Fresh off Belgrade, Real Madrid took a step in overcoming the frustration from the lost Final Four final to Anadolu Efes by taking down BAXI Manresa 93-76 (21-14, 27-15, 23-20, 22-27) in the first game for the Spanish ACB playoff quarter-finals. 

Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz held off hosts Valencia Basket 80-79 (21-21, 22-14, 24-27, 13-17) and got the upper hand in their ACB quarter-final playoff series. Game 2 will be held next Saturday in Vitoria, where Neven Spahija's team will have the chance to sweep the best-of-three series.

Nikola Mirotic was not included in the All-ACB team announced by the Spanish league on Sunday.

For that reason, FC Barcelona have expressed their disagreement with the All-ACB team of the season through Josep Cubells - an executive responsible for the Blaugranas basketball team, sources told BasketNews. 

The Catalan club does not understand how it could be possible that a player who has been elected to the All-EuroLeague First Team is not included in the domestic league's one. 

Cubells expressed his discomfort to the ACB for Mirotic's absence, requesting a review and a turnaround of the voting systems. 

Instead, Dzanan Musa (Rio Breogan), Marcelinho Huertas (Lenovo Tenerife), Nico Laprovittola (Barcelona), Chima Moneke (BAXI Manresa), and Giorgi Shermadini (Lenovo Tenerife) were included in the All-ACB team.

Throughout the regular ACB season, Mirotic averaged 14.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 16.7 EFF.

Meanwhile, in the EuroLeague, his numbers were 16.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 19.4 PIR.

The votes for the All-Team ACB are divided into four branches: fans, players, coaches, and media. Each of them has a 25% in the final saying.  

Three times EuroLeague champion Dejan Bodiroga gave an interview to Radio Marca ahead of the Final Four. Bodiroga spent a season with Sarunas Jasikevicius at FC Barcelona back in 2002-03, crowning after an exciting final against Benetton Treviso. 

Bodiroga praised his former teammate and current Barcelona head coach, admitting he knew his capabilities.

"I knew he was going to be a great coach. He gave character to the team," expressed Bodiroga, who played both in Madrid and Barcelona. 

The legend analyzed the upcoming semifinals in which the Spanish powerhouses will seek a spot for the final. It will be the 7th Clasico of the season. Barcelona have won 5 of them so far. 

"Barcelona has been more consistent during the season. They have a slight advantage, as we have seen during the season in their head-to-head. Madrid suffered some ups and downs in the last weeks, but this is over.

Both teams are in a good moment, so it won't be easy for both of them. I hope to see a thrilling game," explained Dejan. 

Asked which team he will support in the Final Four, Bodiroga preferred to be polite. 

"It's difficult, I've been lucky enough to win it three times, but there are many competitive teams. You have to have continuity in the regular league, the Playoffs, and the Final Four and know how to withstand the pressure. Being in a city with four teams and fans is like a celebration of basketball, and it's something special," the legendary player continued.

Finally, Bodiroga could not hide his admiration for Luka Doncic. The Slovenian superstar completed a historical series against the Phoenix Suns to lead the Dallas Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals after 11 seasons. 

"Even when he was young, he was seen as a spectacular talent, he is a great player with great character on the court. He has everything, and I see great things for him in the future," he concluded.

Ante Tomic ended the ACB League Regular Season with a stunning performance in Vitoria-Gasteiz against Baskonia, dominating with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. He was unstoppable in the paint, handing out free lessons to Steven Enoch.

Tomic established a season-high with 34 PIR. He has averaged 23.5 points and 29.75 PIR in May. Joventut Badalona's center looks like a rookie who wishes to take on the world.

The Croatian big man has surpassed Bernard Hopkins in the historical ACB League ranking this weekend. Tomic occupies the ninth place in PIR. Darryl Middleton and Juan Carlos Navarro are next on the list. Will he reach them? It remains to be seen.

After the whole of Europe started to discuss Hereda San Pablo Burgos president's kneeling demand to their players, guard Alex Renfroe gave his statement about the situation on social media.

"So… I've been seeing the reports and all the comments about what happened yesterday after the game," Renfroe tweeted. "Let me give some insight since people are giving opinions and may or may not know what they are talking about."

Renfroe said, that it is the tradition of the club to kneel on the court, bang on the court, and chant with their fans after the wins.

"This is my 2nd year here in Burgos. Our tradition here after we win games is to kneel on the court and bang on the court and do a chant with our fans," he added.

According to the American guard, this tradition is the way to thank the best fans in ACB and probably in the whole Europe.

"We do this after every win," Renfroe continued. "Also clapping to all of our fans. Because we really have the best fans in the ACB and 1 of the best in Europe. And they are packed in our gym every game."

"No matter where we are in the standings (Clearly). This is our way to thank them for the support," the American guard explained.

As it became known, the president of Hereda San Pablo Burgos, Felix Sancho, asked the players of the team to kneel after being relegated to the second division of Spain, something that provoked a few reactions.

One of them came from Mike James, who took a position through social media and criticized the decision of the president of Burgos.

"Yea, I'm not kneeling for none of that s**t," James tweeted. "I woulda walked to the back on bro and took my shower."

The last round of the regular season in the Spanish ACB League, known as Liga Endesa, was played on Saturday, and all eight teams that will be fighting for the prestigious title are now clear.

The Teams

FC Barcelona captured the top stop in the standings with 27 wins and only 7 losses during the year. Led by Nikola Mirotic and Brandon Davies, the Catalan club ensured the first place in the regular season several weeks before the final round.

