Basketball Unites People, reads the poster that both teams hold in the moments before the start of the match, and 20,091 Serbian throats shout in the stands. The shouting resounds throughout the game, but ends up silenced in the final stretch, disconcerted by a triple by Nigell Williams-Goss and the wonderful performance of Eddy Tavares, the giant who keeps the whites alive in this monumental series of quarters (80-82 ; the series is 2-1 for Partizan).
The Stark Arena in Belgrade is burning, whose parish has decided to take the tie no matter what.
Nobody forgets the passages of the last crossing in Madrid, that pitched battle that had been registered in the WiZink Center and that had claimed two white casualties (Yabusele and Deck) and another two in Partizan (Punter and Lessort), apart from 2- 0 in the series for the Serbs, and the public roars and Madrid wrinkles.
The whites wrinkle so much that they add four losses in the opening of the match, and in a jiffy the score is 12-0 for Partizan and the first quarter closes at 32-19, hell for Madrid!
The whites have to row against the current, there is no silence, there is no pause in the Stark Arena.
Reman Tavares and Rudy Fernández, and between the two they begin the resuscitation maneuvers. Rudy Fernández shoots from distance (signed two triples) and Tavares, from the low post (added fourteen points in that quarter), and the distance is cut to an exciting 48-45 at halftime, there is life.
The flag roars even more, but now the whites do not shrink. They find Hezonja (five points in one go) and keep Tavares on the track, and in Partizan Nunnally, Exum and LeDay lose efficiency, and Madrid projects towards an initial advantage (53-54) and then towards 58- 63, and now it is Obradovic, the legendary Serbian coach, who is screaming.
In a timeout, the cameraman brings the microphone closer to the Serbian bench, and Obradovic's shouts rise above the general shouting. Obradovic distributes instructions and among his verbiage in Serbian he is understood to say:
–Tavares, Tavares!
And there Nunnally and Vukcevic take turns to stop the white giant, but there is no way to stop him.
Tavares adds and adds, and takes his tally to 26 points and eleven rebounds, and in the final stretch there are four Serbian players surrounding him, and the locals are so stubborn that they neglect the back door and Nigel Williams-Goss slips through. (22 points), author of a decisive triple with 24 seconds remaining that unbalances the score (77-80) and keeps the whites on their feet, at least for another two days, the time it will take them to return to Stark Arena to play the fourth game of the series.
Partizan: Nunnally (13), Andjusic (6), Madar (12), Smailagic (15), Leday (15) -cinco inicial-, Exum (11), Avramovic (-), Koprivica (-), Papapetrou (4), Trifunovic (2), Vukcevic (2).
Real Madrid: Williams-Goss (22), Llull (-), Musa (9), Cornelie (-), Tavares (26) -starting five-, Hezonja (12), Randolph (1), Sergio Rodríguez (3), Rudy Fernandez (6), Hanga (3).
