Henri Drell's Tenerife gets Spanish basketball playoffs off to winning start

Estonian basketball star Henri Drell's club La Laguna Tenerife started with a solid 96:81 home win in the 2025 Spanish Liga ACB playoffs, though Drell did not get any court time this time round.
Tenerife, who finished third in the regular season, hosted sixth-place Joventut Badalona, and while the teams were fairly evenly matched in the first half, the Canary Islands team managed to take a seven-point lead over the Catalan side in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, however, the roles reversed, and the visitors gained a seven-point lead, only for Tenerife to quickly erase that, finishing with an impressive 9:2 run and carrying that momentum into the final quarter. From a 61:61 tie, Tenerife surged ahead until the final scoreboard showed a decisive 96:81 victory at the buzzer.
The second game of the best-of-three series is to take place in Badalona on Tuesday evening.
Another Estonian player, Sander Raieste, see his club, Baskonia, start its playoffs campaign today play-offs, against Real Madrid.
Before joining Tenerife in March, Drell, 25, who also represents the Estonian national team, played in the NBA-affiliated G-League. He was first with the Windy City Bulls, also getting court time for the senior NBA Chicago Bulls side, and latterly played for the Rip City Remix, the Portland Trailblazers' G-League affiliate.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste, Andrew Whyte