Liga Endesa Playoffs: UCAM Murcia Grit Out Game 2 Victory at Barcelona, Series Tied 1-1

There is a particular kind of beauty in watching a team win a playoff game it has no business winning. FC Barcelone walked into Game 2 with the weight of a 91-68 blowout behind them—a home win so thorough it felt inevitable, almost preordained. They had the Palau Blaugrana with them. They had rebounding advantage seared into their DNA. They had every reason to expect UCAM Murcie to wilt under the pressure of facing elimination in a series they were supposed to lose.

What they got instead was a lesson in collective will and the fragility of probability itself.

The DeJulius Economy

David DeJulius did not need to play 35 minutes to dominate Game 2. He needed 20 minutes and 54 seconds, and in that time he essentially imposed his will on Barcelona‘s defense in the way that only the most efficient scorers can. Twenty-two points on 9-of-16 shooting. Four 3-pointers on seven attempts. Five assists. The kind of line that suggests not just scoring, but orchestration—a floor general who understands that in playoff basketball, control matters as much as volume.

🥵 @DavidDejulius activando el 𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙤 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 es la mejor noticia para @UCAMMurcia.

¡QUÉ JUGÓN, OIGAN!

📺 @DAZN_ES | #PlayoffLigaEndesa pic.twitter.com/5ysM7lcWvg

— Liga Endesa (@ACBCOM) June 4, 2026

This is what separates a truly dangerous DeJulius from a good one: his ability to do damage in bunches, then get off the court before fatigue sets in. There’s an elegance to it, a kind of economy of motion. He took what Barcelona offered, exploited the openings with mathematical precision, and created oxygen for his teammates. In a rebounding battle Barcelona was winning 39-30, DeJulius’ early offensive firepower was Murcia‘s only counter-argument to being overwhelmed on the glass.

David DeJulius — 22pts, 1reb, 5ast

Then he crumpled to the floor in the third quarter, ankle compromised, and suddenly the architecture of Murcia‘s Game 2 strategy dissolved entirely.

The Aftermath and Kelan Martin’s Shrug

What happened next was less a comeback than a kind of grimacing perseverance. UCAM didn’t find some hidden well of resilience and tap it with a victorious flourish. They survived. They hung on. They won because Kelan Martin, a player who has spent much of his career as a competent complementary piece, understood that competence would not be enough anymore. He had to become the guy.

Martin finished with 18 points on 4-of-8 3-point shooting—numbers that don’t immediately announce themselves as crucial, until you realize that every single one of those makes came when Barcelona was still alive, still threatening, still believing it could extract a third game from this series. His fourth-quarter 3s weren’t about padding a lead. They were about suffocation, about answering Barcelona‘s knocks on the door before they could break through.

Kelan Martin — 18pts, 1reb, 1ast

Jonah Radebaugh played 34 minutes in the kind of honest, unglamorous performance that prevents good teams from imploding. Michael Forrest added 11 more points off the bench. This was team basketball in its purest form—a collection of role players understanding their roles and executing them with the kind of precision that makes the difference between series-tied and season-over.

Barcelona threw everything back. Kevin Punter‘s late-game 3 looked pure coming off his hands. Joel Parra‘s did too. Tornike Shengelia carried the load with 18 points and seven rebounds, and Barcelona‘s 40 percent from 3-point range (on 15 attempts) would typically be the signature of a winning performance.

But Murcia‘s 16 made 3-pointers on 38 attempts—42 percent—was a thumb on the scale in their direction. They didn’t outlast Barcelona. They out-shot them in a game that came down to the slimmest of margins.

The Uncertainty Ahead

Game 3 in Murcia carries an asterisk now, and its name is David DeJulius’ ankle. If he returns healthy and even approximates the version we saw for 20 minutes in Game 2, UCAM becomes a genuine threat to advance. They’ve proven they can steal games on the road without him. Imagine what they look like with him.

If he doesn’t? If the ankle is serious? Then Murcia has already spent its miracle for the series. Lightning, striking once, is rare. Striking twice is a different animal entirely.

For now, they’ve leveled the series. Barcelona had its out and didn’t take it. UCAM grabbed it with both hands and held on until the final buzzer—proof that in playoff basketball, sometimes the team that wants it less is the one that wanted it first.