Unicaja - Tenerife
Spain - Liga ACB, Playoffs, Quarterfinal
The Basketball Expert
Unicaja made a surprise in the first game of the Endesa League quarterfinals. They weren’t favorites on paper, but they beat Tenerife at road (59:72) and now they will have a match point in Malaga. Defensively, Ibon Navarro's team was impressive. They allowed the opponent only 20 points in the first half and even then it was clear that they would win. Kendrick Perry hit shots at important moments, plus almost all players found a way to score easy buckets on the hoop. Ever since they won the Copa del Rey, their confidence is at an extremely high level. From mid-March to May, they won 11 games in a row in all competitions and believe they will finish the job in this clash.
This game could be the end of an era for Tenerife. Their most important players have been together for four or five years (Giorgi Shermadini, Marcelinho Huertas and Sasu Salin) and the system built around them has worked flawlessly so far. They won the FIBA Champions League twice, and they were defeated by Unicaja in the Copa del Rey final this year. It is true that Unicaja played fantastic defense in the first half of the first game, but it should also be noted that Tenerife offense completely failed. They got nervous, and when that is the case, then the primary plan is deviated from. They are coming to Malaga with the desire to redeem themselves and return this series to their home floor, and we should expect to see a completely different version of them.
Both teams finished the regular season at 24-10. Before the start of the series, it was thought that it would be very difficult for anyone to make a break and that the most realistic outcome will be 2-1 for Tenerife, but that is no longer the case. However, in the FIBA Champions League semifinals, Unicaja showed that they don’t cope well with pressure. They played on their home court, but were defeated by Bonn. Now the burden of expectations is again on their side and they will surely expect a mentally tougher game than was the case on Sunday. Tenerife is a more than experienced team and they will know how to give themselves a chance to equalize at 1-1. They may not succeed, but it is also unrealistic that they lose convincingly against Unicaja twice in this series. Drama late in the fourth quarter is the most likely outcome.
Pistol Pete
As a strong favorite, Unicaja will play against Canarias Tenerife on their home ground in Malaga to confirm the break in the 2nd match of the quarter-finals of the Spanish ACB league.
Regardless of the fact that the Tenerife team finished ACB league regular season in a better position, the difference in the quality and experience of these squads is clear. Malaga showed it, in what many considered an unexpectedly easy away triumph, 72:59 in their first playoff match played on May 28.
Previously, Unicaja convincingly defeated Bilbao 103:71 away from home, and before that Canarias Tenerife 75:71, in the last two rounds of the regular season. Obviously, the team from the south of Spain is on the rise and clearly timed their form for June, after winning the national cup in February.
The performances at the end of that competition during the winter showed that Unicaja, the team of the famous coach Ibon Navarro, knows how to play exceptional warrior basketball in difficult elimination games, even against teams that play in the Euroleague. This is squad that keeps up attacking mentality and plays dominantly as a team, without the classic first shooting option, and the excellent athlete and guard of the Montenegrin national team, Kendrick Perry, is a key player in both attack and defense. Also, Navarro's team is designed so that it has 12 players who can make a contribution in the realization, so it is extremely difficult for rivals to tactically prepare matches against Unicaja.
The team from Malaga is particularly dominant when it comes to home matches, and as the hosts, they last lost in the domestic championship on March 19 against Barcelona (86:81).
Canarias Tenerife seem like a tired team overall - with four defeats in their last seven games, played in May. These were also some defeats in the exciting endings of the matches, so the team is obviously mentally worn out. The problem are duels with teams that perform with a wide rotation of players, and Unicaja is just such a rival. Both teams played well in March and April in the ACB league, but Tenerife, club from Canary Islands, seem to have faltered in the meantime.
Counting on the convincing editions of Malaga in their arena, but also on the top edition against Tenerife in the previous away match - we should expect the hosts to solve the match without an excessively exciting ending. After three disappointing seasons without the playoffs, Malaga sees this match as a real spectacle and a chance to make the long-awaited breakthrough in the national league, which the club won in 2006. Canarias has nowhere near such a basketball tradition and the team will be satisfied with the performance in the quarter-finals.