FCBARCELONA.CAT

04.04.2007 22:47

First blood to Unicaja (91-75)

Winterthur Barça have lost the first game in their Euroleague quarterfinal playoffs 91-75 against Unicaja Malaga. The home side dominated the game from the second period onwards.

Malaga made full use of the home advantage in a packed Martín Carpena pavilion and shook off some early pressure from Barça. Winterthur Barça started well and two three-pointers from Gianluca Basile and a steal from Roko Leni Ukic boosted Barça to a 17-24 advantage in the first quarter. The second quarter started equally well with Ukic handing coach Ivanovic and his players a nine-point lead (17-26), their biggest of the game.

Defensive errors

The arrival on court of Marcus Brown, back after a four-month injury layoff, proved to be the turning point. Unicaja grew in confidence while Barça failed badly in defence. Three consecutive three-pointers from Scariolo’s men turned the scoreboard on its head just two minutes before the break (39-38) on the way to a first half lead of 46-40.

No chance for Barça in second half

Unicaja continued to edge ahead after the break and the Barça players showed few signs of reacting. Malaga ended up with a 50% in three-pointers (12 out of 24), something uncharacteristic of them all season. The culmination came when Carlos Cabezas scored the eighth consecutive three-pointer to give Malaga a 65-52 lead. The third quarter saw Malaga’s lead continue to grow to 15 points, with Carlos Jiménez making it 69-54. Barça continued to slip further behind in the final quarter. Another three-pointer, this time from Faison, and then two free throws from Marcus Brown –who left the court to the applause of the local fans – put Malaga 20 points ahead (89-69). The final seconds of the game left the final scoreboard at 91-75.

Thursday in Barcelona

The play-offs now move to Barcelona where Winterthur Barça play host to Unicaja on Thursday evening in the Palau Blaugrana with the aim of winning and taking the play-offs to a third and final game in Malaga on Thursday 12 April.