By Juan Calderon/ jcalderon@diariosur.es
Nobody could expect Unicaja to still have chances to qualify to Euroleague’s quarterfinals after having only two wins after the first six games in Top 16. Although two big wins in row, against Panathinaikos and Real in Madrid proved that they will fight till the end.
I think that the players are motivated in Euroleague, more than in Liga Endesa’s games. They want to show their best and the best example is Marcus Williams. The Spanish teams are more physical, so the European teams are more comfortable for him. Also, the scouting reports in Spain are more focused on him than in the Euroleague, where he has more freedom.
In addition, Unicaja feels less pressure in Euroleague, where they play without having in mind the “classification stress”. In Liga Endesa every game is difficult. Also, coach Repesa seems to be more focused on the Euroleague. This is a historical opportunity for him to show that he’s good coach in the highest level of the European basketball which he knows really well. Don’t forget that he isn’t familiar with the Spanish basketball and doesn’t know very well the league, the referees, the players and its idiosyncrasies.
That’s why Malaga is worse in Spanish league in comparison with Euroleague. The ninth place in the Liga Endesa is absolutely fair. The team is preparing perfectly for European games the whole week and in most of the cases they have less than 48 hours for their domestic league game, they are tired and often they have also to travel.
The absence from “Copa Del Rey” hurt the team very much, but during the days of the final eight they were training very hard to improve themselves. One crucial change of Malaga’s game is that the guards cooperate more and better with the “bigs”, something obvious, if you watch Luka Zoric, who has the best season of his career.
Calloway and Williams changed the way they play and also Simon helps a lot. He has a very good relationship with Zoric and helped him to improve. Also, Williams plays more as a shooting guard next to Calloway (not instead of him) and he shoots very well. Repesa’s opinion until two months ago was that Williams can’t play at shooting guard because he’s too slow. He changed his mind and now Williams is the best player of Unicaja.
A lot of credit should go to Jasmin Repesa. He was under great pressure and didn’t feel comfortable. But the sport director and the president supported him and kept him in his position. You have to believe in your project and not change it every four months. An interesting stat for Repesa is that he has eight wins on road in the Euroleague, more than anyone else in Unicaja’s history. Even Scariolo in 2007 qualified in the Final Four of Athens having only three wins on road.
After the great wins against Panathinaikos and Real, everybody in Malaga believes. Real’s defeat by Canarias is the best advantage for Unicaja, because I believe that Panathinaikos will pay for it in Madrid. Unicaja’s players have such self confidence at this point that they are sure they can win either CSKA or Efes. But the most crucial game for Malaga is this week. They are obligated to win and to add pressure to Panathinaikos.