Game Notes: Partizan Belgrade vs. Suns

by Nick Gibson As the game clock raced backward to zero, Partizan’s Strahinja Milosevic rose up and guided the ball upward off of his finger tips and toward the rim. The red lights illuminated the backboard’s edges as the shot found its intended target, testing the outer limits of the term “improvement” as it rattled in. Final buzzer. Phoenix Suns: 111. Partizan Belgrade: 80. Not good. But not bad, either. With their 32-point loss to Denver in the rearview, a 31-point loss in the dessert suddenly feels a bit more humane. After all, losing by a wider margin would be a step backwards for the Serbian team, and Head Coach Dusko Vujosevic has never been one for regression. And while the scoring disparity may seem negligible, keep in mind that inside that single point, a horrendous shooting clip of 28 percent blossomed into a decent 41 percent, three-point and free throw lines saw their visitors succeed at a better rate, and the turnover total shrunk from a high school-esque 39 to a sligh...