Can Galatasaray steal the win against Unicaja in Istanbul?
Unicaja Malaga will be the guest of Galatasaray NEF in the 4th match of Group K in the last 16 of the Basketball Champions League, Thursday, March 9 at Sinan Erdem Sports Hall.
Tuesday was the match in Spain between them, a match won by Malaga at the end with 81-76. Malaga started the match strong, leading with 11 points, 23-12. Galatasaray managed to restore the tie and then even lead with 7 points in the 3rd quarter, the end was tight but Tyson Carter’s 3-point shot and Brizuela’s sure hand on free throws 4/4 made Caloiaro’s efforts 7/7 of the action to be useless. From the home team, Brizuela with 20 points, Kendrick Perry with 19 points and Kravish with 9 points plus 11 rebounds stood out, from the guests Caloiaro 19 points, Kabaca 13 points and Russell 12 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists.
The Turks are not going through the best period, they have 5 consecutive defeats and they desperately need victories both in the championship and in the BCL. In the BCL they are in 3rd place, with 1 win and 2 defeats and they need to win the last matches in the group. The good part is that they have no problems with injuries. The biggest problem in the first match against Malaga was that Kabaca, Russell, and Ennis had a combined 13/39 from the action.
Malaga is much more relaxed, won the Copa del Rey, is 3-0 in this group and comes after 5 consecutive victories, winning both Barcelona and Real Madrid in this series. Nihad Djedovic will be missing after the injury in the Copa del Rey, but the team is based on one of the favorites for MVP of the season, Dario Brizuela and one of the best defenders of the competition, Alberto Díaz.
We are waiting for a match between 2 teams that go through completely opposite forms, but the value difference did not exist in the first match between them, so the “fan factor” could be decisive.
Valentin Petruta
Photo credit: Basketball Champions League
