Unicaja destroy Cajasol in “regional derby”

In their first game at home this season, Cajasol Seville got a knockout by Unicaja Malaga (60-91) in a game which showed how far are sevillians from being the great team they are supposed to be, and the great basketball that Unicaja is playing this season. It was a game between individual players, such as Carter and Pecile, against an entire time, as it is the one from Malaga.

Cajasol only could contain the scoring capacity of Unicaja in the first quarter. Some good actions by Triguero and Bennett kept Cajasol in the game. After a bad beginning by the team of Aíto, Gabriel started to hit easy shoots. Then it was Archibald who took the leadership, and then Gomis. A real team, playing like it. They started a full-court pressure, and it gave and advantage of twelve points to the green team at the end of the second quarter (28-40). Savanovic played his first minutes with the team, and got a big block by Ndong in his first shoot. The good thing for Cajasol was that Haislip, Gabriel and Archibald, all of them big men, had already three faults each for the second half.

But it was not enough to get a reaction in the second half. Unicaja didn't stop scoring, while Cajasol couldn't find the way to the basket. This time was Kelati who started to score, from both the three points line and with easy lay-ups. This drove the difference to twenty points, with a died team in the court, Cajasol, and the other one playing like it was a party, Unicaja. The good work by Warren Carter was not enough to stop that machine driven perfectly well by Cabezas and Cook.

Last quarter only showed the desire of Cajasol to finish the game, when Unicaja even reached and advantage of thirty points, never seen in Seville for years. It was clear that Cajasol still has to work a lot if they want to reach playoffs this year. In some moments you can think they are not playing an ACB game, with the strengh it needs, and they seem lost, without no ideas on the court. Manel Comas couldn't find the solution to this bad game in the entire game, and even their shooters had a bad night: Ignerki had a 3/15 from the field, Bennet had 2/10… horrible percentages.

Later Manel Comas talked about not being still in top shape, something it was clear for every fan in the arena, and the "existence of differents levels of intensity in their players". They have to "equilibrate this levels to be a team, to play as a team". Another problem that the coach mentioned was that "the team starts to play from offense, and if we don't score, we just come down, and we lost from the game". These are the aspect, some of them mental and some other just technical, in which he has to work. But this league doesn't stop: this weekend there is another "regional derby" against Granada. Let's see how his team learnt of this big defeat.

60 – Cajasol (12+16+17+15): Bennett (5), Pecile (12), Ignerski (7), Warren Carter (19), Del Miguel (2) -cinco inicial-, Rivero (2), Triguero (5), Savanovic (2), Andrés Miso (-), Mile Ilic (-) y Ellis (6)

91 – Unicaja (15+25+25+26): Carlos Cabezas (12), Thomas Kelati (17), Marcus Haislip (11), Carlos Jiménez (2), N'dong (4) -cinco inicial-, Omar Cook (4), Jiri Welsch (9), Joseph Gomis (11), Germán Gabriel (12) y Robert Archibald (9)