Unicaja won thriller series against FC Barcelona
The field for the ACB League semifinals is now complete after the incredible quarterfinal series between Unicaja Malaga and FC Barcelona ended yesterday evening with the victory of the team from Andalusia in the decisive Game 3.
Both teams won their away game in the first two matchups. In Game 1 in Malaga, the visitors from Barcelona managed to take the game into overtime after Unicaja blew a 6-point lead with just a minute and a half remaining in the 4th quarter, and the Catalans won the extra period by four points. Three days later, in the Palau Blaugrana, it was a different story with Malaga dominating the game from start to finish. Ibon Navarro’s team won in the end by 22 points and sent the series back to Malaga for the decisive Game 3.
11.000 fans packed the Palacio de Deportes Martin Carpena for Game 3, creating an amazing atmosphere for what became an amazing game. Like in Game 1 when Malaga blew a significant lead, this time it was Barca that missed a great opportunity to close the game and qualify for the semifinals. They had an 80-70 lead with under three minutes left in the game when Willy Hernangomez fouled out, and it proved to be an important moment in the end. Unicaja tied the game with 7 seconds left and sent the game to overtime. While Kevin Punter made some heroic plays in overtime (he made two four-point plays in these 5 minutes), it was not enough, and Malaga won 97-95.
In the semifinals, Malaga will meet Real Madrid in a best-of-five series, with Real having the home-court advantage. In the quarterfinals, the team from Madrid beat Baskonia 2-0, but seeing the way Malaga fought against Barcelona in every game, we could see another potential upset by Unicaja, who can reach the ACB finals.
Imre Halasz
Photo credit: Malaga Hoy
