Unicaja knocked out Real Madrid and Barcelona on the way to the King’s Cup final!
Unicaja beat Real Madrid 93:82 in the semi-finals King’s cup and created another sensation, advancing to the trophy match against Tenerife, which also created a miracle. The team from the Spanish island eliminated the host of the tournament, Juventud, in the semifinals. Who could have expected that Unicaja and Tenerife would play for the most prestigious cup competition in Europe – participants of the FIBA Champions League, not Euroleague players?
Unikaha is above all deserved for historical surprises, because it is eliminated Barcelona in the quarter-finals, and in the semifinals Real. After the hero in the last round was a representative of Spain Dario Brizuela, now it was center David Kravish with 20 points and six rebounds and wing center Dylan Osetkovski, who destroyed the “royal club” with 14 points. First of all, thanks to them, the team of coaches Ibon Navara prepared a cup that has not been seen in years.
The second semi-final was more stormy, as Tenerife defeated Juventud 73:72, and the heroes were Elgin Cook, who scored his only two points for the final point difference, and then Tim Abromaitis settled everything with a block for the triumph. Juventud’s young wing center Đoel Para (22) scored a career high for the home team, but 24 points were not enough for victory. Watch the victory ramp and the final of the Tenerife Cup:
The plug of TIM ABROMAITIS that is worth a FINAL of#CopaACBpic.twitter.com/H3O16NbxEU
– Basketball Transfers (@fichajesbasket)February 18, 2023
Unicaja won the King’s Cup once, in 2005 when they defeated Real in Zaragoza led by Jorge Garbahos, and then appeared in the final only one more time – in 2009 when they were defeated by Baskonia Duško Ivanović led by Mirzo Teletović. At the same time, it was also the last King’s Cup final in which neither Real nor Barcelona playedand the winner of the trophy was also the Serbian ace Igor Rakočević, then also the star of the champion Baskonia.
In the evening of great sensation in Badalona, Ivanovic won the first trophy with the red and whites on the bench of Zvezda, because his team beat Mega in the final of the Radivoj Korać Cup i became the record holder of the tournament played for “Žućko’s Left”. The final of the King’s Cup Tenerife – Unicaja will be played on Sunday at 19:00.
- REAL: Williams-Goss 9, Kozer 8, Fernandez, Hanga 3, Hezonja 2 (0/5 for three), Rodriguez 5, Dek 15, Poirje 5, Cornell, Tavares 19 (only 2 rebounds), Jabusele 6, Musa 10
- UNIKAHA: Osetkovski 14, Edžam 7, Kalinovski 11, Barreiro 3, Brizuela 1, Diaz 2, Carter 12, Đedović 5, Tomas 7, Kraviš 20, Peri 10