Defeat in the Copa del Rey final

Real Madrid were unable to defend their Copa del Rey title against Unicaja Málaga in the final at the Gran Canaria Arena. It wasn’t our team’s day with our attack a constant pain-point throughout the game. After an even first half, the Andalusians opened up a 15-point lead which ended up being decisive.
A frenetic start where defenses were on top made for an even first quarter. Unicaja won it by three points thanks to their greater success in three-pointers and minimizing their losses. 7 losses by Madrid prevented them from gaining any fluidity despite solidity on the rebound where they doubled their rival’s efforts. Two identical runs (9-4), one for each side, kept the score at 13-all in the first 7 minutes. In the remaining three minutes, the Andalusians managed to gain a small advantage (18-15).
More of the same in the second quarter
With the PIR at 27-49 at the end of the first half, clearly Madrid did some things well, notably their superiority in rebounds (10-23) and in forcing their rivals into fouls. But they did not control turnovers (11) and neither were they able to exploit three-pointers in attack. Unicaja put their speed in transition to good use to unhinge the Madrid defense. They went 7 points ahead with good moments from Taylor and Perry (34-27, min. 18). It was Hugo González (two noteworthy actions with a 2+1 and a three-pointer), the entry of Ibaka and a final burst of points from Musa and Hezonja, who leveled this quarter (21-21) and the match before the break (39-36).
Unicaja grabbed hold of the game more firmly at the start of the third quarter with Kalinoski on a roll, whose 8 points took his team to +12 (56-44, min. 26). Frustrated by their lack of three-pointers, Madrid were suffering. Campazzo led the team and halved the difference. It could have been less but neither the baskets near the hoop (42%) nor the free throws (9 missed) were going in. Their rivals fully capitalized on this to go 9 up in the last quarter after a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Llull (64-55, min. 30).
Unicaja, very precise
The finale was going to get even trickier. Unicaja, emboldened by their lead and seeing that Madrid were having an off day, maintained a comfortable lead with Perry at the fore. 14 down with 4 minutes to go, the team tried to come back and reduced the gap to 6 at 76-70. However, it was a bridge too far and a final burst from the opponent gave them the trophy (93-79, min. 40).
STATISTICS FROM UNICAJA-REAL MADRID