The rock and roll of Unicaja wins the Surprise Cup

• Real Madrid The reasons for a failure

The second Cup in its history came to Unicaja when it least expected it, when the steepest road presented itself.

At the Badalona Olympic he completed a feat for history.

After having fleeced Barcelona and Real Madrid consecutively, which no one before, ended up in the final with Lenovo Tenerife, there where the rock and roll of the wild group of

had no response at the moment of truth.

[80-83: Narration and Statistics]

13 years later, the Copa de las sorpresas focused on the people of Malaga the epic of the unexpected.

A storied Spanish basketball player who has experienced his particular journey through the desert, of gray seasons away from that elite with whom he rubbed shoulders in the

era .

With the Italian on the bench, the 2005 Cup, the 2006 ACB, the 2007 Final Four... The last title was a relief, a kind of mirage, the 2017 Eurocup with Joan

.

Since this unforgettable weekend in Badalona, ​​another trophy has been in the compositor cabinets thanks to guys who believed in themselves from the start.

And above all by a coach who, winks of fate, a year ago was fired from the Andorra bench.

Because it is a choral success.

Of heroes for each moment, of a squad with nine new faces.

on the first day,

against Real Madrid in the semifinals, always

;

, the MVP

and

in the final against a Tenerife that rowed as far as the forces of its veterans reached it, breathless and the impressive

and his sidekick

on the finish line.

orchards

It was a final from less to more.

At dawn it was a matter of containing their emotions, of reining in the euphoria of the previous hours, of both being aware of how close they were to history.

But also to impose his plan, so in the Antipodes the basketball that Tenerife and Unicaja boast of.

And, in that eternal scoring that was the first part, it was

's men who were taking over the sensations, even more than the score.

In the first final ever, after having played five of the last six semifinals, they were going to be left with honey on their lips.

The aurinegra roadmap, the one that they have been tracing successfully in recent seasons -since 2017, two FIBA ​​Champions and three Intercontinentals, the last one last week-, a block that hardly varies, is that of solidity and defense, cage the rival and go undermining his resistance with the Malaysian drop that Huertas and Shermadini suppose, a connection that feeds back, that is understood with looks.

It is the team that conceded the fewest points in the entire ACB and in the first quarter the volcanic Unicaja could only score 17 points, with a final triple from Kalinovski.

It was in the second quarter when Tenerife gave the first warning, a 12-4 run in which Shermadini dominated the paint.

But there was a fissure through which Unicaja could continue in the breach.

It was going to be key.

In addition to his triples, the offensive rebound (up to nine in the first act) was the loophole for which he managed to equalize.

Only a triple mark from Marcelinho's house, from midfield to one leg, so similar to that of the 2012 League final at the Palau, gave the islanders a minimal advantage at halftime (39-37).

Around the locker room the storm broke out, how could it be otherwise.

Outside contemplations.

The audacity of the people from Malaga, who returned with a 0-7 run, was forcefully answered.

In a Canarian reaction led by Huertas, irrepressible even for Alberto Díaz.

It was a 14-0 that made Unicaja tremble (53-44).

Or it seemed, because in that abyss, his wrists relaxed.

Based on triples came his reply, the four without a miss from

's school

, Davidson University.

And the three followed by Tyson Carter, the unexpected hero: he entered the court in the middle of a crisis in the second half (52-44) and left with 17 points and his team in full swing (72-78).

Equality could not be endured at the Olímpic and the exchange was brutal.

But the triples were torture for Tenerife and Unicaja ran more and more, imposing his physique, his tendency to always attack.

When

hit the umpteenth, something seemed to break.

There were four minutes remaining and the Galician stole a ball for Osetkowski to strike again from the perimeter (69-77).

It was already the end for a final that was remembered perhaps because it will take time to repeat itself, without Barça or Madrid at the top.

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