Unicaja ends Real Madrid's impressive streak in the most amazing way: "It had to happen"

“Everyone expects that we are going to lose,” Ibon Navarro announced in the preview, before visiting a team that seemed like a locomotive in motion, the Real Madrid of 19 consecutive victories.. But it was Unicaja, sheep's clothing, that put an end to the streak with a superb second half, displaying that competitive character that has taken them so far lately.. [93-99: Narration and statistics]

Because also the people from Malaga, the current Cup champions – in Badalona they also knocked down Real Madrid, among others -, rushed to WiZink, eight wins in a row, the machinery well-oiled in their particular commitment to continuity. But few seemed to believe when, midway through the third act, a triple by Dzanan Musa made it 62-41.. The green comeback was amazing, five minutes from the end Kalinoski, also from the perimeter, tied the tie at 81. “I would classify this as a victory of a lot of faith, determination and believing that we had to do 40 minutes of hard work without looking at the scoreboard,” summarized Navarro, who had Kravish (23 points) and Cameron Taylor (19 and 27 PIR) to his best men.

It was the fourth game in a week for Madrid, which saw its streak compromised on Sunday in Bilbao and on Tuesday in Valencia. He managed to save those duels in the anguish of tight finals, on Thursday he crushed Monaco and on Friday he saw how he was going to lose Guerschon Yabusele for a while, with a knee injury. Without the Frenchman and with the masked Eli Ndiaye back (although he only played a few seconds) a defeat came without buts, as Chus Mateo recognized. “They have played better than us and they have beaten us, they deserved it. It is fair to recognize that today they have been especially better in that second half. Maybe we have fallen a little physically or we have not had the mental toughness of other occasions,” he admitted.. The coach distributed minutes and efforts in his rotation (only Campazzo and Deck barely exceeded 25 minutes), but this time his pupils did not have enough mental strength or success to contain the visitor's comeback..

The whites remain leaders alone in the Endesa League (7-1) and also in the Euroleague (8-0). They won the Super Cup and could also boast of the victory against Luka Doncic's Mavericks. On the way to that 19-1 to boast, they defeated Barça three times. “We have to learn from this defeat that sooner or later had to come. We have been working very hard since September, since the Endesa Super Cup, and sooner or later this had to happen.. We move forward, we continue working and we will continue doing things the way we have them in our heads and forgetting the defeat starting tomorrow,” Mateo reflected.

Because the rhythm doesn't stop. On Thursday, again on WiZink, Real Madrid hosts Alba Berlin (bottom of the Euroleague) and Andorra on Sunday in ACB.