The Spaniards demolished by the underdogs’ motivation
The majority of the basketball lovers, including journalists and other specialists, expected a final of the Basketball Champions League between La Laguna Tenerife and Unicaja Malaga, without a doubt the strongest teams of the competition, in the absence of the hosts of the tournament, Joventut Badalona. But the basketball game, especially in a one-encounter format, is always full of surprises.
After Tenerife’s defeat by Rytas, AEK’s victory over Unicaja was already expected. It was the moment of the underdog teams with a big heart, energy and motivation. Both the Lithuanians and the Greeks showed determination and character from the beginning of the clash. They looked weaker on the paper in front of the amazing rosters of the Spanish teams, but roster is not everything.
I think the same story happened with small, different details in both encounters that provided us with an unexpected final on Saturday between Rytas Vilnius and AEK Athens. The underdogs started strong while their opponents lost the rhythm from the first minute. Maybe Unicaja and Tenerife are “tired” of being present so many times in the Final Four and in the Finals, and their motivation started to decline a bit. Also, in the case of Tenerife, the ageing of the group is becoming an issue: Rytas played fresher, faster, and easier on both sides of the court. Of course, Marcelinho made an amazing game, despite his age, but the whole group looked slower and not in the best shape in front of the young Lithuanian squad.
In the other game, AEK surprised Unicaja with the physicality of the basketball they played. The Americans and the Greeks were everywhere, rebounding everything, jumping, dunking, running like hell for every ball, making a collective defense, meanwhile, Malaga was the shadow of the team that dominated the competition in the last 3 years.
You can see all of this reflected in the worst 3-point percentage of Tenerife, only 12%, while Unicaja had 25%. Poor scoring for the Spanish teams, and at the same time, they allowed easy points for their opponents.
Last but not least, the crowd of fans helped a lot: the Lithuanians and the Greeks came in higher numbers and were noisier than the supporters of Tenerife and Unicaja. A well-deserved final for both of the winning teams.
Gratian Cormos
Image: BCL
