Legia Warsaw repeats as Polish basketball champion, outlasts Zastal in Game 7 finale

Decisive game seven

Legia Warsaw captured its second consecutive Orlen Basket Liga championship on Sunday evening, defeating Orlen Zastal Zielona Góra 78-70 in front of a home crowd at OSiR Bemowo. The win gave Legia a 4-3 series victory in a finals that stretched to the maximum seven games. Zastal opened with an early 8-0 lead and held a 19-17 edge after the first quarter, but Legia seized control in the second period behind captain Andrzej Pluta and center Shane Hunter, surging to a 46-38 halftime advantage.

The hosts maintained an eight-point cushion through much of the third quarter, extending the margin to 63-52 at one stage before Zastal trimmed the deficit to five points (66-61) entering the final frame. In the fourth, Legia lost Pluta to injury with just over two minutes remaining and weathered missed free throws from Michał Kolenda in the closing moments. Jayvon Graves delivered key defensive stops and two made free throws down the stretch to seal the championship.

A series that will certainly remain in the memory of Polish basketball for a long time.

Road to the title

Legia entered the playoffs as the top seed after finishing first in the regular season. Zastal, by contrast, placed eighth in the regular-season standings and navigated through the play-in round against Anwil Włocławek before mounting its finals run. The championship series opened with Zastal winning Game 1 (77-74), followed by two Legia victories (104-82 and 79-62). Zastal evened the series in Game 4 (85-73), Legia moved ahead in Game 5 (84-80), and the sixth game delivered the finals' most dramatic moment.

Legia led Game 6 by a 74-71 margin with just over one second remaining. Conley Garrison then sank a buzzer-beating three-pointer to lift Zastal to a 76-74 win and force a seventh game.

Historical context

Legia is the first team to defend the Orlen Basket Liga title since Anwil Włocławek accomplished the feat in 2018 and 2019, a gap of seven years. Between 2019 and the current season, each year produced a different champion. Zastal last won its sixth title in 2020.

The ninth championship arrives on the 110th anniversary of the club's founding. Legia's first basketball title came in 1956 under coach Tadeusz Ulatowski, when the team (then competing as CWKS Warsaw) clinched the league with a 14-4 record ahead of Wisła Kraków (13-5). The squad repeated as champions in 1957, winning a finals tournament that featured a historic five-overtime match against ŁKS Łódź. Legia collected seven titles during the PRL era between 1956 and 1969 and waited 56 years before winning its eighth crown in 2025.

Box score and performers

Pluta led Legia with 15 points. Race Thompson and Dominic Brewton each added 11 points, and Hunter contributed 10. Graves finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. For Zastal, Andrzej Mazurczak, Jayvon Maughmer, and Chavaughn Lewis each scored 10 points. Filip Matczak and Conley Garrison both added eight.

CWKS didn't have many fans in Warsaw. Two other capital teams — Polonia and AZS — were in a far better situation. Those teams always had loud, lively support from the crowd, while the CWKS players relied on the support of their own wives, the most faithful fans at every game.

What it means

Head coach Heiko Rannula, who guided Legia to last year's finals victory in Lublin (92-82 over PGE Start in Game 7 on the road), delivered the club its second title in as many seasons. The championship solidifies Legia's return to the summit of Polish basketball after the long post-1969 drought and establishes the current roster as the league's benchmark.