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Lega Basket Serie A 2008–09

Lega Basket Serie A
Season 2008–09
Champions Montepaschi Siena
4th title
Runners-up Armani Jeans Milano
Semifinalists Benetton Treviso
Angelico Biella
Relegated GMAC Bologna
Snaidero Udine
Teams 16
Dates October 12, 2008 – June 16, 2009
Top seed Montepaschi Siena
Awards
MVP United States Terrell McIntyre
Finals MVP United States Terrell McIntyre

The 2008–09 Lega Basket Serie A season, known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons, was the 87th season of the Lega Basket Serie A, the highest professional basketball league in Italy.

The regular season ran from September 30, 2007 to April 27, 2008, 16 teams played each other team in home and away matches. At the end of the regular season, the top 8 teams advanced to the championship play-off whilst the lowest ranked teams, GMAC Bologna and Snaidero Udine, were relegated to the Legadue.

The original number of teams was 18, but on September 20, 2008 the Federal Council of the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP) discovered administrative irregularities committed by Basket Napoli and UPEA Capo d'Orlando and decided to deny them professional licenses. The council also chose not to substitute them with any teams from LegADue, and at the same time decided to permanently reduce the number of teams in the top flight to 16.

Montepaschi Siena swept virtually all before them domestically, winning the SuperCoppa Italiana before the season and the Coppa Italia at midseason, losing in the league only once (at Fortitudo Bologna), and going unbeaten through the playoffs to claim their third straight title.

The Italian Supercup is played as a single match before the start of the season between the previous year's Serie A champion and Coppa Italia winner (if a club wins both, the match instead pits the top two teams from the previous season's league). This season, the game, played September 30 in Siena, pitted two-time defending league champion Montepaschi Siena against Coppa Italia winner Air Avellino.


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