Unicaja and Baskonia, both with their sights set on Europe, meet this Sunday at the Martín Carpena (6:30 p.m.) to play a very important Endesa League match. For Unicaja, because maintaining the leadership is at stake, and for the Basques, because they are out of the play off and a defeat in Malaga would put them in a difficult situation regarding their presence in the fight for the ACB title.
It is difficult to manage emotions when in just 5 days you have a European semi-final in sight in Belgrade. But Unicaja has to do it today because this Baskonia is a team with a lot of character, with a special competitive gene and, despite the fact that on Tuesday they start the Euroleague play off against Real Madrid, they will not give the slightest ease to the of Ibon Navarro to consolidate its league leadership.
Perry, during training on Friday. / Unicajab/Photopress-Mariano Pozo
Full squad
The cajista team faces the game with its entire squad. The Unicaja coach from Vitoria must discard the 13 players with whom you train every day, without any requirement for quotas, so you can bet on whether a national or a foreigner rests.
Baskonia arrives in Malaga loaded with games. This same week they played two. On Tuesday, in Belgrade, against Maccabi, and this Friday, another decisive one, at the Buesa Arena, against Virtus de Bologna. Moneke, furthermore, seems to remain low, which further weakens the strength of a rival who, despite everything, is always a danger.
Baskonia always shows its face. /ACBPhooto
Howard, maximum threat
The great threat to the boxing defense is called Markus Howard. And if there is a player in a state of grace in Europe at the moment, it is the Baskonista exterior. The point guard is, despite his 1.78 meters tall, one of the great scorers who play on the continent. Until last weekend, Howard has averaged 27 points in the games he has played between Liga Endesa and Euroleague in the last month. Of those games, in 5 he finished with 34 or more points, while in 9 he reached at least 26 points. It is no coincidence that, with such performance, it is the top scorer in both the Endesa League (19.4 points) and the Euroleague (20 points), averaging 3.7 triples in both competitions. In the last game in the Endesa League, his triple gave Baskonia the victory against Río Breogán, while in the Euroleague Play-In he scored 28 goals in the final match on Friday against Virtus.
Markus Howard, Baskonia player, has amazed the general public in his second season in the Endesa League and Euroleague. / Euroleague
Short but talented squad
It is not Baskonia’s only threat. The current leader in valuation of the Endesa League will almost certainly be low: el ala-pivot Chima Monke. The player averages 15.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and a PIR of 20.4, although a sprain to his left ankle last Tuesday against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the play-in has him out of the team for now.
The versatile Tad Sedekerskis (7.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 12.7 efficiency), the shooting guard Vanja Marinkovic (10.4 points), the point guard Codi Miller-McIntyre (10.2 points, 5.6 assists, 3 rebounds) and the center Matt Costello (11.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 12.3 rating) are other of the main references for Baskonia, which also has the former Unicaja player Dani Diez (3.2 points, 2.5 rebounds).
Díez’s will not be the only reunion. Ibon Navarro will face the team in which he trained as a coach and in which he spent 5 years as assistant coach and practically an entire season as head coach (2014-15). In that season, Navarro took the Vitorian team on matchday 7 of the Endesa League and qualified them for the play off as sixth place. His executioner was Unicaja, who beat him in the quarterfinals 2-1.
Unicaja wants to remain leader of the Endesa League. / Unicajab/Photopress-Mariano Pozo
Another full house in the Palace
The Carpena will be filled to the brim again. The “green tide” has two objectives: to support his team in search of a new victory and to say goodbye to their team before they travel to Belgrade. The team also has two important objectives: to win to remain leader of the Endesa League and to ensure that no one gets injured. If you have to choose only one of the two, I prefer that the second be fulfilled.
2024-04-20 19:00:55
#ENDESA #LEAGUE #Preview #UnicajaBaskonia #Matchday
