Spanish League, Game 34: May 9, 2008
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The Spanish League regular season came to an end on Friday night and the quarterfinal playoffs matchups, coming up on Thursday, are defined. Real Madrid was was the regular season champion with a 29-5 record by edging Cajasol 89-81 in the Spanish capital behind 24 points from Axel Hervelle. AXA FC Barcelona was second, DKV Joventut third and Tau Ceramica fourth despite registering respective road losses. Pamesa Valencia was fifth at 22-12 by downing Joventut 85-76 with 25 points from Ruben Douglas. CB Granada edged Tau 89-87 to avoid relegation while iurbentia Bilbao Basket topped Barcelona 90-84 to be sixth in the standings. Akasvayu Girona finished seventh with a 21-13 by downing Alta Gestion Fuenlabrada 85-69 at home while Unicaja was eighth at 17-17 despite a 86-90 home loss against Ricoh Manresa in Malaga. Kalise Gran Canaria downed ViveMenorca 103-105 in overtime on the road to finish ninth with a 16-18 record. In other games, Polaris World CB Murcia beat Grupo Capitol Valladolid 95-89 while MMT Estudiantes thrashed Grupo Begar Leon 71-96. The playoff matchups will be Real Madrid - Unicaja, Joventut - Akasvayu, Barcelona - Bilbao Basket and Tau - Pamesa. Valladolid will not be back in the ACB next season for the first time in 25 years.
Real Madrid was the regular season champion with a 29-5 record by edging Cajasol 89-81 in the Spanish capital. Hervelle paced the winners with 24 points and 7 rebounds. Raul Lopez added 18 points on 8-for-8 free throws while Louis Bullock had 12 for Madrid. Michalis Kakiouzis led Cajasol with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Cajasol used a 0-6 run to get a 37-42 edge at halftime. A three-pointer by Michal Ignerski gave Cajasol its biggest lead, 37-48. Hervelle and Bullock brought the hosts back in the game, 51-52. A fast break basket by Charles Smith completed Madrid's comeback, 62-61, late in the third quarter. Cajasol regained the lead, 65-71, and both teams entered the final minute tied at 79-79. A series of technical fouls and 6-for-6 free throws by Lopez sealed the outcome. Pamesa Valencia finished fifth at 22-12 by downing DKV Joventut 85-76 at home. Douglas led the winners with 25 points. Shammond Williams added 21 while Ruben Garces got 18 and 9 rebounds for Pamesa, A 16-3 run that Williams capped with a fast break dunk allowed Pamesa to get a 61-47 margin midway through the third quarter. Joventut rallied in the final period and managed to get within 75-70, but Williams and Dejan Milojevic allowed Pamesa to get a key win. AXA FC Barcelona ended third at 24-10 due to a 90-84 road loss against iurbentia Bilbao Basket. Marcelinho Huertas led the winners with 26 points. Ersan Ilyasova and Gianluca Basile each had 16 points for Barcelona while Mario Kasun and Gary Neal added 15 apiece for the guests, that rallied from a 15-point deficit in the final 8 minutes to get within 83-80 with 3 minutes to go. Marko Banic and Huertas allowed Bilbao Basket to win the game and finish sixth.
