Badalona magnifies the Cup by turning it once again, after thirteen years of white and Barca tyranny, into a wonderful box of surprises. All the credit goes to Unicaja, capable of defeating Barça in the quarterfinals and doing the same in the semifinals against Real Madrid to sneak into the grand final and go down in history. Nobody had ever defeated the two greats in the same edition of an ACB Cup. It had not happened since 1953, when it was still called the Copa del Generalísimo.
If it is necessary to point out the ‘culprits’, there is no doubt that Ibon Navarro’s slate is the first thing that appears in anyone’s mind, tremendous against Barça and even more transcendent against Madrid, Mateo highly noted, to whom chance Nor did it help him with the injuries to Musa and the gap to Tavares, which greatly reduced his ability to react in a second half of incontestable Andalusian dominance.
Unicaja’s hunger, infinitely greater than that of a Madrid with a very full belly -they had been playing in the final for ten years in a row-, was reflected in many aspects of the game but especially in the rebound. With Sima and Lima dressed for the street, with hardly any inside game, although Kravish (20 points) was worth four, he was able to overcome the whites’ physical superiority and capture 34 balls, drying Madrid by 25.
Unicaja broke out after the break after a first half as beautiful as it was even. The points from Osetkowski and Kravish made Brizuela forget a bad day and began to crack the score. The only opposition from Madrid came with the usual signature, that of Tavares and Deck, but the whites were not seen at all involved in the game. An extreme that was fully confirmed in the last quarter, when Carter warmed up his wrist and joined the Malaga party (64-78, m.33).
Real Madrid threatened with the comeback but was very unsuccessful in the free kick (21/31) and Olímpic, disguised as Martín Carpena, erupted with joy. Badalona is already the history of the Cup.
82 – Real Madrid (19 20 20 23): Williams-Goss (9), Musa (10), Hezonja (2), Yabusele (6), Tavares (19) – starting five – Causeur (8), Sergio Rodriguez (5). ), Hanga (3), Deck (15), Rudy Fernandez (0), Poirier (5) and Cornelie (0).
93 – Unicaja (17 22 27 27): Perry (10), Carter (12), Djedovic (5), Ejim (7), Kravish (20) -starting five- Brizuela (1), Díaz (2), Osetkowski ( 14), Barreiro (3), Kalinoski (11) and Thomas (8).
Referees: Antonio Conde, Óscar Perea and Rafael Serrano. No deleted.
Incidents: First semifinal of the Copa del Rey played at the Palau Municipal d’Esports in Badalona before 11,547 spectators.
