Dubai Basketball Completes Season Sweep Over Defending ABA Champions Crvena Zvezda

Ahmed Bin Abdulqader

 Dubai Basketball silenced Crvena Zvezda’s passionate fans on Sunday night in Belgrade, Serbia with a season-best performance to secure a defining sweep of the reigning ABA League Champions with a brilliant 107-92 win on the road. 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 Roud-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, praised his players for their team performance, where they were 23/35 (65.7%) from 2-point territory and 13/22 (59.1) from beyond the arc. The final result has Dubai sitting fourth in the standings, two points behind league leader, Partizan Mozzart.

Coach 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.”

After two games on the road, Dubai Basketball will return to Coca-Cola Arena on Sunday 19th January against Cedevita Olimpija with tickets still available from just AED 75.