Unicaja show NBA G League United who’s boss in Fiba Intercontinental Cup final

SINGAPORE – Former Golden State Warriors forward and 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) champion Juan Toscano-Anderson stirred a hornet’s nest at the start of the Fiba Intercontinental Cup earlier in the week when he claimed that the G League – the NBA’s development league – is the “second-best league in the world” behind the NBA.

On Sept 15, Spain’s Unicaja made the Mexican eat his words when they beat NBA G League United 75-60 in the final in front of 8,205 fans at the Singapore Indoor Stadium to cap a remarkable year in which they also won the Basketball Champions League in Europe and Andalusia Cup.

This is the fourth time a Spanish side have lifted the trophy in the last six editions, as they join Real Madrid, La Laguna Tenerife, Hereda San Pablo Burgos and FC Barcelona to extend Spain’s dominance in this competition to 11 titles.

In the post-game press conference, Unicaja’s German forward Dylan Osetkowski did not mince his words when asked for a response to Toscano-Anderson’s comments.

The 28-year-old, who was also named the Player of the Match and tournament’s Most Valuable Player, said: “Excuse my French, but opinions are like a**holes, everybody has one.

“So, he’s able to have his own opinion and we are able to have our own opinion. It’s great that he has that level of confidence in himself and the guys in the G League. We feel like we have that level of confidence too, and I feel like that’s a great answer.”

Entering the final, the Malaga-based outfit were riding on a high after coming through the group stage with comprehensive wins over Angola’s Petro de Luanda (94-78) and Lebanon’s Al Riyadi (96-59). In comparison, G League United were made to work for their wins over Argentina’s Quimsa (78-65) and Australia’s Tasmania JackJumpers (76-74).

And while club captain Alberto Diaz had the pleasure of cutting the net in a time-honoured tradition and title-winning celebration, both teams actually found it hard to make buckets throughout the final.

Unicaja coach Ibon Navarro said: “We survived very bad three-point shots tonight (20.7 per cent conversion).

“We were very good in the first two games (at least 40 per cent), but tonight we had some good open shots and we missed them.”

Fortunately, his team managed to play good defence, emerge stronger in the one-on-one battles and out-rebound their opponents 53-39.

Sharing that having the bulk of the team play together for three years helped to build the understanding, Osetkowski said: “We know as a part of our identity that our defence gets us going offensively, and we set the tone defensively from the start of the game.”

In contrast, G League United coach Paul Hewitt managed to assemble his team only on Aug 27, and even before they boarded their flight to Singapore, they had lost three players to injury, illness and another team.

Nevertheless, they managed to fight admirably on a night of cold shooting, keeping the game close in the first two quarters as they trailed by five and six points respectively. But failing to make a single point for half of the third and fourth quarters ultimately killed their hopes of making it a grandstand finish.

Hewitt said: “Our opponents were much more physical. I thought in the middle of the first quarter, we kind of settled in and played really well.

“We missed some shots that were very makeable, but we got to give them credit because they are a physically strong team and they executed their game plan very well.”

Noting that all nine of his players got on the scoreboard, he added: “I thought we had enough talent to win, but I couldn’t imagine how hard and how unselfish they would play for a team that have just been together for a few weeks.”

Shooting guard Jordan Bowden, who grabbed a game-high 20 points, felt that his team were fuelled after falling at the final hurdle in their bid to become the first American team in 50 years to win the competition since Maryland Terrapins in 1974.

He said: “We all wanted to win. This tournament has lit a fire for us, wherever we go next, and we all got better from this experience.”

In the other classification games earlier in the day, Tasmania JackJumpers pipped Al Riyadi 80-75 in the third-place play-off, while Petro de Luanda edged Quimsa 70-64 to finish fifth.

The tournament will return to Singapore for a third time in 2025 in the final year of a three-year partnership between Fiba and national sports agency Sport Singapore.