Barça and Unicaja look for the 'semis' from the defense

Barça and Unicaja will look for the 'semis' from the defense

BADALONA, 15 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Barça and Unicaja star this Thursday at 9:30 p.m. in the second semifinal of the Copa del Rey de Badalona, ​​a cross between two of the best defenses in the Endesa League to which the 'culers', who defend their two titles in a row, arrive in good form while Unicaja seems to have more doubts.

After the draw for the draw, it already seemed that this Barça-Unicaja match would be even and, hours before the match, it was confirmed. By record, for the moment, Sarunas Jasikevicius's Barça can be considered favorites but in the KO tournament there are always surprises and Unicaja has tricks to try to be one of them.

The truth is that Barça arrives without losses, with Sergi Martínez already recovered, and in a streak of 10 consecutive games won in the Endesa League, including the duels against Unicaja (75-60) and Real Madrid (78-87), which He could be a possible rival in the semifinals by going on the same side of the table.

The blaugrana, in the upper zone of the Endesa League and the Euroleague, dominate the latest editions of the Copa del Rey, with four titles won in the last five years and two of them consecutively in 2021 and 2022, winning on both occasions against Real Madrid, his eternal rival and who already has one more Cup title at the top of his record.

With a Nikola Mirotic willing to repeat the 'MVP' of 2022, or Cory Higgins of 2021, the truth is that this Barça was reinforced very well in the summer with the return of Tomas Satoransky or the signing of Jan Vesely, with a Nico Laprovittola that continues to be key and with more offensive weight.

Unicaja, for its part, comes from losing the last two rounds against Gran Canaria and Baskonia --2 cup-bearer teams that are on the other side of the table-- and losing some of its spirit. Even so, since in the Cup they start from scratch, the Ibon Navarro players are looking forward to an appointment that they could not attend last year.

Of course, to the two recent defeats we must add another bad news in the form of loss of Yankuba Sima, due to a grade one injury in the left leg adductor. It adds to the already known and long-term absence of Augusto Lima. On the other hand, the squad player Mario Saint-Supéry enters the squad.

Barça and Unicaja have met seven times in the Copa del Rey, five of them in the quarterfinals. And everything, everything, were blaugrana triumphs. Of course, in 2021 the duel went to extra time after a 20-point comeback from the 'culers'. Unicaja, without a doubt, wants to improve that performance and finally be able to sink his teeth into the Catalans in the Cup.

In the Endesa League, in the first round, Barça defeated the team from Malaga (75-60) with an outstanding performance by Argentine point guard Nico Laprovittola (13 points and 4 assists). It was a match where the Blaugrana inside game stood out, with 10 points from Jan Vesely and another 10 from Mike Tobey.

However, Barça and Unicaja stand out for their defenses. Barça is the second best defense in the Endesa League with only 72.35 points allowed on average. Unicaja, for its part, is the fifth team that fits the least (77.65). Thus, whoever is capable of breaking the rival's framework will already have one of those famous details that decide these games on their side.

BARÇA: Satoransky, Laprovittola, Kalinic, Mirotic and Vesely --possible starting five--; Sanli, Martinez, Abrines, Higgins, Tobey, Jokubaitis and Nnaji.

UNICAJA: Díaz, Kalinoski, Djedovic, Thomas and Kravish --possible starting five--; Osetkowski, Ejim, Barreiro, Brizuela, Carter, Perry and Saint-Supéry.

-- PAVILION: Badalona Olympic.

--TIME: 9:30 p.m./Movistar Sports-