Partizan drops 100 points on Hamburg for second time

Partizan NIS Belgrade showed it means business by stopping the recent run of Hamburg Towers with a historic 102-77 win at home in Group A. Partizan set a club record for the most points in a half in surging to an 8-2 mark, including five wins in the last six games. Mathias Lessort led the way with 22 points and 5 steals for Partizan, which improved to 6-0 at home. Zach LeDay chipped in 18 points and 8 rebounds while Kevin Punter scored 15 points and Balsa Koprivica added 13 points. EuroCup debutant Hamburg saw its three-game winning streak come to a close to fall to 4-6. Robin Christen scored a career-high 20 points for the German side while Caleb Homesley had 14 points and Ray McCallum finished with 11 points.

Dallas Moore started the scoring for the hosts, who were ahead 6-0 before Homesley hit a three-pointer for Hamburg. A big LeDay dunk made it 11-3 and forced a Hamburg timeout. Maik Kotsar answered but Partizan did not slow down at all with Lessort scoring 7 points and Rodions Kurucs hitting from deep in a 16-3 run to lead 27-8. McCallum and Christen hit triples for Hamburg, but Punter added 4 points at the other end and Partizan led 34-14 after 10 minutes.

Christen started the second quarter with 2 free throws and he and Lukas Meisner added three-pointers for Hamburg with Homesley able to trim the gap to 43-28. Partizan just kept pouring it on: Aleksa Avramovic made a three-pointer, Leday converted an and-one, Lessort scored 4 points and LeDay added 2 three-pointers and the hosts led 65-41 at the break.

Lessort scored the first 5 points of the second half to make sure that Hamburg didn’t start well for a 70-41 advantage. Max DiLeo made a three-pointer for the visitors, but LeDay countered with a three-point play and Punter drained a triple as the cushion swelled to 80-46. Kurucs pushed the gap to 83-48 and Partizan led 85-53 after 30 minutes.

Kurucs began the final frame with a three-pointer for the hosts, but Partizan took the foot off the gas. Hamburg tried to make the final result more respectable with Christen burying 2 three-pointers and getting a put-back to make it 90-62. Hamburg added 2 more triples and Partizan boss Zeljko Obradovic called a timeout with his team up 92-68 with less than 4 minutes remaining. By then the game had long been decided.

Partizan sets club record with first half

Partizan set a club record for most points in a half in a EuroCup game with its 65 points in the first 20 minutes. The team’s previous high was 62 in the Top 16 in 2019-20 against Virtus Bologna. The Serbians’ output was also close to the all-time EuroCup mark for points in a half. It was the third time a team has scored 65 points - most recently by Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade on December 12, 2018, against Germani Brescia Leonessa. Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar holds the record with the 71 points it dropped on Telenet Giants Antwerp on November 4, 2020. The 102 points ranked second all-time for Partizan, bested only by the 106 points it scored against Hamburg in Round 1 this season..

Lessort shines in second game

Newly-acquired center Mathias Lessort had an outstanding game in his second appearance for Partizan. After picking up 7 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in 19 minutes against Dolomiti Energia Trento, the French big man was dominant against Hamburg. Lessort scored 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting and 4-of-5 free throws to go with 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 5 steals and 1 block for a performance index rating of 33. He was 2 points off his career high and he set new personal bests in PIR and steals. All that came in just over 21 minutes of action.

Telling numbers: Hamburg misses triples, turns ball over

Partizan played good defense on Hamburg’s shooters, who made just 13 of 39 three-pointers (33.3%). The guests also committed 18 turnovers - after having committed the fewest coming into the game at just 11.7. Hamburg managed to grab 22 offensive rebounds, but the visitors watched Partizan collect 13 offensive rebounds and win the second-chance points category 24-18. Partizan also converted 76.3% of its two-pointers - the second-best percentage in club history behind only the 76.9% Partizan made against Hamburg in Round 1 earlier this season.