Dubai take a commanding lead to Belgrade, with work still to do

Dzanan Musa’s shot from behind the backboard was the image Dubai could take from Saturday night. It completed a burst of nine unanswered points, opened a thirteen point lead and helped put the club within one victory of its first ABA League title. The finish was unusual. The pattern around it has become more familiar: a close game, a Partizan challenge and a decisive Dubai response late on.

Dubai won by five points at Coca Cola Arena to take both opening games of the final. The series is decided by the first team to win three, so Wednesday’s visit to Belgrade offers an immediate chance to finish the job. It also takes Dubai away from the home court on which they have built this advantage. The position is excellent, but the final still requires another complete performance.

The opening of Game 2 gave Partizan reason to believe they could level the series. The visitors led by four after the first quarter, and Dubai had only drawn level by halftime, with each team on 42 points. There was little separation through much of the third period either. Partizan moved three points clear before Dubai found the baskets that allowed them to enter the final quarter ahead by two.

That was a different route to the position Dubai had occupied two nights earlier. In Game 1, the hosts had led by eighteen during the third quarter before Partizan reduced the gap to three. Dubai then began the fourth with ten unanswered points and eventually won by six. One game demanded a response to a lead slipping away; the next demanded a response to an opponent who had spent longer setting the pace.

The encouraging part for Aleksander Sekulic is that the answers have come from several players. Musa and Aleksa Avramovic shared the scoring lead on Saturday with sixteen apiece, while Mfiondu Kabengele added thirteen. Dwayne Bacon also helped Dubai establish an advantage early in the final quarter. Partizan have had to contend with more than one player capable of changing the direction of the game.

Avramovic began the decisive run with a three point shot. Bruno Caboclo and Kabengele followed with dunks before Musa supplied the difficult finish beyond the backboard. The sequence combined perimeter shooting and scoring close to the basket. Its value was in the separation it created: a four point lead became thirteen, giving Dubai enough room to withstand Partizan’s attempts to recover in the closing minutes.

That margin was still reduced to five by the end. Partizan’s continued response is worth remembering before treating the trip to Belgrade as a celebration in waiting. Bruno Fernando finished with sixteen points and Carlik Jones with fifteen. The visitors had players producing through the game and enough persistence to make Dubai protect the result after the most memorable passage had ended.

One less spectacular detail may be especially useful on the road. Dubai committed only five turnovers on Saturday, compared with Partizan’s twelve. Keeping possession does not guarantee a good shot, but it gives an attack the chance to complete its work. It also limits the easy opportunities that can follow a loose pass or a mishandled ball, which would be particularly unwelcome when trying to control an away game.

The same discipline will be needed before the final quarter. Dubai have shown they can win a late exchange, but the first two matches have also shown how rapidly a comfortable position can change. Belgrade will ask them to manage the quieter possessions between their best runs: bringing the ball up safely, getting into the intended action and making Partizan defend long enough to create a worthwhile opportunity.

For Sekulic, the challenge is to prepare for that without asking the team to abandon the freedom that has served it well. Musa’s finish was valuable precisely because a player with the skill to attempt it found a way to score. The aim cannot be to remove every difficult decision. It is to create a game in which those decisions supplement sound possessions rather than repeatedly rescue them.

Partizan face a different calculation. They must win Wednesday to keep the series alive, and their home support will give the game a different setting. That does not tell us in advance how either team will respond. It does make the opening stages important: Dubai can deny the hosts an immediate sense of progress, while Partizan will want to turn their competitive stretches from the first two games into a result.

Dubai have earned the right to travel with confidence. They have won two kinds of close game and found decisive contributions across the rotation. Now they need to bring the same care to the possessions that do not end in a highlight. Another spectacular finish would be welcome. A more settled route to the closing minutes would make the opportunity in front of them easier to use.