Barça qualified this Tuesday for the Endesa League final, the fifth time in a row in that instance, thanks to its 75-87 victory over Unicaja de Málaga, which accused another irregular game in its own pavilion and was eliminated from the Playoff by an aggregate score of 3-1.
The stands of the Martín Carpena, overflowing for the occasion, dreamed of the epic. And they did so knowing that the team from Malaga had made things difficult for Sarunas Jasikevicius’s pupils in the three previous duels of this semifinal. However, two triples by Tomas Satoransky served as a bad omen for the home fans.
Those two distant baskets from the Czech point guard summed up the bad taste that Unicaja was going to have to go through in the first half. Despite the double response of the Bulgarian power forward David Kravish, also with hits from beyond 6.75 meters, the Andalusian team experienced a particular ordeal in the shots from the perimeter.
His discreet 3/8 in triples was combined with a very bad 2/10 in shots from two during the first quarter, seasoned with a possible injury to Kendrick Perry and closed with a score of 13-23. Although Perry’s bad support was left alone in a scare, what seemed to have no remedy was the difference in Carpena’s electronics.
A triple by Darío Brizuela and a technical foul called on the visiting coach gave oxygen to the local team, which expanded its scoring range thanks to the aim of Tyson Carter and Tyler Kalinoski. In this way, the accumulated partial of the second period (24-22) put at rest a hopeful 37-45.
However, by then Nikola Mirotic had already woken up in attack and Álex Abrines had done the same in defence, even scoring points. In addition, Satoransky was still plugged in facing the hoop, so a 4-22 run was the early sentence; the score then went from 46-51 to 50-73, ending the 30th minute at 52-73.
A 6-0 start, with absolute leadership for the ailing Perry, made up the result somewhat. But Barça was not surprised either by Unicaja’s latest rush or by the impetus of its fans, who were emboldened after another technical foul awarded by the referees to Jasikevicius.
The Culé coach ostensibly protested an action by Dylan Osetkowski that had caused Jan Vesely to fall badly, who was in pain on the ground while the Málaga team took out a baseline to mount the counterattack. In the fight for the possible rebound, Vesely fell to the floor and Jasikevicius flew into a rage.
The assistants Tomas Masiulis and David García took the reins of the Barça bench, so as not to touch anything in the head coach’s plans and witness how Barça sealed the victory with clear dominance in the last minutes. The 75-87 was bitter for the locals, but their fans also celebrated a great season.
