Unicaja returned empty-handed from Las Palmas to Málaga last season. Nothing strange because it is one of those fields where it has historically been more difficult for the green team to add away victories in the Endesa League. But that 88-70 defeat on February 4, just a few days before playing and winning the Copa del Rey in Badalona, was not in just another game. It was on an afternoon-night in which the Argentine forward of “Granca” Nico Brussino made history in the ACB… at the expense of an overwhelmed Unicaja.
Ibon Navarro, who was sent off that match for a double technical, after a more than disputed refereeing performance, admitted it at a press conference: «It is not worth talking about the referees when we have seen Brussino’s display today. He has been imperial. When there is a player who plays like that, it is very difficult to win.
The Argentine forward was unstoppable for the green defense
The truth is that Unicaja witnessed a legendary league display. And Nicolás Brussino entered the history of the Endesa League that day as the first player to score 35 points or more in a game with 100% accuracy in field goals, in addition to achieving the third highest rating of the present XXI century.
5/5 in two-pointers, 5/5 in three-pointers, 9 rebounds and 3 assists for 49 rating credits. With this unprecedented statistical line, the Gran Canaria forward broke the record that Lance Berwald had set in 1989 after converting 33 points with 14/14 shooting from two. In that game, yes, the then Collado Villalba center did not attempt a single shot beyond the 3-point line.
Unstoppable
Likewise, Brussino achieved the third highest individual rating in an Endesa League match of this 21st century against Unicaja, on matchday 19 of the last Regular Phase (49)., equaling the mark of former cajista Lou Roe in 2005, as a Caja San Fernando player. Second place, with 52 credits, is the work of Luis Scola on two occasions (2002 and 2004) and Sylven Landesberg in 2018. The highest number of this millennium is shared by Terquin Mott (2000) and Pete Mickeal (2006), both with 54 points.
Of all the players on that list, the Argentine from Gran Canaria is the one who spent the least time on the court, only 33 minutes and 45 seconds.
Brussino’s only two errors against Unicaja came from the free throw in a wild final quarter where he scored 20 points in just nine minutes..
Next rival, Sunday at 1 p.m.
Unicaja will meet Brussino again this coming Sunday at 1:00 p.m. on the Canary Islands court. The greens, after two consecutive defeats, will arrive somewhat challenged by the situation. In the memory of Ibon Navarro and his boys there will surely be that performance that everyone saw firsthand, except Kameron Taylor, the only reinforcement who arrived at Unicaja this past summer.