“Magic” Kanan… brought Fener to its knees and sent Olympiakos to Barcelona!

THE Isaiah Canaan decided… Barcelona for him Olympic!

The American guard caught fire at the end of overtime and with a tremendous personal crescendo with a 9-0 rungave the “red and white” the victory (84-81) on her Fenerbahce and so they will face her Barcelona with a home-field disadvantage in its playoffs Euroleagueafter finishing in a record fifth place 22-12!

The Piraeus had the chance to get the pink card in normal time of the match, but Williams-Goss and Papanikolaou missed in the last attack and that’s how it stayed 69-69.

Kanan was amazing throughout the match, having 27 points, with 5/7 three-pointers. Good too Shaquille McKissick with 12 p. Reappearance for him Nikola Milutinovwho played for 4:27”, having 5 points and 3 rebounds.

On the other hand, for Fener, which finished sixth with 20-14 and will face her Monacofirst scorer was Nigel Hayes with 21 points.

The match

Olympiacos started with Fal, Peters, Papanikolaou, Kanan and Walkap. Bad start from the “red and whites”, who did not have the… antidote to the “hot” Dorsey, with Fener going 2-11, in the first three minutes. Then, the Piraeus responded with defenses and with the “hot” outside the 6.75m. They did, initially going down by a point (13-14), while with Larentzakis they tied the match (16-16). With Biberovic and an offensive rebound, the visitors went ahead again (16-19), but a buzzer beater three-pointer by Kanan made it 19-19 in the first period.

Olympiacos continued with the same energy in the second quarter and finding baskets in the open court by Larentzakis and McKissick made the turnaround and went to +6 (29-23), in the first five minutes. Then, Fener reacted with forward Hayes, with Milutinov crossing the floor and keeping the “red and whites” at +5 (36-31), until the 27th minute. In the last minutes, the guests took advantage of the mistakes of Piraeus and got closer to the basket (36-34), with McKissick’s basket in the last second sending the Piraeus to the locker room with +4 (38-34).

After the wrong start in the second part by both, Papanikolaou sent Olympiakos to +5 (40-35), in the 22nd minute. Fener’s answer came with the offensive rebounds of Sanli and Dorsey, finding a 6-0 run, to overtake (40-41), in the 23rd minute. Then Fal and Kanan aggressively kept the “red and whites”, with Hayes keeping the visitors ahead (44-46), until 25′. There, the Piraeus took out defenses and with Sikma and Kanan went on a 7-0 run and escaped to +5 (51-46), in the 27th minute. However, in the last minutes Barzoka’s players lost their pace in the attack and with Wilbekin coming “hot” from the bench, the visitors were reduced to a point (53-52) at the end of the third period.

Bartzoka’s players continued in the same bad way in the fourth quarter, with Fener going on a 6-0 run with Papagianni and Wilbekin, for +5 (53-58), in the first two minutes. Then, Bartzoka’s players put pressure on the defense, secured the rebounds and, with Larentzakis and Williams-Goss, made individual scores of 11-2, for +4 (64-60), in the 35th minute. Repeated mistakes from Olympiakos followed, with Hayes stepping on the gas and with individual scores of 1-9 sending the visitors to +4 (65-69), in the 38th minute. The Piraeus responded with a basket and a foul by McKissick, a good defense and 1/2 shots by Williams-Goss to equalize (69-69), 38” before the end. In the next attack, Wilbekin missed, but so did Williams-Goss and Papanikolaou, with both teams going to overtime.

With Gudurich in front, Fener had a steady lead at the beginning of the extra five minutes (71-74) and with Kalathis, it went to +5 (73-78), in the 43rd minute. It was followed by a terrible personal crescendo by Kanan, who with a 9-0 run, sent the “red and white” to +4 (82-78), 18.7” before the end. Sarah’s team pulled away with a 3-pointer by Wilbekin, with Walkup’s 2/2 shooting making it 84-81.

The quarters: 19-19, 38-34, 53-52, 69-69 et seq., 84-81 par.

See here the match statistics

Watch the film of the match here