In what was very much a game of defence v defence, Barça have lost home to a Unicaja Malaga side that had a very good day indeed at the Palau Blaugrana. This was certainly a setback for the Catalans, but they still have three more wins than anyone else in the Liga Endesa.
The good side of things for Sarunas Jasikevicius was the recovery of two key players in Brandon Davies and Pierre Oriola. The game was also number 200 for Nikola Mirotic in the blaugrana colours.
Malaga took an early +6 lead, but some top play from Mirotic and Davies soon closed the gap. But Unicaja were unfazed and their defensive intensity meant Barça’s quick passing failed to have its full effect and visitors were still +3 at the break.
There was very little change in the pattern of the third period, with Malaga still maintaining a slender lead, and in the final period, although Barça got themselves into the right positions to finally swing things, they were let down by poor shooting and Unicaja ended up taking the game by ten clear points.
MATCH STATS
Barça: Calathes (-), Laprovittola (5), Hayes (6), Davies (10), Mirotic (20), Sanli (5), Sergi Martínez (-), Oriola (3), Kuric (6), Jokubaitis (5), Caicedo (2), Nnaji (-).
Unicaja: Oliver (-), Fernández (13), Barreiro (6), Brizuela (22), Guerrero, Kravic (4), Alonso (2), Abrorraitis (9), Mooney (2), Nzosa (-), Suárez (2), Bouteille (9).
Periods: 18-19; 14-16 // 14-15; 17-23.
