By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Girona defeated Movistar Estudiantes, 66-60, to accompany regular-season champion, Coviran Granada, to Spain’s Liga Endesa.
Team owner and founder, Marc Gasol expanding his role to the playing squad was vindicated at the end of the 2021-22 season. He put in 11 points, eight rebounds, four steals, and two blocks lasting nearly 28 minutes Sunday, in the last game of his first campaign back in Spain and Girona following 13 seasons in the NBA.
Gasol, 37, averaged 14.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game over 25 appearances in 2021-22.
From the 2-7 W-L tally when he joined the team as a player in November, Girona ended up with a 21-13 record earning a second opportunity for promotion via the Playoffs. After sweeping Leyma Coruna in the Quarterfinals best-of-three series and beating ICG Forca Lleida in the Final Four Semifinals, his side managed to punch in the ticket for the 2022-23 edition of Spain’s Liga Endesa edging out Estudiantes.
Granada was promoted by finishing on top of the regular-season standings behind a 26-8 record, ahead of the 25-9 finish for Estudiantes. Fourth-placed Girona was placed on the third seed of the bracket to start the Playoffs but ultimately clinched the berth in the ACB, according to the final rankings.
After playing for CB Girona between 2006 and 2008, Gasol founded Basquet Girona in 2014. The team was promoted to LEB Plata in 2018 and to LEB Oro in 2020, before making it all the way to the top-tier division of the country.
Photo Credit: FEB