KK Crvena Zvezda has announced their progress to the ABA League semifinals, where they will face Partizan. Red Star advanced to the semifinals by defeating Cedevita Olimpija, but the game's outcome has been met with controversy. Coach Zvezdan Mitrović of the visiting team from Ljubljana was furious over the officiating...

The Red Star team issued a statement regarding the match:

KK Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet has qualified for the ABA League semifinals – a fully deserved achievement following the masterful game played in Belgrade on Friday.

However, the statement made by the visiting team's coach after the game, which attempts to diminish our triumph and qualification to the semifinals by claiming "this was a defeat for the sport..." is considered extremely inappropriate and does not reflect the truth or events on the court!

We believe that all spectators in the arena and those watching on television saw how the Cedevita Olimpija players conducted themselves during the second game in Ljubljana, often crossing the line into fouls without being penalized (after which we congratulated our opponents in a sportsmanlike manner without mentioning the referees). The same pattern was observed during the third game in Belgrade, where our team should have been awarded at least 50 free throws, instead of the 35 they actually received.

We hope that such statements, which truly represent a defeat for the sport and not the events on the court that should have ended the series in Ljubljana, are not a prelude to what our team will face in the upcoming competition, and are clearly creating an atmosphere where our team will not be given fair conditions to play – the statement concludes.