A Partizan fan, who was sitting in the front row, allegedly threatened the referee crew. Mario Hezonja tried to calm the fan down, but, despite his attempts, one of the officials asked the man to leave the game.
EuroLeague Round 32 game between Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade and Real Madrid at Stark Arena was disrupted by a host fan.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
29
|
| Mathias Lessort | |
| Points | 16 |
| Accuracy | 7-9 |
| Rebounds | 8 |
| Assists | 3 |
Sitting in the front row, he allegedly threatened the referee crew after an unfavorable call near the Real Madrid basket and was thrown out of the game.
Real forward Mario Hezonja tried to calm the fan down and reduce the tension, receiving applause from the stands, but, subsequently, one of the officials asked the fan to leave the packed gym.
With the help of a record-breaking crowd of 20,068 fans at Stark Arena, Partizan inched closer to the EuroLeague playoffs with an impressive 104-90 victory over the Royal club on Friday night.
European fans' behavior was touched on in the recent URBONUS episode with the AS Monaco duo of Donatas Motiejunas and Chima Moneke.
Former NBA players shared their most unpleasant experiences with fans.
Interestingly, Motiejunas discussed the topic of first-row Partizan fans and their actions when the EuroLeague game happens.
"With Partizan, I watched the game against Barcelona [EuroLeague Round 31]. First-row fans are jumping up, like almost running to the court. Okay, they are amazing fans, but I think, for the first rows, there have to be some rules. They cannot interfere," he emphasized.
"I saw in the game, I think a ref made some interesting calls, and fans from the front seats – they jumped and they were almost in the court," the Lithuanian big man said. "That's where the fans put big pressure on the referees, and they can change the game."
Moneke then put the emphasis on crowd calls when refs make incorrect decisions influenced by the hostile environment.
"Those big fan-base teams, they are exploring the opportunity to put pressure on the referees. They do it constantly," Motiejunas underlined. "It's Maccabi, Partizan, Zvezda, all those big gyms, even Kaunas."
Watch full URBONUS episode with Motiejunas and Moneke:
Support BasketNews so we could make even better content.
