Bilbao. ” />
Jaime Fernández, defended by Rousselle during the match against Bilbao. /
He showed more energy and attitude, but the centers of the Basque team did a huge damage to him (83-77)
Unicaja accentuated its crisis with a new defeat, this time against Surne Bilbao (83-77). The team led by Fotis Katsikaris improved their attitude and even the basketball that they had shown in recent games, but they had nothing to do against an opponent who destroyed it with their three pivots. Between Delgado, Withey and Inglis, they scored 42 points and grabbed 27 rebounds… With this enormous superiority, the team coached by Álex Mumbrú controlled the game completely and added their sixth straight win at home. Unicaja is already condemned to fight for permanence, because playing the ‘play-off’ is very complicated. It is the sad reality of a group that is light years away from what was expected.
It remains to be seen what decision the board of directors makes on Fotis Katsikaris, who could continue to wait to see if the signings of Dejan Kravic and Matt Mooney manage to reverse the situation. And be careful, because the calendar is not going to give you a break. Next weekend he visits Zaragoza before receiving Real Madrid. Now the objective is to add some victory that moves him away from the bottom of the classification…
Delgado’s Domain
The match began with a dizzying pace by both teams. Bilbao only needed a couple of passes to get the ball into the area and for Ángel Delgado to start scoring against the Malaga centers. The Puerto Rican was a nightmare from the start and was literally unstoppable. With only Nzosa and Guerrero as inside references, it was clearer than ever that outside shooting would be the foundation of their game. As the triples entered the first quarter, the typesetter team withstood the push of an electric Bilbao, but they did not know how to cover the success of Bouteille and Abromaitis.
As soon as Unicaja missed a couple of three-pointers, Bilbao soon distanced themselves, partly because they completely dominated the rebound and because their shooting percentage was extremely high. With 30-21 Katsikaris stopped the game and tried to rebuild his team, although Delgado was still out of control. Literally unstoppable. Luckily, Unicaja recovered the success and elaborated well in attack to find an excellent Abromaitis in good positions (4/5 in triples). Despite the eight three-pointers in the first half and the fact that they made few losses, the typesetter team lost 46-38 at halftime due to the total dominance of their rival in rebounding and because their centers only scored 4 points in 20 minutes. Despite the difference in the score and always going behind, the sensations left by Unicaja’s game were better than in previous games.
Unicaja came out of the locker room concentrated and tightened the game with some actions by a Brizuela that had been very unwise until then, but his game was lame and with a huge gap in the rebound. If before it was Delgado, now it was Inglis and Withey. Between the French and the American, now with a community passport, they continued to destroy the typesetter defense. The first not only scored, but also created good situations for his teammates to do so. The second was an offensive rebounding nightmare. Unicaja was losing scoring pace and the match was getting very complicated. A detail, Bilbao did not need a triple to close the third quarter winning 64-53.
Despite the fact that Unicaja showed a little more defensive consistency with Alberto Díaz as a great prop, they could not contain the rival pivots at the back and it was a drama to see how Bilbao had two and even three attacking options as a result of that dominance. Inglis ended typesetter options. There was a final reaction, but like so many times already this season Unicaja was worth nothing.
