[1] Olimpija fell out of the title contention almost immediately, recording several losses in their first few games of the season while Crvena zvezda and Lokomotiva jumped to the top of the standings early on.
Jugoplastika also kept pace with the standings leaders while Borac Čačak, finding success behind Radmilo Mišović's scoring exploits, and Radnički Belgrade became the early season's surprise packages.
[1] Scheduled to be played on Catholic Christmas—a holiday not officially celebrated in communist SFR Yugoslavia—the game featured tensions even before tip off as the visiting Crvena zvezda players and personnel had to be escorted by police from the moment of their arrival in Zadar.
Following the tip off, Zadar fans began throwing the said candles onto the court, continuing to do so throughout the game while the referees — brothers Janko and Petar Kavčić from Ljubljana — didn't stop the contest out of fear of enraging the crowd even more.
[4] With five minutes to go in the close game, Zadar's best player and leading scorer Josip Gjergja twisted his ankle after stepping on one of the candles littering the court and had to leave the contest.