A very physical Barça contains Unicaja at the Palau and takes the lead in the semifinal

Barça suffered until the last moments but the victory stayed at the Palau (84-81)

Unicaja never left the match despite losing 16 points and put the Catalans in trouble, who saved the duel

Barça achieved the first point in the semi-fifinal at the Palau after beating a rocky Unicaja (84-81) in a very physical game that fell to the blaugrana side, after a close finish. Those of Ibón Navarro They tightened the pins on Jasikevicius’ men, where Mirotic, with 14 points, was Barça’s top scorer.

A high-tension, fighting game was expected, and the first three minutes neither team was able to scorefruit of that entry into the duel with too much uncontrolled energy between both teams.

It was Vesely who opened the scoring in a very even duel at the beginning, with defenses to the limit of both teams and without anyone taking the initiative despite the first points from Mirotic, very motivated. Ejim responded to Abrines’ first triple, who was the player who kept the team from Malaga in attack (11-11).

Although it was the awakening in Barça’s triple, after failing the first three, when Saras’ men took the initiative. Abrines and two from Sanli, along with an action from Jokubaitis led to the first stretch on the scoreboard with a 11-0 (22-11).

The Barça opens gap

It was difficult for Unicaja to score against the Barça defense and Barça opened the gap in those first 10 minutes with a very physical basketball, leaving Unicaja with only 15 points (26-15).

The Barca he picked up a run, thanks to his defense and an initial triple by Alberto Díezthe Barcelona team responded with good actions from Jokubaitis and Kuric to open the maximum (30-18).

Jasikevicius moved the bench before the rhythm of the duel like Unicaja it was close to seven after Kalinoski’s triple (32-259. Saras stopped the game, and Barça’s reaction was immediate, again from the triple.

Good moments of the Barça

One from Satoransky and another from Laprovittola brought the lead to 15 points (42-27) against a Unicaja where their point guard, Kendrick Perry, who couldn’t get into the game, got into an attempted brawl with Laprovittola, which ended with technique and the two on the bench with three fouls.

A new triple by Mirotic brought the maximum to 16 (45-29) which Ejim reduced to 14 at the break (45-31) With a very physical Barça and with the success in the triple (7/12) they controlled a Unicaja who could not develop their game.

The second half started with total dominance by Unicaja, which completely changed the scene of the first half. Much more focused and accurate on the shot, the people from Malaga posted an initial run of 0-8, which brought them closer to six (45-39).

Kuric broke that bad start for Barça from the triplealthough Ibón Navarro’s men continued to attack easily in the area, with a Yankuba Sima leading the charge (11 points) and they came within just three after Kalinoski’s triple (50-47).

The success of the visitors led them to situate only two points (59-57) with Perry on the bench with four fouls, although Barça ‘survived’ the great quarter of Unicaja (66-58).

With a grown Unicaja, Saras could not wait long to return Mirotic to the track. The game heated up as it reached the final minutes, with techniques for Ejim by releasing the elbow and the despair of Ibón Navarro who could not get close enough to Barça (75-65) at 5:59 from the end.

Close victory but 1-0 in the series

The losses hurt Unicaja although it continued to fight to the death in those final minutesrebounding in attack, but without success in the shot, something that Barça took advantage of to go from 10 (77-67) with 3:21 remaining.

Unicaja continued to believe, with a 0-5 run (77-72) and a three-pointer from Satoransky seemed to decide the duel. But Navarro’s team continued to persist and after Carter’s triple, they came within three points (82-79) with 18 seconds remaining.

After the pressure from the people of Malaga, Laprovittola scored the two free throws (84-79) and Kalinoski forced three shots. He scored two and in the third, which he missed, Unicaja recovered the ball with 3.3 seconds. They had the ball to tie the game, but there was no shot because Mirotic stole the ball to close Barça’s victory (84-81).