Sodertalje Kings defend Swedish title

It took the Sodertalje Kings the entire seven-game Finals series to do it, but they managed to win the 2014 Swedish Basketligan Championship. The Kings won the title in 2013 making them back-to-back champions. It wasn’t an easy task with the Norrkoping Dolphins’ will to live which forced a deciding game 7 in the series. In the end, the regular season champs (32-4) prevailed in the last game 92-80.

The Kings got a big game from John Roberson, who led their attack with 32 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. He led his team with converted triples for the game going 4-9 and was also impeccable from the foul line, making 10-10 shots. The Dolphins kept the game close in the early going, down only by one point after the first quarter. It was in the second period that Sodertalje pulled away and were able to lay down an eight-point buffer heading into the break, 48-40.

The second half was just a matter of the Kings keeping their dominant form and steadily increasing their lead. Norrkoping could not mount any significant rallies to swing the momentum in their favor, despite Jermont Horton’s team-high 23 points and 5 assists. When the Dolphins sent Kings players to the line, they converted their free shots with the team going for 23-24 from the line. It was telling that the Kings managed to score from everywhere on the court, whether it was from downtown or at the free-throw line.

Horton led three other Dolphins in double figures. Joakim Kjelbom scored 13. William Walker added 12, while Edgars Jeromanovs chipped in 11.

For Sodertalje, Martin Pahlmblad supplemented John Roberson’s 32 points with 17 of his own and Tobias Borg added 12.