MIES (Switzerland) - They say basketball is a game of runs but what happens when those runs go on for nine, ten, or maybe even eleven games?
Because that is exactly how long Unicaja's win streak might be by the time they meet Group B's other undefeated team, Aliaga Petkimspor for part one of the (potentially decisive) double-header between the two clubs, on October 23.
As of now, Unicaja have reeled off nine straight wins in official games, starting from the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in Singapore, following up with wins over UCAM Murcia and Real Madrid to claim their second trophy of the season, the Spanish Super Cup and claiming two from two in both the Spanish Liga Endesa and the BCL.
Ibon Navarro's team are surely the hottest team in Europe and also have two more opportunities to extend their win streak, against Forca Lleida and Basquet Coruna, in the Liga Endesa, before that crunch-match with Petkimspor.
Petkimspor aren't exactly short of early season momentum either, currently riding a six-game win streak of their own.
After smashing past BCL regulars Cholet and PAOK in the Qualifying Rounds last September, they also looked just as impressive with a win over Darrusafaka in the Turkish TBL and now two on the bounce in the BCL against King Szczecin and Filou Oostende.
The Petkimspor stone is gathering no moss whatsoever as it looks to bowl through Mersin BSB and Manisa Basket in Turkey, before finally rolling down the mountains into Malaga later this month.
The question this summer for Unicaja was: How do you improve on a Championship winning roster?
The answer, it seems, was bigger is better as they added Polish center Alek Balcerowski to their already stacked front court.
Any fears that four frontline bigs would be a crowd have rapidly dissipated as Balcerowski, along with David Kravish, Dylan Osetkowski, and Yankuba Sima have been directly responsible for 58 points via buckets or assists in the first two BCL games alone.
Osetkowski has looked like his game has gone up another notch over the summer on the offensive end. After winning the FIBA Intercontinental Cup MVP award, he dropped his BCL career-high on Gameday 1.
The clip below gives an example of how much easier life is for Unicaja offensively and their four towers.
With Balcerowski and Osetkowski on the floor, Unicaja get into a Double Drag screen action in early offense. The idea of the action is that Balcerowski sets the first screen, then slips out into a Veer screen for Nihad Dedovic to shoot the ball whilst the defense focuses on Osetkowski in the ball screen action for Tyson Carter.
King Szczecin elect to switch the Osetkowski ball screen but with the weakside defender now distracted by Balcerowski working to get Dedovic open, Osetkowski is left 1v1 with a perimeter player in the paint. Carter finds him with the high-low pass and he finishes like a bull in a glassware shop.
It's simple basketball, looking to hit the single instead of the home-run, but simple is super effective when you have as many weapons down low as Unicaja. The champs are already posting an offensive rating of 122 points per 100 possessions, so don't be surprised to find them at the top of the efficiency charts all season.
For Petkimspor, the immediate question many had when looking at their roster was: Woah they really managed to get Breein Tyree?
The sharpshooting American averaged 15.4 points in his rookie year in Europe with Oostende during the 2022-23 season. He then followed that up with 16 points per game whilst shooting 42 percent from deep for Dinamo Sassari in the BCL last season.
Petkimspor's recruitment team deserves the credit for securing the coup and Tyree has already started repaying the faith.
Tyree isn't alone in powering Petkinspor's early momentum. The roster is looking well-constructed and balanced all over but in particular point guard DeWayne Russell and power forward Peyton Aldridge have looked like the perfect foils to Tyree's wheeling and dealing.
Both men are already averaging close to a double-double a piece, with Russell putting up 12 points and 7.5 assists, whilst Aldridge is contributing 7 points and 9 rebounds.
This is Aldridge's fourth season with Petkimspor but the speed at which Russell has learned his spots on the floor, it looks more like they have both been together in Aliaga for years. We'd better get used to seeing that hook pass from Russell, as in the clip below because he's going to be firing those lasers all over the court, the whole season.
For all of Petkimspor's offensive weapons, we also need to point out they are the only team to have played two games and still have a defensive rating of under 100 points per 100 possessions conceded.
They will need all of that defensive discipline to stick to head coach Burak Goren's system if they want to cause the upset and take top spot in Group B from the champions.
Unicaja will rightly go into the double-header as firm favourites but it's huge credit to the BCL newcomers that despite a season that already includes wins over the likes of NBA G League United, UCAM Murcia and Real Madrid, Aliaga Petkimspor may just provide them with their sternest test of the season so far.