Cedevita Olimpija Basketball Players to Enter AdmiralBet ABA League Playoffs in Dubai on Sunday

The Cedevita Olimpija basketball team will kick off the AdmiralBet ABA League playoffs in Dubai on Sunday. At 4:00 PM Slovenian time, they will face Dubai Basketball in the Coca-Cola Arena for the first game of the quarterfinal series, aiming for their initial victory in the series.

Following a successful start to the playoffs in the Slovenian national championship, the senior Cedevita Olimpija team now faces their first playoff game in the AdmiralBet ABA League. In the quarterfinal series of the regional league, the Dragons will take on Dubai Basketball, with the first game scheduled for Sunday at 4:00 PM Slovenian time (6:00 PM local time) in the Coca-Cola Arena. Dubai holds the home-court advantage in this best-of-three series, having finished the regular season in third place, while Cedevita Olimpija ended in sixth. Tickets for the second quarterfinal game, set for next Friday at 6:00 PM in Stožice, are already available at vstopnice.olimpija.com!

The Ljubljana club will aim to secure their first semifinal appearance in the competition since the 2022/23 season against the impressive newcomers. As a reminder, in the 2023/24 season, Mega Superbet thwarted the Dragons’ plans to reach the top four in the regional league. Cedevita Olimpija concluded the 2024/25 regular season with 19 wins and 11 losses, while Dubai recorded 25 wins in 30 games.

Andrija Stipanović rejoined team training on Thursday, meaning the squad is fully complete for the first time in a while, just before the start of the regional league playoffs.

TV BROADCAST:

The game will be broadcast live on Arena Sport Slovenija 1 Premium and Kanal A.

PRE-GAME QUOTES:

“The entire season, teams look forward to the regional league playoffs to reach a certain level of competition. Our quarterfinal opponent is Dubai Basketball, with whom we played two very different games this season. At home, we lost convincingly and too easily, but we secured a victory in a tough away game. When you reach the playoffs, you have to forget the past and turn a new page,” said Cedevita Olimpija’s head coach, Zvezdan Mitrović, ahead of the first game in Dubai. “We’ve been preparing for this first quarterfinal game for quite some time. We all know who wears Dubai’s jersey, and I believe our opponents are among the favorites to win the regional league title. Our advantage is definitely that we enter this series without pressure. We’re heading to Dubai with the desire to play a good game, like we did the last time we defeated them. That was Dubai’s last loss in this competition, so it’s entirely expected that they’ll be extremely well-prepared for us. If our guys show good energy and strength, we can hope for a surprise. The favorite in this quarterfinal is undoubtedly Dubai.”

“I expect us to deliver strong performances in the games, as we have throughout the entire competitive season. We earned our place in the playoffs, and in the quarterfinals, we face the favored Dubai Basketball. We’ll try to seize the opportunities that come our way. We’re in good shape, and I believe we can compete on equal terms with our opponents,” said the captain of Cedevita Olimpija’s senior team, Jaka Blažič, before the trip. “Dubai is an excellent team with two outstanding players at every position. Their main goal is undoubtedly to reach the semifinals, and they probably aim even higher. They’re unbeaten in their last 13 games. We’re not heading to Dubai with white flags—we’re going to fight, and I hope we can make a ‘break’ in the first game.”

GAME PREVIEW:

Cedevita Olimpija faces a showdown with the hottest team in the regional league. Dubai ended the regular season with a streak of 13 consecutive wins, with their last loss—inflicted by the Ljubljana team on January 19—resulting in an 85:84 score in favor of the Green-Orange at the Coca-Cola Arena.

Dubai’s winning streak has now lasted over 100 days, and Cedevita Olimpija will aim to be the first to snap it. In the regional league, Dubai boasts five players averaging double-digit points. Davis Bertans leads the team from the UAE with an average of 12.0 points per game, followed by Awudu Abass (11.7), Danilo Anđušić (11.4), Klemen Prepelič (10.7), and Jerry Boutsiele (10.3).

The two teams faced off twice in the regular season. In the first matchup at the end of September in Stožice, the scoreboard showed 92:84 in favor of Dubai. In the second game in Dubai, it was 85:84 for Cedevita Olimpija. In Stožice, DJ Stewart scored 15 points for the Ljubljana team, followed by Devin Robinson with 14, while Klemen Prepelič led Dubai with 23 points and Nate Mason added 20. In the Coca-Cola Arena in January, Brynton Lemar scored 23 points, Robinson had 16, and both Stewart and Jaka Blažič contributed 14 points each. For Dubai, Boutsiele and Bertans each scored 18 points, and Abass added 15.

While Cedevita Olimpija played their last game on Tuesday, defeating GGD Šenčur in overtime on the road in the first game of the national championship quarterfinals, Dubai’s most recent game was last weekend, when they hosted the regular season’s top team, Budućnost VOLI, in Dubai and secured their 13th consecutive win.

ADMIRALBET ABA LEAGUE, QUARTERFINALS

GAME 1

Coca-Cola Arena (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), Sunday, May 11, at 6:00 PM (4:00 PM SLO):
DUBAI BASKETBALL – CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA (Broadcast on Arena Sport 1 Premium and Kanal A) [0:0]*

GAME 2

Stožice Arena (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Friday, May 16, at 6:00 PM:
CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA – DUBAI BASKETBALL

GAME 3

Coca-Cola Arena (Dubai, United Arab Emirates):
DUBAI BASKETBALL – CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA

*Score in wins. The quarterfinal series is played as a best-of-three.
**Potential third game.

LOOKING AHEAD:

On Monday, the Dragons will return to Ljubljana, and on Tuesday at 6:00 PM, they will face GGD Šenčur in the second game of the national championship quarterfinals. Entry to Stožice will be free for all visitors, who will also have the chance to mingle with the Dragons on the court after the game. Dubai will visit Stožice next Friday at 6:00 PM for the second game of the regional league quarterfinals.