A EuroLeague basketball game between Real Madrid and Partizan Belgrade was abandoned with only two minutes remaining after a brawl between players from both teams broke out. The match saw Madrid losing 95-80 at home and about to go down 2-0 in its playoff series which led to a hard foul by Madrid guard Sergio Llull on American forward Kevin Punter. This upset Partizan players and led to the benches being cleared. During the fight, the 6-foot-8 former NBA player for Madrid, Guerschon Yabusele, slammed Partizan’s Dante Exum to the ground. Exum was later seen leaving the court with a heavy limp and the assistance of team personnel.
Officials spent several minutes watching replays before suspending the game with 1 minute, 40 seconds left. The EuroLeague’s website said that the Partizan Belgrade team was awarded the victory. “Euroleague Basketball strongly condemns the events that happened at the end of the game. Such events do not represent the values of respect that the league and its clubs promote and that the sport of basketball embodies.” said the League. It was also said that EuroLeague’s independent disciplinary judge would issue a decision about the on-court incidents within the following 24 hours.
The third game of the best-of-five series is scheduled to take place Tuesday in Belgrade. Partizan won the first game 89-87 in Madrid. The Partizan coach, Zeljko Obradovic, has pledged to try to calm Partizan Belgrade fans ahead of Game 3. “When we go to Belgrade tomorrow, I’m going to talk about that,” he said. “I’m going to try to calm everybody so that we receive Real Madrid like the people here have received us. That they are going to support our team, yes, but that they are not going to do anything against Real Madrid.”
