrade team also played for a large number of points even in the matches in which they unexpectedly stumbled in the previous period. The best example is the loss against Cibona in Zagreb on March 5 (85:81). And Mega Basket is a much more potent attacking team than Cibona. On the other hand, Crvena Zvezda has improved its form in less than a month since that defeat.
In the match for the national cup trophy, Red Star defeated Mega Basket 96:79 on February 18. A similar character and tempo of the game should be expected this Monday.
This season in the ABA League, Mega Basket scored as many as 86 points on average, and Crvena Zvezda scored 87.3 points per match. The home team has 18.7, and the favorite even 21.6 assists on average. It seems that both teams, even with the rhythm of poor shooting, will easily score 80 points in this game.
Interestingly, the teams have played 22 games in the ABA League so far - and Mega Basket is still waiting for its first triumph. In the first part of the season, Mega Basket lost to a powerful rival by as much as 92:58, on December 18 last year... Nevertheless, since then, they have made a big stesp forward, both with the quality of individuals and with its attacking team play. On their home court, Mega Basket will be ready to play a much more competent game.