By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Everything was ready for a green-and-purple Spring party last year in the Martin Carpena Arena, as Unicaja Malaga was hosting the Basketball Champions League Final Four in their first-ever participation in the élite of the competition.
Starting the season with an outstanding 9-0 run, Ibon Navarro’s team couldn’t deliver after already bringing home the 2023 Copa del Rey, beating both Real Madrid and Barcelona in Badalona.
TJ Shorts and Tuomas Iisalo’s Telekom Baskets Bonn, however, ruined the International party to thousands of purple-and-green fans waving their scarves; on Sunday’s 3rd place game, Lenovo Tenerife came home with other hardware, winning the bronze medal against the hosts.
💚💜 Congratulations @unicajaCB for your amazing #BasketballCL journey! #FinalFour pic.twitter.com/UdtJGkZGQD
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) May 14, 2023
This year, what anticipates the second-ever Basketball Champions League Final Four organized on a neutral site – in 2022 in Bilbao, this time in Belgrade – is a rolling run from Unicaja Malaga, once again.
Entering the Semi-Finals with UCAM Murcia – we will come back to that later – on an unbeaten 8-0 run between the Round of 16 and Quarter-Finals against Promitheas Patras, Ibon Navarro’s team is once again the favorite to win it all.
Obstacles are just around the corner, but the current leaders of the ACB – tying at 25-5 with EuroLeague dominators and reigning champions, Real Madrid – have all they need to pull it off. Let’s find out why.
Keeping the core together
Even before the end of last season, while also communicating Ibon Navarro’s coaching plan to continue taking shape, Unicaja Malaga officially announced renewals for the vast majority of last year’s core players.
11 iconic figures of last year’s run (Dylan Osetkowski, Melvin Ejim, Tyler Kalinoski, Jonathan Barreiro, Alberto Diaz, Tyson Carter, Nihad Dedovic, Will Thomas, David Kravish, Kendrick Perry, Yankuba Sima, and the young Mario Saint-Supery, now on loan) decided to continue their career in the South of Spain.
Called by Barcelona to debut in the EuroLeague, Dario Brizuela was replaced by Kameron Taylor, who was coming off a standout season with Basquet Girona. Counting Augusto Lima‘s return to action, make it a dozen of Unicaja Malaga’s figures staying around in Andalucia.
📰 COMUNICADO OFICIAL
— UnicajaCB (@unicajaCB) March 27, 2023
The expected result is continuity in both style and results. Without a clear go-to-guy, Unicaja Malaga is the product of several different leaders. The defensive anchor in Alberto Diaz, the man of versatility in David Kravish, the sharp-shooter Tyler Kalinoski, the charismatic figure in Kendrick Perry…
Proof of this is that there isn’t one single player who exceeds in playing possessions for Unicaja. Between the player with the most Usage (Dylan Osetkowski at 26.14) and the 10th in such category (Nihad Dedovic, 18.8) there’s only a difference of 7.34.
What excels mostly, however, is how the purple-and-green powerhouse has managed throughout the months to keep the defensive intensity as high as possible, allowing a BCL-best 98.51 points per 100 possessions to the opponents, as they allowed only 71.5 points per game to other teams.
A familiar clash approaching
Facing UCAM Murcia in the Semi-Finals, Unicaja Malaga has the opportunity to finally book a ticket for gold. However, the pitfalls are all there considering the opponents’ distributed strength.
In both Defensive Rating (99.88) and points allowed to the opponents (73.14), Sito Alonso’s team is second only to Ibon Navarro’s side. And it’s not the only similarity between the two sides. Unicaja Malaga (16.5) and UCAM Murcia (16.28) are also the best two BCL teams in Net Rating.
Winning by 23 points (88-65) in Murcia in the ACB Round 15, Unicaja has already proven to be superior, but UCAM was a completely different team from today, even without Jonah Radebaugh on board. In Belgrade, everything is brought back to another tip-off. Dreaming of a successful ending this time.
⌛️ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗪#RoadToBelgrade🏆
💚💜 #YoSoyDelUnicaja #BasketballCL @BasketballCL pic.twitter.com/Hl26EaBRK2
— UnicajaCB (@unicajaCB) April 22, 2024
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League
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