Real Madrid - Unicaja

Spain - ACB league, Round 31

There is no rational calculation, according to which a convincing triumph of Real Madrid against Unicaja would be the expected result at this moment, in the derby of the 31st round of the Spanish ACB league.
It is clear that Real Madrid has a much bigger concern at the moment than this game. They are primarily thinking about the crucial fifth match of the Euroleague quarterfinals, against Partizan on Wednesday. That duel will decide which team goes to the final four tournament of the elite European competition.
Also, the Madrid giant, the most trophy-winning club in the ACB league and Euroleague, has major concerns regarding the squad. The match against Unicaja will be the first for Real in which the famous "whites" will play without one of their best players, Argentinian forward Gabriel Deck. The player who is the second best in the Real team this season in terms of statistical performance, suffered a serious knee injury in the previous match against Partizan. He will not play until the end of the season and he is expected to recover for at least a few months. His energy, along with basketball intelligence and great physical characteristics, are important drivers for Real's successful game, both in attack and defense. The team now has to adapt and search for new solutions, and the match against Unicaja is not even close to being a good opportunity for finding new attacking variants.
The Real Madrid team is also aware, that they can hardly improve their position until the ACB league playoffs - third place is now a reality. It will be difficult for Real to improve the ranking, but they cannot spoil it.
On the other side, there will be a Unicaja team that, according to many, is among the best in Europe in terms of form this spring. The last time in all competitions Unicaja was defeated on March 19, against the Euroleague powerhouse Barcelona 86:81. Since then, the club from Malaga has achieved 11 victories in a row in all competitions.
More importantly, most of those Unicaja games were really impressive wins. In the last round, the Malaga team beat the excellent Manresa team 97:88, and since the beginning of April, they have scored at least 90 points in six out of nine matches!
Of course, this does not mean that Unicaja is the favorite in Madrid against Real, far from it - but the quality of this team's games in the previous period is a guarantee that we will have at least an uncertain match.
In the the Spanish National Cup match, on February 18, Unicaja beat Real Madrid 93:82 on a neutral ground – and thus paved the way to the trophy. Also, it must be pointed out that Unicaja, unlike their rivals, has a bigger competitive motive in this match in Madrid. The team is fighting for fourth place, which guarantees home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
With only four rounds until the playoffs, the visitors will be extremely motivated. This team plays dominant team basketball, the key players share responsibility, so as many as seven Unicaja players have at least eight points on average in the ACB league this season. The key is guard Kendrick Perry, the playmaker of the Montenegrin national team, who is the team's first scorer and assistant with 12.2 points and four assists on average. But also the best defender, with 1.3 steals per game. This is a team of real fighters, who will perform against the famous Real Madrid with a lot of confidence, fresh and convinced that they can fight to the end.