2017-18Regular SeasonRound 4
Valencia Basket 91
Unicaja Malaga 53
October 27, 2017 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 LA FONTETA

Green, Valencia overwhelm Unicaja

In a rematch of last season's 7DAYS EuroCup Finals, Valencia Basket grabbed its third consecutive win in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season by thrashing Unicaja Malaga 91-53 at home on Friday. Valencia improved to 3-1 in the standings while Unicaja dropped to 1-3. Erick Green led the winners with 19 points. Alberto Abalde added 18 on 4-for-4 three-point shooting. Rafa Martinez scored 14 more and Bojan Dubljevic 11 for Valencia. Adam Waczynski led Unicaja with 15 points. Dubljevic, Green, Sam Van Rossom and Tibor Pleiss fueled a 21-2 run which gave Valencia a 20-point margin, 31-11, after 10 minutes. Green remained unstoppable in the second quarter, getting help from Abalde to break the game open, 57-25, at halftime. That was Valencia's biggest halftime difference – and Unicaja's biggest halftime deficit – in their respective histories in the EuroLeague. Nothing changed after the break, as Valencia stayed way ahead until the final buzzer. The 38-point final difference also tied Valencia's biggest margin of victory in the EuroLeague.

Ray McCallum got Unicaja going with a coast-to-coast dunk but Green followed a floater with a slam for a 4-2 Valencia lead. McCallum scored again and Sasu Salin struck from downtown but Green and Dubljevic combined for all points in a 7-0 run that gave the hosts a 14-7 margin. Dubljevic struck again from downtown, Van Rossom followed a fast break layup with free throws and a three-point play by Pleiss gave Valencia a 28-9 lead, after a mammoth 21-2 run. Jeff Brooks sank a jumper which Martinez bettered with a triple for a 31-11 Valencia margin after 10 minutes. Martinez buried another one from beyond the arc and Green followed a layup with a jumper to break the game open, 38-13. Abalde stepped up with a jumper and a triple, getting plenty of help from an unstoppable Green, who kept hitting shots from all angles. Abalde struck again from downtown and a jumper by Will Thomas made it a 36-point game, 57-21, which Diez and Brooks cut to 57-25 at halftime. Thomas dunked immediately after the break, Martinez hit a triple and a layup-plus-free throw by Dubljevic restored a 65-30 Valencia lead. Dejan Musli and Waczynski fueled a 0-8 Unicaja run but three-pointers by Thomas and Abalde gave Valencia a 73-42 margin after 30 minutes. Nothing really changed in the fourth quarter, as even when Waczynski kept trying, Abalde, Dubljevic and Aaron Doornekamp allowed all Valencia fans to celebrate a truly special home win.

Both teams return to action in Turkey next week. Valencia visits reigning EuroLeague champion Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul on Thursday while Unicaja travels to face Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Friday.

