Big changes at the top after round 13: Thriller ending
Round 13 is completed, and all remaining matches from first part of the championship have been played. Five rounds before the end of the regular part of the season table is complete and it shows that final rounds will be complete thriller.
Leading CO Zagreb lost, more accurately, won a point in Preshov, and the opportunity to reach and even surpass didn’t take Meshkov, Vardar and Metalurg. Meshkov won in Banja Luka, Vardar in Ljubuški, and Metalurg home against Sloga. And now four teams are within two points, Meshkov point ahead of Metalurg, Metalurg point ahead of Vardar and Zagreb, and SEHA win brings three points. That says everything about the equality of the league. If Lovćen managed to win in Preshov teams would be even more compressed at the top, but this way Tatran, Lovćen and Nexe will wait and try to qualify for Final Four from shadow. They certainly couldn’t be dismissed.
New round that starts on Saturday and ends on Wednesday because of the European obligation of Zagreb, Metalurg, Izviđač and Tatran doesn’t bring us derbies between big four, but brings matches which could unravel a lot when it comes to the placement on Final Four. These matches are first Saturday visit of Nexe in Brest, and on Wednesday Metalurg visit to Lovćen and Vardar to Preshov. If Macedonian and Belarusian teams manage to win points situation could be quite define, but if they fail it could further complicate. On Tuesday Zagreb plays against Borac and they are expecting new three points, while Sloga and Izviđač will play for prestige, and Sloga will try to win first point of the season. And then last four rounds bring us complete resolution of the situation, and each round give us at least one derby, direct fight for positions that could mean a chance at the final tournament which should be played in Macedonia.
So: round 15 Metalurg - Meshkov; round 16 CO Zagreb - Metalurg; round 17 Metalurg - Vardar; round 18 CO Zagreb - Meshkov. In this matches Zagreb and Metalurg are hosts two times, and Meskhov visitor two times. Is this advantage, we will see.
In the Final Four play no.1 against no.4, and no.2 against no.3 in regular season.