ACB - semifinal - matchday 2
Barça
79 88
Finalized
Unicaja
Unicaja achieved what seemed impossible. In the middle of the semifinal for the ACB League, it became the first team to assault the Palau Blaugrana all season. Impregnable the Barcelona field, the team led by Jasikevicius chose a bad moment to get lost, give up a win and allow the Malaga team to match the best-of-five series and that will reach, at least, the fourth game.
Barcelona started with problems in attack, which did not affect Unicaja, which was on its own. After 5.33m of play, the men playing at home had only scored one point, and the score soared to 1-14 that sounded alarm bells on their bench. No success of eight shots to the basket was the worrying balance of the first minutes of the game, but Barça did not break down, who knew that it could be very long.
Jokubaitis jumped onto the court, and his lack of complexes allowed his team to lighten the pressure a little, although in front of him he had a solid team led by Kendrick Perry, who maintained the type despite the fact that Laprovittola began to give signs of life in the last moments of the first quarter, which ended with seven points of advantage for the Malaga (18-25).
The scoring crisis, of course, was not going to last forever in a team with such good gunners; nor the defensive apathy, that is why Unicaja prepared to stop the Blaugrana offensive, which it partially achieved. What he could not achieve, however, was that the defensive plans ordered by Jasikevicius were fulfilled accurately. The visiting team went from scoring 25 in the first quarter, to adding ten less in the second. The other drawback of the Malaga was the third fault of Perry, the engine of Unicaja, which left Carter orphaned. It was difficult for the greens to move the ball, with a more sticky defense of Barcelona. The passing line was clouded and even so, they managed to reach the break still with an advantage (40-37).
And despite the good start after the break, with two good actions from Carter, Barcelona began to pick up their cruising speed. The problems of fluidity in attack of Unicaja continued and the home team began to steal balls for their better defensive efficiency and because Laprovittola threw the team on his back. At 6.45, Barça tied the game for the first time since the initial jump (45-45), and a minute later, a shot from the Argentine put the Barça team ahead after more than half a game.
Unicaja went into crisis and for a few moments it could be thought that he was leaving the game, because with Laprovittola in supersonic mode, Barcelona reached its maximum advantage (54-49) after a partial of 14-2. But the visiting team did not break, which, in a game that was beginning to be played in streaks, replied with another strong score in their favor (3-16), to look for the last quarter again with an advantage. Erjin's actions in defense stopped Barça in the final moments of the half. In addition, Laprovittola, intense in any action, had accumulated four fouls.
In the last ten minutes, Ibon Navarro's team took out everything they had inside. A cumulative partial of 10-27 gave him twelve points of advantage (64-76) with five minutes to go in a game that almost ended there.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on Facebook and Twitter, or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.