On their farewell to the Euroleague 15 years and seven months ago, Buducnost's basketball players experienced the most convincing defeat in the history of that competition - 112:49, while visiting Montepaschi in Siena.
19 days before the return to the elite, the new generation of the Podgorica club experienced a debacle and scared the fans that new slaps were waiting for them in the competition of the best European teams, because in the final of the ABA Supercup they lost to Crvena zvezda with 89:75.
Aleksandar Džikić's team somehow pulled through against Igokea in the quarter-finals and Partizan in the semi-finals, but everything went downhill from the start of the final. Danilo Nikolić was only trying to save his team from going into the abyss, who hit four three-pointers from four attempts in 13:19, but he also had to stop at times.
Since no one else played anything, neither in attack nor in defense, the advantage of Zvezda constantly grew to a record plus 27 in the 18th minute, when Ognjen Dobrić remained alone as a ghost and scored as in training for 54:27.
Buducnost came close to minus 3 twice in the 19rd quarter (44:63 and 46:65), but that was all. After that, the difference was from 20 to 26 points, and Filip Barović used the relaxation of the Belgraders in the finish to mitigate the defeat.
After three official games in the season, Džikić and the management have to ask themselves if they got it right with the reinforcements. Earl Clark, Coty Clark, Edwin Jackson and Aaron Kraft did not make a difference against the ABA leaguers, what's more, and they were brought to do it in the Euroleague.
Maybe it's too early to "cut", maybe they need more time to fit in, but it's worrying that they seemed anemic and listless, especially in defense. After all, the matches with Igoke and Partizan were decided by the guys who were there last season as well.
There is time for repairs, because the "blues" start the ABA league with an easy match against Krk at home on October 1, and 11 days later in "Morača" they welcome Armani at the start of the Euroleague. Džikić will have the entire team at his disposal, which was not the case before the ABA Super Cup due to the World Cup qualifiers. Maybe he will find a solution to the accumulated problems...
THE FUTURE LOVES - RED STAR 75:89 (16:28, 16:29, 23:21, 20:11)
Laktashi - Sport Hall. Spectators: 2.000. Referees: Pukl, Majkić (Slovenia), Hordov (Croatia).
Future Likes: JACKSON 7 (2-2), Ivanovic, SU. ŠEHOVIĆ, E. KLARK 11 (6-4), Barović 19 (8-5), K. Klark 9 (4-2), Gordić 7 (2-1), Ilić, KRAFT 2, Z. Nikolić, Popović 4, D. NIKOLIC 16 (2-2).
Red Star: REGLEND 10 (2-1), Čović, Perperoglu 12, Nenadić 8 (4-3), LAZIĆ 3, FAJE 14 (8-5), BERON 4, Dobrić 12, Ristic 5 (2-1), Simanić , CIRBES 13 (1-1), Odžo 8 (2-2).
Bonus video:
