Real Madrid swept the finals and became champions

Real Madrid won the third game of the finals in the ACB League against UCAM Murcia and became champions. Merengue swept the university club 3-0 in the series and this time they won the match played at Palacio de los Deportes as visitors and with this they finished the playoffs undefeated. Chus Mateo’s side lifted the local trophy again, something that hasn’t happened since the 2021/2022 season. And they reached the number of 37 league wins, proving their great dominance in this category. With this coronation, he defended his nickname of “top winner” with 17 more titles than his eternal rival, Barcelona, ​​​​​​​​who are in second place with 20.

UCAM Murcia 73 – Real Madrid 84

The match played at the Palacio de los Deportes started the away side with a 5-0 run for the Merengues. This forced Sito Alonso to call a timeout that changed everything for the team. With a key Dylan Ennis (18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists) fighting until the end, UCAM took the lead by a narrow margin, but it placed them as the leaders on the scoreboard in the first half. Real Madrid chased hard, but could not take the lead, thanks to this, the Murcians were eight points ahead at half-time.

The second half was different. He had a consecrating third quarter for Real Madrid that reached +18 in scoring (34-16), something never seen in the third period of the ACB final. And on top of that, those in Blanco have the ever-accomplished Facundo Campazzo (13 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals), who led them in the comeback.

These six assists put the Córdoban player as Merengue’s third highest assister (777 assists), as he surpassed José Luis Llorente (771) in the historical ranking. But the strange thing is the order of the top-3, because it has Sergio Llull as the highest assistant (1,901) and second Chacho Rodríguez (1,408), who together with Facu, won the final.

The Madridistas managed to separate themselves with a double-digit difference and at the end of the game, they would reach Merengue’s maximum, which was 11 points. But the Argentine won the confrontation alone, he was joined by Dzanan Musa (18 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal) he was imperial throughout the series, and today will not be an exception. The King of Europe regained success and surprised no one, with the league trophy, the thirty-seventh in his history.

Winners and farewell to Real Madrid

Coach Chus Mateo earned his first ACB designation and Sergio Llull won the eighth league of his career, putting him as the new era’s leading winner along with Juan Carlos Navarro. In addition, we had the farewell of a great one of the Merengue team, Rudy Fernández, who was already cheered at the WiZink Center and announced his professional retirement. In this confrontation and subsequent coronation of the league, he sealed the his basketball career and will stop calling his shoes to find a different direction in their lives.

31 is better

And having mentioned it in the previous paragraph, we cannot leave its recognition outside of this note. Dzanan Musa was elected Movistar MVP of the 2023/2024 ACB finals. The Bosnian averaged 15.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and a PIR of 18.7 in the white team’s title series.

Musa is the ninth Real Madrid player to be named MVP of the ACB finals. In addition to his teammates Sergio Llull, Facu Campazzo, Rudy Fernández and Eddy Tavares, they also won this individual award. Arvydas Sabonis, Alberto Angulo, Louis Bullock and Felipe Reyes complete the list of basketball players who won the award wearing the Merengue jersey.

But Musa wasn’t the only one wearing the 31 shirt that stood out. With all the recognition of Blanco’s team, we must mention the performances managed by Dylan Ennis, the 31st from UCAM Murcia, in these finals. The Canadian and nationalized Serbian shooting guard averaged 23 minutes played, 10 points, 1.66 assists and 2 rebounds.

A golden age in Murcia

UCAM Murcia reached the semi-finals and finals of the ACB League for the first time in its 39-year history. Undoubtedly, an incredible performance by the team of Sito Alonso, who despite being blown away, the Murcian souls who completed the Palacio de los Deportes, encouraged and thanked them for the season they had.

Photos and video: ACB Media Center and ACB