Barcelona edges Real Madrid in dramatic ACB finals

Barcelona Regal on Saturday defeated Real Madrid in the last game of a scintillating ACB League final series, to lift its 14th title since the Association of Basketball Clubs took over the running of the competition from the Spanish Basketball Federation in the 1983-84 season.

Real Madrid, with 30 league titles overall, has won eight ACB titles but has not lifted the trophy now for more than five years. Barcelona's recent dominance was maintained in the final match at the Palau Sant Jordi after the azulgrana had withstood a Real Madrid onslaught in the capital during Game 4 -- with the home side 2-1 up in the series and on the back of a crushing Barça defeat in Game 3 -- to bring the contest back to Catalonia.

Barcelona won the decisive match 73-69 despite late pressure from the visitor through triples from both Jaycee Carrol and Kyle Singler. "We suffered, but with this thrilling series basketball is the winner," noted Real coach Pablo Laso. "I hope that this will lead people to get hooked on this sport."

"We went out to war with less ammunition and we won. It's an amazing title and we are very satisfied and pleased," said Barcelona coach Xavi Pascual. "[Juan Carlos] Navarro and [Boniface] N'Dong were broken and [Erazem] Lorbek had a fainting fit on [Saturday] morning. It makes your hair stand up on end when you see just how much effort they put in to play some minutes."