The Basketball Champions League trophy has a new owner. The most important FIBA club tournament in Europe, this year was in the hands of Unicaja. The Malaga team defeated Lenovo Tenerife 75-80 in the final of the Final Four in Belgrade. A new continental title for a team that dazzles both internationally and in the Liga Endesa.
It was a final without major setbacks for Unicaja, which scored more points than its rival in each quarter. The greatest distance occurred in the third quarter, 15 points ahead in the period with the most scores (26-22). Tenerife’s slow first half made things a bit easier for the Malaga team. Especially because they also had an efficient Kendrick Perry (17 points), who led the offense and ended up receiving the Final Four MVP.
“I’m enjoying it. I’m saying the word ‘sacrifice’ a lot, because that’s what this team has done”, the American said. “The most important thing is that everyone has a burden, everyone has their own story to tell and we were able to come together and realize that this is bigger than us individually”, he added.
What Perry mentions is key to understanding the success of this team. All players contribute and play a similar number of minutes. “The depth of their squad means that the intensity levels do not drop when the quintet changes”, specialists explained to the official site of the tournament prior to the Final Four.
Among many factors, the word continuity could also be considered. Both from coach Ibon Navarro and from the squad. In total, there were 12 players who remained on the team from the previous season, when they were champions of the Copa del Rey and semi-finalists of the same Basketball Champions League.
“After the Copa del Rey we activated more situations. We reached the end of the season with 90% of the squad renewed”, explained Juanma Rodríguez, sports director of Unicaja, to Málaga Hoy. “Everyone wanted to continue, that we were coming off great success, that people were very comfortable. All of that helped maintain that squad (…). I believe in long projects, having a coach for a long time who can develop an idea and be able to have a core of important players who would be there for many years”, he added.
The truth is that it has been a great year for Unicaja, which in Belgrade won its third international title after the Korac Cup in 2001 and the Eurocup 2017. In addition, they marked the second best historical record in the Basketball Champions League, being champions in 2024 with 14 wins and only 2 losses. And in Spain they are not doing bad either: they are second only behind Real Madrid (26-5), with one less game that they will make up this Wednesday, precisely against Lenovo Tenerife.
