2021 Basketball Champions League Americas

Basketball Champions League Americas
Season	2020–21
Dates	31 January – 13 April 2021
Teams	12
Regular season
Season MVP	Rafael Hettsheimeir
Finals
Champions	Flamengo (1st league title; 2nd continental title)
Runners-up	Real Estelí
Third place	Minas
Fourth place	São Paulo FC
Statistical leaders
Points Jezreel De Jesús 20.1 Rebounds Ernesto Oglivie 9.7 Assists Fernando Zurbriggen 6.3 Index Rating Fernando Zurbriggen 21.8
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2021 Basketball Champions League Americas season was the 14th edition of the top-tier level professional club basketball competition in the Americas and the second of the Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA) since launched by FIBA in 2019. It was also the 22nd season of Pan-American top-level competition, as well as the 59th season of South American top-level competition.

The season began on 31 January 2021 and ended on 13 April 2021. The season ended with a Final Eight tournament that was hosted in Managua, Nicaragua. The defending champions Quimsa were eliminated in the quarter-finals.

Flamengo won its second continental championship ^[a] after defeating Real Estelí in the final in Managua. As champions, Flamengo also qualified for the 2022 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

Team allocation

A total of 12 teams from 6 countries participated in the 2020–21 Basketball Champions League Americas.

Teams

League positions after eventual playoffs of the previous season shown in parentheses. ^[1] Because Peñarol and Aguada from Uruguay were not able to participation due to national restrictions, Minas and Obras Sanitarias were given wild cards by FIBA. ^[2] Universidad de Concepción replaced Chilean champions Valdivia, who withdrew. ^[3]

Group phase

Quimsa TH (Abd-1st)	Obras Sanitarias (WC)	São Paulo FC (3rd)	Universidad de Concepción (WC)
San Lorenzo (Abd-2nd)	Flamengo (1st)	Minas (WC)	Titanes Barranquilla (1st)
Instituto (Abd-4th)	Franca (2nd)	Caballos de Coclé (1st)	Real Estelí (1st)

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

• 1st, 2nd, etc.: League position after Playoffs
• Abd: Abandoned seasons due to COVID-19 pandemic
• TH: Title holders
• WC: Qualified through Wild Card

Group phase

The 12 teams are drawn into four groups of three, while taking into account geographic location. In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away, in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the quarterfinals, while the remaining team in each group is eliminated.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Real Estelí	6	4	2	456	471	−15	10	Advance to quarterfinals
2	Caballos de Coclé	6	3	3	453	457	−4	9
3	Titanes Barranquilla	6	2	4	485	466	+19	8

Source: BCL Americas

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Quimsa	4	3	1	325	312	+13	7	Advance to quarterfinals
2	São Paulo FC	4	2	2	310	270	+40	6
3	Universidad de Concepción	4	1	3	297	350	−53	5

Source: BCL Americas

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	San Lorenzo	4	4	0	321	292	+29	8	Advance to quarterfinals
2	Franca	4	2	2	315	316	−1	6
3	Obras Sanitarias	4	0	4	322	350	−28	4

Source: BCL Americas

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Flamengo	5	5	0	413	380	+33	10	Advance to quarterfinals
2	Minas	6	2	4	492	494	−2	8
3	Instituto	5	1	4	406	437	−31	6

Source: BCL Americas

Playoffs

Main article: 2021 BCL Americas Playoffs

The playoffs, also called the Final Eight, began on 10 April and ended on 13 April 2021. All games were played in the Alexis Arguello Sports Complex in the Nicaraguan capital Managua.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	10 April
	Real Estelí	94
					11 April
	Franca	73
					Real Estelí	98
	10 April
					Minas	95
	Quimsa	60
									13 April
	Minas	87
									Real Estelí	80
	10 April
									Flamengo	84
	San Lorenzo	75
					11 April
	São Paulo FC	78
					São Paulo FC	66
	10 April
					Flamengo	75			Third place game
	Flamengo	74
									13 April
	Caballos de Coclé	59
									Minas	75
									São Paulo FC	58

Awards

Most Valuable Player

Player	Team	Ref.
Rafael Hettsheimeir	Flamengo	[4]

Statistics

The following were the statistical leaders in the 2021 season. ^[5]

Individual statistic leaders Category Player Team(s) Statistic Efficiency per game Fernando Zurbriggen Obras Sanitarias 21.8 Points per game Jezreel De Jesús Real Estelí 20.1 Rebounds per game Ernesto Oglivie Caballos de Coclé 9.7 Assists per game Fernando Zurbriggen Obras Sanitarias 6.3 Steals per game Mauro Cosolito Quimsa 2.4 Blocks per game Justin Williams Titanes de Barranquilla 2.8 Turnovers per game Selem Safar Titanes de Barranquilla 3.0 Minutes per game Jonathan Rodriguez Titanes de Barranquilla 37.4 FG% Diamon Simpson Quimsa 55.9% 3P% Juan Pablo Venegas Schaefer Obras Sanitarias 58.3%

Individual game highs Category Player Team Statistic Efficiency Brandon Moss Universidad de Concepción 34 Lucas Mariano São Paulo FC Points Brandon Moss Universidad de Concepción 33 Rebounds Four occasions 16 Assists George de Paula São Paulo FC 11 Steals Luke Martínez Flamengo 5 Blocks Brandon Moss Universidad de Concepción 6 Three pointers Santiago Scala Franca 7

Notes

1. The title was considered Flamengo's second Pan-American continental title after winning the 2014 FIBA Americas League. However, in 1953, Flamengo finished as co-champions of the South American Championship, along with two other teams.

References

1. "Basketball Champions League Americas groups and schedule confirmed". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
2. "Minas y Obras, nuevos participantes de la BCL Americas". FIBA.basketball (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 December 2021.
3. "Universidad de Concepción se suma a la BCL Americas". FIBA.basketball (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 December 2021.
4. "Flamengo's Rafael Hettsheimeir wins 2021 BCLAmericas MVP". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
5. "Players statistics of the Basketball Champions League Americas 2021". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 25 March 2022.