Real Madrid were comfortably second, winning 25 matches out of the possible 34. They lost both games against the first-placed Barcelona by a combined margin of 21 points. Led by a big man duo of Edy Tavares and Vincent Poirier, the royal club finished the regular season with 6 wins in a row.

Next, we have the EuroCup semifinalists Valencia Basket and fellow EuroCup competitors Joventut Badalona who sensationally lost to ratiopharm Ulm in the Round of 16 in the European competition.

The fifth spot was captured by the Basketball Champions League winners Lenovo Tenerife who beat MoraBanc Andorra in the last round, sending the opponents to the relegation. The team that battled Tenerife in the BCL final, BAXI Manresa, finished the season in 7th place.

The meeting between Hereda San Pablo Burgos and Urbas Fuenlabrada had just ended at the Coliseum. The team from Madrid had prevailed by 83-66, ratifying its presence in the Liga Endesa for one more season and, in turn, forced Burgos to the LEB Oro, the country's second division. 

Burgos stayed in the ACB for five seasons, during which they also won two Basketball Champions League trophies in 2020 and 2021. 

However, when everything was over, the stage didn't belong to the players or to the team's fans but to the club's president, Felix Sancho, who had taken the court before the final buzzer.

As if the moment wasn't intense enough, with fans crying and being devasted about their team's fall from grace, Sancho surprised everyone by kneeling down and forcing Burgos players to do the same as a sign of apology to the fans. 

The players, oscillating between the surprised and the bewildered, could hardly believe their eyes, but they still complied with Sancho's order and bent down for almost a minute. 

The incident provoked rather unflattering comments on social media, with some fans calling it a disgrace.

Brandon Paul had a run-in with Wade Baldwin towards the end of the game between Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and Joventut Badalona, which the Catalan side won by 89-81.

Baldwin spat at Paul, and the two got into an altercation. A couple of hours after the final buzzer, Brandon Paul took to Twitter to call out his former Olympiacos Piraeus teammate, recalling an incident involving former Reds guard Will Cherry. 

"I'm a professional first, but I'm never going for another man who tries to spit in my face. I kept my mouth shut for three years on this coward," the guard of Joventut wrote without naming Baldwin.

"Ask anyone about his character, and they’ll tell you. Ask any single person on 2019-20 Olympiacos, they’ll tell you in a heartbeat. I bet my salary on it. I still hate how they did my brother Will Cherry when Wade tried him too; ask anyone about that."

Olympiacos acquired Cherry on a short-term deal in April 2019. The Greek club later signed the American guard to a one-year contract for 2019-2020. But Cherry was released in January 2020, following an altercation he had with his then-teammate Wade Baldwin.

Saturday marked the final day of the regular season of the Spanish ACB League, currently known as Liga Endesa.

After holding talks of quietly making the EuroLeague just several weeks ago, the EuroCup sensation MoraBanc Andorra has been relegated from the competition. The team lost the final game of the regular season against Lenovo Tenerife 75-77 (19-24, 9-17, 25-17, 22-19).

Although Andorra trailed during the entirety of the game, the hope was still alive in the 4th quarter when the teams were tied at 75 with just 3.3 seconds to go, but then Giorgi Shermadini hit a floated with just 0.6 seconds to go to ultimately send the EuroCup's cinderella to the lower league.

Shermadini was the tied-top-scorer in the Basketball Champions League winners club, scoring 14 points and grabbing 4 rebounds for 18 PIR, while Sasu Salin also provided 14 points in the contest.

Albert Oliver chose a photo depicting him to wear the Gran Canaria jersey to announce the end of his professional basketball playing career at the age of 43.

He did so this Thursday indicating that "this is going to be my last week as a professional basketball player. I started playing at the age of 6 in school and I'm retiring at 43. I can't describe in words what basketball has meant to me, but what I can say is that I have enjoyed it every day. And a lot."

The Catalan point guard will play his last game against Valencia Basket on May 14. Oliver played 674 games in the ACB, scoring a total of 5.211 points. His scoring high was 28 points on April 6, 2013 when Gran Canaria faced Cajasol in San Pablo.

He was also part of the Spanish National Team in the FIBA windows leading to the 2019 World Cup in China. He won the 2019 Spanish Super Cup with Gran Canaria and became the oldest scorer in EuroLeague's history in 2019.

Oliver made his ACB debut in 1997 and will retire as the second-oldest player to have played in the competition after Darryl Middleton. He is in fourth place in the all-time ACB assists ranking.

When BasketNews connected with Kyle Wiltjer for this interview, the American-Canadian forward was relaxing on his couch in Tenerife, basking in the afterglow of his team's second Basketball Champions League title win. 

However, Lenovo Tenerife's triumph over BAXI Manresa in Sunday's final in Bilbao was to be succeeded by a demanding ACB League game against Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. Celebrations were over, as players and coaches had to dry out as soon as possible to catch up with the team's next goal. 

"It's classic European basketball. You celebrate, and then you got to get back to work. I'm used to it at this point," Wiltjer cynically remarks.

Besides, this is his fifth overall season in Europe. It's also his first continental title, which makes the feeling all the more intense. For someone who's had to bounce back after painful losses and eliminations, winning his first trophy can whet his appetite. 

"We're excited about that, but the ACB League is very important to our organization. We're trying to win another one, that's for sure," Wiltjer stresses. 

The 29-year-old former NCAA champ with Kentucky went for 17 points in the BCL final. He averaged 11.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in the 2021-22 season.