Erick Green - Valencia Basket - EB17
Friday, October 27, 2017
Euroleague.net
Referees: MOGULKOC, EMIN; HORDOV, TOMISLAV ; AMBROSOV, MYKOLA
Attendance: 6165
By Quarter1234
Valencia Basket31261618
Unicaja Malaga11141711
End of Quarter1234
Valencia Basket31577391
Unicaja Malaga11254253
Valencia Basket
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 THOMAS, WILL 28:06 9 3/3 1/1     5 5 1 2       1 3 19
3 PUERTO, JOSEP 5:09 4 1/2 0/1 2/2             1     2 5
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 24:11 18 3/4 4/4     1 1           1 2 19
9 VAN ROSSOM, SAM 27:04 4 1/1 0/5 2/2   3 3 8   2     1 2 9
14 DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN 16:42 11 2/4 2/4 1/1 1 3 4 1     1 1 3 4 13
16 VIVES, GUILLEM 11:16     0/3   1 1 2 2         2   -1
17 MARTINEZ, RAFA 18:04 14 1/2 4/6     2 2 1       1 3 1 11
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 18:48 5 1/2   3/4 1 5 6 2   1 4   2 3 15
32 GREEN, ERICK 21:56 19 7/9 1/4 2/2       5   1   1   1 18
42 DOORNEKAMP, AARON 24:14 5 1/2 1/3   1 2 3 3 1       1   8
51 HLINASON, TRYGGVI 4:30 2 1/2     1 1 2   1   1       5
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 91 21/31 13/31 10/11 7 24 31 23 4 4 7 3 14 18 124
        67.7% 41.9% 90.9%
Head coach: VIDORRETA, TXUS
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Unicaja Malaga
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 OKOUO, VINY 10:00 2 1/4     1 3 4     1   1 2 1  
3 MCCALLUM, RAY 22:00 8 4/8 0/1     3 3 1   2         5
6 SOLUADE, MO 7:53     0/1     1 1     2 1     1  
9 DIAZ, ALBERTO 18:00   0/2     1 3 4 2       1 3    
10 SALIN, SASU 24:14 6 0/2 2/4   1 2 3 2   2     1 5 9
11 DIEZ, DANIEL 15:57 6 3/4 0/1                 1     3
12 MILOSAVLJEVIC, DRAGAN 21:34 2 1/5 0/1             2   2 4   -11
17 SHERMADINI, GIORGI 9:44 2 1/1   0/2 1 1 2     1     2 2 1
21 WACZYNSKI, ADAM 17:51 15 3/6 3/5     1 1 1 2     1 2   11
23 BROOKS, JEFF 18:29 4 2/3       2 2 1 1 1 1   1   6
43 SUAREZ, CARLOS 17:36 4 2/4 0/1   1 3 4 3         3 2 7
44 MUSLI, DEJAN 16:42 4 2/5     1   1 1   2 1 1 1 3 3
Team           4 2 6     1         5
Totals 200:00 53 19/44 5/14 0/2 10 21 31 11 3 14 3 7 19 14 39
        43.2% 35.7% 0%
Head coach: PLAZA, JOAN

Head Coaches

VIDORRETA, TXUS
Valencia Basket
"It was an amazing first half, especially the first quarter, defense and offense. We played with great rhythm in both sides of the court, sharing the ball, defending hard, with grat control of the defensive rebound, one of the most important issues against Unicaja. We kept control in the second half and finally, it was an amazing game and a great win. I am very happy. We had a very good game against Baskonia but today, we played 20 minutes at a really high level, it was spectacular. It is the goal that every coach and every team can have, being able to offer a game like this to its fans, and if it is a EuroLeague game, even better. I didn't expect a game like this - we expected a more complicated game but we enjoyed a lot. I see my players with a lot of confidence in the basketball we propose, on offense and defense. I expected that, because I see we share the same idea on the type of basketball we want to play - players, coaches, club. When you feel that, you know you are closer to get big wins, but not by such big difference against a great team like Unicaja. Alberto Abalde deserves a lot of credit, who had a tough pre-season, with physical problems and another injury after that, when he was playing better. We talked with him when he got injured, but that was a month ago. After that, he is playing his basketball and at the maximum level he is capable of, which satisfies me as a coach. He is a critical player for us now that we are without Joan Sastre and Fernando San Emeterio in his position. He is not 100% fit but is giving a lot to this team."
PLAZA, JOAN
Unicaja Malaga
"We knew when we came here that after what happened last season, we could suffer a defeat like this and we talked about it with the players. But it is true that we are playing four games in just one week and some of our new players do not really believe that things like this can happen here. We new perfectly that after we won the EuroCup here last season, Valencia would put a lot of intensity, pressure, desire or whatever you want to say to beat us, like they did. If they had a chance to beat us by 50, they wouldn't settle for 20. We knew that and talked about it several times this week, and it finally happened. We need to congratulate Valencia 100% because they played better than us, with great intensity, and they deserved to win, of course."

Players

GREEN, ERICK
Valencia Basket
"Every day, you have to get better and better to improve your team, but we are still missing five guys who are really going to contribute to this team. Right now, with what we have got, and the guys who keep coming back in from their injuries, we have to keep getting better and better every day, rebound the ball better, move the ball better and just play as a team. I think we will be a very, very good team."
No results found.