Barça scored first in their semi-final against Unicaja. The Barcelona team had to work hard for the win after starting with credit. He beat Malaga and always dominated the scoreboard but he could not breathe easy until the end. In the shelter of the Palau, where the Blaugrana have won in all their matches in the League, Jasikevicius’ team took advantage with good performances from Mirotic, Vesely, Abrines and Sanli. Tomorrow, second assault, also at Barça’s ancient pavilion.
The party was born cold. In the stands, perhaps because of parking problems at the Palau due to not being able to access it by car due to the Camp Nou works. And on the court, with a recital of shooting errors in the first minutes by both teams. However, the situation would soon change. Barça woke up earlier than their rival with Mirotic, nothing to do with this version of the wing-pivot with the calamitous final four. The Spanish-Montenegrin was joined by Sanli and Abrines, with their successes in the triples. Quickly, then, Barça distanced themselves, gained control of the game, imposed the leisurely rhythm that suited them and minimized Unicaja, whose hands were tied by a very involved Barça defense that forced turnovers.
The tone was more similar to that of the two matches in the regular season than to that of the Copa del Rey tie, in which the Malaga team surprised Barça.
Ibon Navarro, the Unicaja coach, moved the bench with fruition but neither that nor his adjustments gave results. Barcelona were only distracted by an unsportsmanlike foul on Mirotic and a technical foul on Jasikevicius, but the Lithuanian called for order, Satoransky was back on track and the Barcelona coordinates were working again. A triple by Mirotic raised the score to 16 points and at the intermission Barça left with a good cushion (45-31).
However, he came back from the dressing room relaxed and Unicaja took advantage of it to be reborn with Sima’s mates. Seven points almost in a row from the pivot restored the faith of the Málaga players who in no time got into the full match with a partial 6-17 (50-47). Denied at Palau because his team was incomprehensibly below par. Fortunately for their interests, Vesely and Jokubaitis went with the oxygen cylinder so that Barça faced the last quarter in front (66-58).
Barcelona’s victory, despite the efforts of Avenc, Ejim and Carter, remained at home. With conflicts, of course, since Unicaja had one last possession to equalize. He didn’t do it.
