Liga Endesa opens 2026-27 season with nine tight games across the opening weekend

The Liga Endesa's 2026-2027 season got underway with a full round 1 slate spread across two days. Bilbao Basket opened the campaign on September 26 with a 107-92 win over Manresa, while FC Barcelone beat Leyma Coruña 119-101 the same day. Monbus Obradoiro beat MoraBanc Andorra 90-85 in the day's tightest contest of the opening night. The following day, September 27, brought six more games, including three decided by two points or fewer, along with a pair of high-scoring results.

Three games decided by the slimmest of margins

Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz survived a road trip to San Pablo Burgos, escaping with a 98-97 win on September 27. The visitors set the tone with a 30-point first quarter, only to see Burgos answered with their best quarter of the night, a 30-point third quarter that pulled the hosts back into it.

Baskonia closed the door with a 33-point fourth quarter to seal the one-point win. Christian Sengfelder led Burgos with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist for a PIR of 16.00, with Daniel Díez De La Faya adding 4 points and 9 rebounds for a PIR of 14.00. For Baskonia, Christopher Theoret Duarte and Anthony Lawson each scored 13 points, with Duarte posting 1 rebound and 2 assists for a PIR of 14.00 and Lawson adding 1 rebound, 2 assists and a PIR of 12.00.

Casademont Zaragoza needed every bit of a similarly tight finish to edge Tenerife 81-80. Zaragoza's best stretch came in the second quarter, a 26-point outburst, while Tenerife answered with a 27-point third quarter. Tenerife led or matched pace for three quarters before Zaragoza's slimmer fourth-quarter margin, 13-15, proved enough to hold on for the road win.

Timothy Abromaitis paced Tenerife with 7 points and 10 rebounds for a PIR of 13.00, while Marcelo Tieppo Huertas added 12 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists for a PIR of 12.00, and Jaime Fernández Bernabé chipped in 10 points. Justin Kyle Jaworski scored 15 points for Zaragoza, finishing with a PIR of 12.00.

Real Madrid beat Unicaja 89-87 on September 27. The two sides traded quarters early, with Unicaja's best push coming in the second quarter (25 points) to Real Madrid's 23. The game turned in the fourth quarter, when Real Madrid outscored Unicaja 24-16 in the decisive stretch of the night.

Guillermo Hernangomez posted 20 points and 6 rebounds, finishing with a PIR of 23.00, the joint-highest individual mark of the game, in a losing effort. Those three results alone accounted for a combined margin of just four points, setting an early tone for a league that figures to be tightly contested throughout the season.

Elsewhere on September 27, Río Breogán outlasted Joventut Badalone 110-104 in a high-scoring affair, while FIATC Girona held off UCAM Murcie 84-77. Valencia Basket lost its opener 105-100 to iLERNA Lleida.

Girona, Bilbao and Unicaja get early standout performances

Jassel Algenis Perez Perez posted the round's best PIR in Girona's win over UCAM Murcie, finishing with 20 points and 8 rebounds for a PIR of 29.00. Darrun Hilliard II paced Bilbao Basket's rout of Manresa with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, good for a PIR of 25.00. Guillermo Hernangomez's 20-point, 6-rebound night at Real Madrid rounded out the round's top individual PIR marks, even in defeat.

With round 1 complete, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao Basket sit among the early winners, while Valencia Basket, MoraBanc Andorra and Unicaja will look to bounce back after opening losses. The tight scorelines at Burgos, Tenerife and Madrid suggest a competitive balance that could carry into round 2.