Barcelona wins 19th Spanish league title

Barcelona won their 19th basketball league title on Tuesday after beating Real Madrid by 92-73 in the second game of the Endesa League final. Sarunas Jasikevicius’ squad lifted the trophy at the Palau Blaugrana in front of 1,000 ecstatic fans.

It’s the first time since the 2013/14 season that Barcelona has won the Endesa League title – a seven-year drought. However, the arrival of Lithuanian coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius, saw the team reach four finals this season and win both the league and the cup.

This is the 19th league title in the history of the basketball section, the first coming in 1959. Then came the league titles in 1981, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014.

Pierre Oriola won his first Endesa League title as captain and the second of his sporting career. This is also the first league title for Brandon Davies, Léo Westermann, Adam Hanga, Leandro Bolmaro, Rolands Smits, Artem Pustovyi, Cory Higgins, Sergi Martínez, Kyle Kuric, Victor Claver, and Nick Calathes.

Álex Abrines and Nikola Mirotic have won their second league title – in the case of Abrines, his first came in 2014, and in the case of Mirotic as a Madrid player in 2013. Pau Gasol now has his third league title after the successes in 1999 and 2001.

Real Madrid, on the other hand, ends the season empty-handed, without any titles. Although they ended as first in the standings after the regular season with an impressive 32-2 record. However, to Real’s defense, one must understand that Real was severely weakened by losing three key players since the start of the season. Campazzo and Deck went to the NBA, and Randolph suffering an Achilles tendon injury.