Dubai Basketball silenced Crvena Zvezda’s passionate fans on Sunday night in Belgrade, with a season-best performance to secure a defining sweep of the reigning ABA League Champions with a 107-92 win.
This marks the first time in 3 years that Crvena Zvezda has fallen to the same team both home and away in the same season.
Dubai went into the highly anticipated Round-16 game in Belgrade looking to bounce back from a tough defeat last week, and rose to the challenge with a near-perfect performance, handing Crvena Zvezda their first loss at home this season, ending their 12-game winning streak.
The win takes Dubai’s record to 12-4 for, firmly in the race for top spot.
On a night full of incredible individual performances, Nate Mason took Man-of-the-Match honours with an exceptional 23-points, nine assists, and one steal. The American’s shooting was immaculate throughout — finishing with an astonishing 100% success rate: 3/3 on two-pointers, 5/5 from three-point range, and 2/2 from the free throw line.
It was a complete performance by Dubai Basketball, with the home team having no answers to their constant attack.
After holding a two-point advantage in the opening quarter (26-24), Dubai went into half-time with a 50-45 lead. With all to play for, the visitors were relentless in the third quarter, extending their advantage to 12 points at 78-64.
In the deciding quarter, Crvena Zvezda managed to reduce the gap to 10 points — before Danilo Anđušić’s clutch 3-pointer all but deflated their rally efforts.
Dubai maintained their composure, scoring four points in a row once again, to secure a double-digit lead at 97:86. A free-throw from JaCorey Williams saw Dubai cross the 100-point mark as his team secured a convincing win.
Dubai Basketball head coach, Jurica Golemac said: “Congratulations to my players on playing a very good match smartly. We knew that Crvena Zvezda had a big victory in the EuroLeague two days ago and did not have much time to prepare for us. We could see that their energy was not as usual. I said at the beginning that we have a good team and we were euphoric tonight.”
The final result has Dubai sitting fourth in the standings, two points behind league leader, Partizan Mozzart.
After two games on the road, Dubai Basketball will return to Coca-Cola Arena on Sunday, January 19 against Cedevita Olimpija.
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