Hereda San Pablo Burgos crowned 2020 Basketball Champions League winners

Back in 2015, Hereda San Pablo Burgos became a professional club. Five years later, they are the winners of the Basketball Champions League, taking down hosts AEK in the title game on Sunday, celebrating a 85-74 triumph.

Burgos became the first team to win the Basketball Champions League coming from the Qualifying Rounds, and already held the records for the highest attendance in the Qualifying Rounds and the Regular Season. Now, they are going home with that one million euro check after claiming the 2020 Basketball Champions League title!

Hereda San Pablo Burgos became the second Spanish team to win the competition, following Iberostar Tenerife’s run in 2016-17. AEK could not convert their chance of becoming the first team to win the BCL twice.

Turning point: It was pure fire for Burgos from the middle of the second quarter on. They turned a 33-31 deficit into a 49-36 lead at the break and put together 15-of-30 three-pointers through three quarters to extend the lead to 21 points in the fourth quarter. AEK had one more run in them, but could not crawl back into single digits.

Stats don’t lie: Not much you can do when Burgos are hitting 17-of-35 from beyond the arc. The 11 offensive rebounds were another bonus, making AEK do the extra work on defense, not allowing them to push the tempo offensively.

Game heroes: Thaddus McFadden picked up the MVP of the Final 8 award by becoming the first man to collect 15+ points, 5+ rebounds and 5+ assists in the Final – he had 18, 6 and 5, respectively. Omar Cook punished all the times AEK went under the screen in the pick-and-roll sets, hit five three-pointers and had 15 points off the bench. Honorable mention: Miquel Salvo, 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

Bottom line: A team does not finish ahead of Real Madrid in the Spanish League by accident, and a team definitely does not improve by accident. Burgos’ progress from the lower ranks all the way to the Semi-Finals of the Liga Endesa and now to the top of the Basketball Champions League sounds like a movie script, for sure. The win in the Final was even more impressive when you consider the strength of this AEK team.