In 2023 the Copa del Rey was held in Badalona, and it will surely be a tournament remembered forever. Unicaja was proclaimed champion beating first Barcelona, then Real Madrid, and Tenerife, in an unprecedented final, in the decisive game. The Andalusian team wins the cup again 18 years later
In 2022 the EuroBasket was held, where its final phase was played in Berlin. A competition where at the beginning all the spotlights were focused on NBA stars Doncic, Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, but in which all of them were overshadowed by the teamwork of Spain, unexpected winner of the Gold after a parenthesis edition
In the 2022 ACB, the title went to Real Madrid, who clearly beat a Barcelona team that had the home court factor in its favor (1-3). The Whites dominated throughout the final, won the first game, fought until the last possession in the second and sealed the tie by winning their games in Madrid. The defense, the intensity, but above all the dominance in rebounding, were fundamental to understand the victory, and there the maximum exponent is Edy Tavares, elected MVP
In the NBA of 2022, the Golden State Warriors returned four years later to win the championship ring, beating the Boston Celtics who were playing in a final that they had not played for twelve years. The series after starting evenly matched, the Celtics got to put (1-2), was sentenced by the Warriors in a resounding way, winning the last three games in a solvent way to put the final (4-2)
2022 will be remembered for the fact that Russian teams were disqualified because of Russia’s war invasion of Ukraine. A decision that affected the European top competition in sporting terms
In the 2022 EuroCup, this time, Virtus Bologna lived up to its status as favorite after beating Bursaspor in the final (80-67). Milos Teodosic, who led his team in both attack and direction, won the MVP
In 2022 the final four was held in Bilbao, where we were offered a Spanish final to decide the champion, in which Tenerife overcame Manresa by (87-98), led by a spectacular Marcelinho Huertas, MVP at 38 years of age. The islanders returned to the top of the BCL five years later
In 2022, the King’s Cup was held in Granada, where Barcelona was once again proclaimed champion. The blaugranas, after scoring more than 100 points on average in the quarterfinals and semifinals, had to overcome a very defensive Real Madrid that took the final to a few points
The 2020 Olympic Games, held in Tokyo, were forced to be postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the semifinals, the United States had little trouble beating Australia (97-78). Much more disputed was the semifinal between Doncic’s Slovenia and France, which was decided in favor of the Gauls by (90-89) thanks to a block by Batum in the last play. In the grand final, the United States won the Gold by beating France by a narrow (87-82). It was a victory without much shine but really effective, led by Durant who won his third gold. France, 21 years later, felt again the sweet cold of the silver. In the fight for the bronze medal, Australia broke its jinx in the Games and won the metal beating Slovenia (107-93) with a stellar Mills (42 points 9 assists)
In the 2021 NBA Finals, the Milwaukee Bucks ended their long ring drought by beating the Phoenix Suns (2-4), who started the playoffs with a 2-0 lead and had home-court advantage. With the exception of Khris Middleton, who was key in important moments of the final, the man was Giannis Antetokounmpo, MVP, who from injury doubt finished the series with 50 points to lead the Bucks 50 years later to the championship
In the 2021 ACB, Barcelona put an end to a long drought in the competition, beating Real Madrid in the final (2-0), in a reduced best-of-three format. The blaugranas were the clear winners in both games against a Real Madrid side that was severely depleted by their injuries and did not give the impression of being able to compete at almost any point in the final. Pau Gasol, who returned to Barcelona after many years in the NBA, won the title 20 years later, Nikola Mirotic, MVP of the tournament
