[Sport]The Unicaja of the heroic Darío Brizuela takes Barça to the limit

[SougarLord]

 

the epic burst into the Cup, a game of those to save on video, a battle of exhausted heroes, fighters on the edge, sky-high temperatures, suffering and comebacks. Barça escaped, in extra time, from the trap of a huge Unicaja, whom he had to kill several times. Hurricane Brizuela nearly swept the favorite away. [103-93: Narration and statistics]

 

That the controversial ending, the expulsion of Katiskaris, the ugly gesture of Jasikevicius with Germán Gabriel, does not cloud everything else. May Higgins's talent for solving or Unicaja's bravery not be clouded. This Saturday Barça will arrive physically broken in their semifinal against Baskonia because in front they had a group that did not conform, that rebelled against the forecasts, that showed a pride that did not deserve defeat.

 

Barça's virtue was not losing his cool, not giving up his roadmap, not despairing when he did not find the best version of Mirotic. And it was not easy because of how the Unicaja duel left him, who dreamed strong of the tournament's bombshell thanks to the display of a boy without any complexes. But not even the magical night of Darío Brizuela (33 points, his record) was enough.

 

The starter was already rubbing his eyes and marked everything else. Because, in the forecasts, there was no a priori a more unbalanced quarter-final. Barça getting muscle, Unicaja licking his wounds, with Fotis Katsikaris to the rescue of a team in free fall, a historically disastrous winter. But this is the Cup and, from time to time, surprises happen.

 

9-29 START

Every now and then, a guy from Brizuela's class, one of those stupendous national basketball rarities, uncorks a few minutes of frenzy and breaks an empire apart. The Basque made 14 points almost on a run and Unicaja shot up like he never dreamed of. He came to command by 20 (9-29), with the triple as an ally and the rebound, the great burden of him this course, as a spring. Jasikevicius couldn't scream anymore.

 

It was also a tactical Katsikaris bath, whose plan went perfectly. Obviously, it is impossible to win a game against Barça only with a brilliant start. But the great merit was to make him doubt. The Barça reaction came based on defense and aggressiveness, with Oriola as the first warrior and Higgins and Abrines killing silently. At halftime he had corrected much of his initial disaster (39-44).

 

Unicaja was not going to get off his wave so easily. And now it was no longer a question of surprising, because Barça's defense rose to a level that few in Europe can reach. And yet, the Andalusian team found loopholes, almost always the hero Brizuela, although Calathes punished him in the other basket, a beautiful clash of styles on the WiZink parquet.

 

But the fatigue was beginning to take its toll. And the second typewriter unit was not keeping up. With Westermann in command of the fierce defense, which suffocated the rival, which turned the simple act of passing the ball into an ordeal, Barça continued to grow until, at last, they turned the crash around. An 18-3 run to take the lead in the 33rd minute, with the feeling that Unicaja had stayed on the canvas.

 

And suddenly, another miracle. Because Unicaja seemed to throw in the towel and from his ashes he was reborn, with a 0-10, with the nerves now on the Barca side, who seemed to smile with Higgins' triples and, finally, Mirotic. But the final basket by Abromaitis - taking advantage of the fact that Mirotic missed one of his two free throws -, another heroism, led the duel to extra time.

 

And there at last Barça could prevail, with Carlos Suárez injured, Alberto Díaz expelled. And the final mess of the referees as an ugly culmination.