Unicaja vs Barcelona: Analysis and Prediction – Unicaja will host Barcelona in the Liga Endesa Round 16.
Unicaja vs Barcelona Odds
Unicaja Team News
Unicaja is in extremely good form this season. The team from Malaga announced an excellent season in the Spanish Super Cup, when they beat Real Madrid, and continued in the same rhythm in the Liga Endesa and the FIBA Champions League.
This team is currently in a very high second position in the Spanish League, with a record of 12-3, while they were first in the FIBA Champions League group with four wins and two losses. Those two defeats can be deceiving, considering that after four rounds, Unicaja had 3-1 and was dominant, so the continuation of the competition was far from the maximum. Not counting those two not so significant meetings, Unicaja is in a series of 15 wins! On that road, even the “unbeatable” Real Madrid “suffered” in Madrid by 99:93. There is no better confirmation of top form.
In the introduction to this duel, Unicaja outclassed another difficult rival. The team from Malaga defeated Murcia 88:65 away, with 15 points from Kendrick Perry and 14 points from Tyson Carter. Unicaja only needs to continue like this and they will be able to hope for great successes.
Barcelona Team News
Barcelona opened a new chapter this season, considering that long-term head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius left the team, who was replaced by Roger Grimau. From the beginning, you could see that there was a slightly different energy in Barcelona, that they played more freely and the team looked very good.
Then followed a period of slightly worse games, which is still going on. Barcelona currently has great oscillations and fails to find a recognizable rhythm, both in defense and in offense. In one period, they had three defeats in a row, even though the rivals were not of exceptional quality. The Catalan team lost to Manresa and Zaragoza, in the last six games, they did not even win four times, but they somewhat improved the impression with the game against Zalgiris in Kaunas. It was another extremely difficult duel, in which Barcelona made the decisive difference only in the fourth quarter. Grimau’s team decided that part of the game in their favor by 15:7.
The most deserving of that win was Nicolas Laprovittola with 18 points and Jan Vesely with 15 points. It is now up to Barcelona to use that win as an additional dose of self-confidence and to find continuity of games. Otherwise, this season can be very difficult for them.
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Unicaja vs Barcelona H2H
Last season they played seven times and Barcelona won six times.
Absences and Injuries
Jonathan Barreiro will probably not be available for Unicaja, as well as Michael Caicedo for Barcelona, and Alex Abrines is a questionable.
Unicaja vs Barcelona Prediction
When you take into account that Unicaja has been playing excellently lately, both defensively and offensively, it is clear that this would certainly be a difficult task for Barcelona. In addition, Roger Grimau’s team is not in a great situation, and they will also have Unicaja fans against them. When all that is added up, our suggestion is that Unicaja will not lose by a margin higher than the offered handicap.
Tip-off Time: Wednesday, 27.12.2023, 21:00 CET
Prediction: Unicaja +5.5
Odds: 1.72
Sportsbook: 22Bet
*Odds are active at the time the article is published
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