“Deluxe” basketball matinee at the WiZink Center. Unicaja visits Real Madrid this Sunday (12:30 pm) in a match marked by the present league, but also by the imminent European future of both teams, with the Whites’ ticket to the Final Four of the Euroleague pending Wednesday’s game against Partizan, and with the greens in the middle of the countdown to start on Friday their appointment to 4 for the continental title of the Basketball Champions League.
The greens arrive in Madrid drunk. There are 11 consecutive victories since last March 19. They have won everything in the ACB and the BCL. But they visit a “cursed” track where they have not known what it is to win since January 2006.
And it is that visits to Real Madrid have always been complicated for Unicaja. In fact, In the Spanish capital, the Malaga team has only won 4 times in the regular season after 37 games. The last time was that now distant January 15, 2006, by 77-86. That Unicaja of Scariolo and Garbajosa He is the last one who was able to win Real Madrid in the Regular League on his court. Will Ibon Navarro’s man be able to repeat that feat?
The greens, in full fight with Lenovo Tenerife to finish fourth and face the playoffs with home field advantage, will be able to count (unless they change their minds) with Alberto Díaz and Darío Brizuela. The return of the point guard is especially striking since he has been out of the field for more than a month due to an ankle injury. Brizuela, who has missed the last two games due to knee problems, is also likely to be able to play to get up to speed before the continental Champions League.
We will have to see which Real Madrid meets Unicaja. Chus Mateo’s men are currently immersed in the Euroleague quarterfinal tie against Serbian Partizán. The match is 2-2 and will be decided on Wednesday. It is vital for them to be in the Final Four and Mateo will have to decide whether or not to rest his main stars, Tavares included, so that they are fresh in the week-to-week clash against Zeljko Obradovic’s team. Yabusele, sanctioned by the Euroleague, will be safe in the game and will have many minutes. The rest?… We will have to wait.
A rival with an impressive squad
At a statistical level, Real Madrid is the competition leader in rebounds (38.33), defensive rebounds (27.57) and free throws (16.40); 2nd in efficiency (106.30), points scored (88.33), blocks (4.13) and dunks (3.83); 3rd in success in triples (37.50%) and received fouls (20.93); and 5th in assists (17.77) and hit in shots of 2 (55.58%).
As for players, the extensive white squad has a great inside game led by Edy Tavares, who averages 10.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2 blocks -competition leader- and 1.2 dunks for a PIR of 16.8. They accompany you inside Guerschon Yabusele (10.3 points, 4 rebounds and 1.4 steals -5th in the competition-), vincent poirier, who is injured and could be low, (8.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.1 blocks), the recovered Anthony Randolph (6.8 points, 6.3 rebounds) and Petr Cornelie (4.9 points, 3.3 rebounds).
on the perimeter, dzanan muse (14.8 points -5th scorer in the league and 3rd in 3-point accuracy, with 48.3%, as well as 2.6 rebounds and a PIR of 16.3) marks the difference, well complemented by Mario Hezonja (9 points, 4.2 rebounds), Adam Hanga (5.8 points, 2.1 rebounds), fabien causeur (7.3 points) and the Spanish hat-trick Sergio Llull (6.4 points, 2.8 assists) Alberto Abalde (4.8 points) and Rudy Fernandez (5.9 points). At the address, Sergio Rodriguez (5.5 points, 3.2 assists) and Nigel Williams-Goss (6.3 points, 2.9 assists) will carry the handles of the Madrid team.
Securing fourth place is the challenge, not suffering any physical mishap at the gates of BCL F4 is a “necessity”». He looks like we are facing a great game.