The Copa del Rey champion packed his bags in the first changes. Major disappointment for Barça in Badalona. The Blaugrana team died of the same disease as always. He was not able to close a game that he dominated by 13 points and ended up losing in overtime against Unicaja (87-89). The culer team went from more to less in an eliminatory that accentuated some of the flaws of this season. Kendrick Perry scored the game-winning basket with nine seconds left as Nico Laprovittola then missed two free throws with eight-tenths left in overtime.
Weakened in recent months, Sarunas Jasikevicius did not find the key for Barça to compete regularly. “As a coach, the responsibility is all mine. I didn’t get our players to understand that this was a final. I didn’t manage to close out the games. The word give away is very tiring, but we are giving away a lot,” analyzed the Lithuanian coach , who regretted the personal fouls committed by his team when he was already in good. “We can’t make so many personal fouls in the last quarter,” he acknowledged.
Saras ruled out Kyle Kuric, Oriol Paulí and Oscar da Silva to contest the quarter-final match. Although he has only reappeared a few days ago, the Lithuanian coach opted to sign up Sergi Martínez. “I can’t tell you how to deal with the rest of the season. Now we have to pack our bags and go home. We will sit down with the coaching staff and the players to talk and improve. The worst thing is that my speech will be very similar today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. We fail to take the next step,” he summarized.
With almost as many turnovers (12) as assists (15), Barça was not regular against Unicaja. Despite showing courage in the final stretch and not shirking responsibility when the ball was burning, Nico Laprovittola and Nikola Mirotic were far from their usual level.
Unicaja is an uncomfortable team, especially because of their outside players. The defensive pressure of the team coached by Ibon Navarro directly affects the ball circulation of the rivals. The Basque coach, who had Augusto Lima and Yankuba Sima out, ran a great match management to hide his weaknesses. The faith of Kendrick Perry and Darío Brizuela did the rest.
After an even first quarter (21-20), Barça deciphered the game against a Unicaja team that struggled to keep up its scoring pace. A partial run of 16-1 boosted the options of a Barcelona team that achieved a 13-point advantage on the scoreboard (34-21). Guided by some good shooting percentages and their dominance in the rebound, the culer set had good feelings. The only slab was the lost balls. Unicaja reacted and regained self-respect before reaching the break (41-34).
Navarro introduced defensive changes to alter the rhythm of the game. His zonal proposals slowed down the possessions of a Barça that arrived with a short advantage in the last quarter (55-50). The Blaugrana team did not know how to close the game and Cory Higgins could not dress as a hero. The American escort missed a decisive shot and the tie was decided in overtime (76-76). In extra time, Unicaja’s faith prevailed.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, avoided the corner and opened with a victory against Valencia Basket (86-85). Although it reached a difference of 16 points, the white team did not have a comfortable game against an opponent that had two shots to win the tie. Chris Jones missed the two decisive throws and the team coached by Chus Mateo, who had 20 more free throws than their opponent, avoided an unexpected upset in Badalona.
Good atmosphere, away from the crowd
The Palau Olímpic presented a good atmosphere on the opening day, although it was far from the full house desired by the organizers. El Joventut, a host eager to recover past exploits, enters the scene this Friday (9.30 p.m., Movistar + Deportes) playing the last tie of the quarter-finals against Cazoo Baskonia. The great strategic objective of La Penya will be to stop Markus Howard, the great sensation of the first half of the season. To do so, the green-and-black team will have to come up with a more physical defense than usual. The other tie will pit Lenovo Tenerife against Gran Canaria (6:30 p.m., Movistar + Deportes).