Akasvayu Girona finished seventh with a 21-13 by downing Alta Gestion Fuenlabrada 85-69 at home. Fernando San Emeterio led the winners with 17 points. Branko Cvetkovic added 15, Marc Gasol posted a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds while Erik Daniels got 13 points in an easy home win for Akasvayu, that led 43-38 at halftime and used a 10-2 run that McDonald capped with a three-pointer to break the game open, 67-52, after 30 minutes. It was enough for Akasvayu to control the game until the final buzzer. Unicaja was eighth at 17-17 despite a 86-90 home loss against Ricoh Manresa in Malaga. Josh Asselin paced the winners with 27 points. Davor Kus led Unicaja with 20 points on 6-for-9 three-pointers. Daniel Santiago added 16, German Gabriel had 12 while Bojan Popovic got 10 for Unicaja. It all came down to the final 2 minutes, as free throws by Popovic tied it at 86-86. Asselin and Rafa Martinez allowed Manresa to escape with a win. Tau finished fourth with a 22-12 record despite a 89-87 road loss against CB Granada, that needed to win to avoid relegation. Nana Mensah-Bonsu led the winners with 22 points. Pete Mickeal and Tiago Splitter each had 17 points for Tau, Mirza Teletovic and Igor Rakocevic added 13 piece, Pablo Prigioni got 11 and Sergi Vidal 10 for the guests, that trailed 43-29 at halftime. Mensah-Bonsu, signed just for this do-or-die game, kept dominating Tau inside while a three-pointer by Dylan Page made it a 20-point game, 64-44. Tau returned to the game and got within 86-83 already in the final minute. Mickeal scored with 25.3 seconds to go while Vlado Scepanovic and Prigioni traded foul shots. Page made 1-for-4 free throws but Mensah-Bonsu grabbed a key offensive rebound that kept Granada in the ACB. Kalise Gran Canaria was ninth with a 16-18 record by edging ViveMenorca 103-105 in overtime on the road. Marcus Norris led the winners with 21 points, Carl English added 20, Nick Caner-Medley had 17, Sitapha Savane 14 and Kornel David 10. A three-pointer by Josep Maria Guzman tied the game at 91-91 at the end of regulation. Menorca led 103-101 with 41 seconds to go but Savane dunked it while English hit foul shots with 3 seconds remaining to win the game.
LAST GAME GAME 34
May 9, 2008 | | Day | Match | Result | | May 9 | Unicaja vs. Ricoh Manresa | 86-90 | | May 9 | Pamesa vs. DKV Joventut | 85-76 | | May 9 | Akasvayu vs. Fuenlabrada | 85-69 | | May 9 | León vs. MMT Estudiantes | 71-96 | | May 9 | Bilbao vs. AXA FCBarcelona | 90-84 | | May 9 | CB Murcia vs. Valladolid | 95-89 | | May 9 | ViveMenorca vs. Kalise GC | 103-105 | | May 9 | Real Madrid vs. Cajasol | 89-81 | | May 9 | Granada vs. TAU Cerámica | 89-87 |
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NEXT GAME
Quarterfinal PlayOffs | | Match | | R. Madrid (1) vs. Unicaja (8) | | DKV Joventut(2) vs. Akasvayu(7) | | AXA FCB (3) vs. Bilbao (6) | | Tau Ceramica (4) vs. Pamesa (5) | | - | | - | | - | | - | | - |
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| STANDINGS | TG | W | L | P+ | P- | | 1 | Real Madrid | 34 | 29 | 5 | 2862 | 2572 | | 2 | DKV Joventut | 34 | 25 | 9 | 2980 | 2650 | | 3 | AXA F.C. Barcelona | 34 | 24 | 10 | 2617 | 2524 | | 4 | TAU Cerámica | 34 | 22 | 12 | 2867 | 2604 | | 5 | Pamesa Valencia | 34 | 22 | 12 | 2706 | 2520 | | 6 | iurbentia Bilbao Basket | 34 | 21 | 13 | 2597 | 2507 | | 7 | Akasvayu Girona | 34 | 21 | 13 | 2726 | 2685 | | 8 | Unicaja | 34 | 17 | 17 | 2721 | 2648 | | 9 | Kalise Gran Canaria | 34 | 16 | 18 | 2682 | 2689 | | 10 | Cajasol | 34 | 14 | 20 | 2701 | 2764 | | 11 | Ricoh Manresa | 34 | 14 | 20 | 2715 | 2817 | | 12 | Polaris World CB Murcia | 34 | 13 | 21 | 2491 | 2634 | | 13 | Alta Gestión Fuenlabrada | 34 | 13 | 21 | 2542 | 2671 | | 14 | MMT Estudiantes | 34 | 12 | 22 | 2561 | 2694 | | 15 | C.B. Granada | 34 | 12 | 22 | 2629 | 2761 | | 16 | ViveMenorca | 34 | 12 | 22 | 2567 | 2755 | | 17 | Grupo Capitol Valladolid | 34 | 11 | 23 | 2685 | 2887 | | 18 | Grupo Begar León | 34 | 8 | 26 | 2571 | 2838 |
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