Canadians in Europe: April 28th - May 4th

This was it for the remaining teams in the 2021 Euroleague season: the playoff round was to come to an end with the victors of each of the best-of-five series' advancing to the championship round. The pressure was now on and the room for error at its most narrow, any mis-steps could see a team eliminated from competition. That tension, though, made for some truly spectacular basketball.

Fenerbahce could not afford another slip up against CSKA Moscow and started off strong in game three, leading by twelve points in the first quarter. However, after a 15-2 run the Russian team went into the lead and surged further and further in front thanks to their three-point shooting - they hit twelve threes in the contest - and production from bench players Will Clyburn (34 points) and Iffe Lundberg (22 points).

Nando De Colo had 22 points and Dyshawn Pierre added six, but dropping game three 85 points to 68, Fenerbahce's Euroleague campaign came to an end, suffering a series sweep to the defending champions. This was the only of the playoff ties that ended at its earliest point, it was an entirely different story in the remaining three.

Efes Istanbul looked assured of advancing after two convincing wins over Real Madrid, but they found themselves shocked and stunned by their Spanish opponents who fought back from heavy deficits in games three and four to force a decider in the Turkish megacity. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich kept themselves alive with two successive slender wins over Olimpia Milano, requiring a fifth game to separate them. Even more high drama and excitement was seen in the remaining tie:

Action in the Barcelona-Zenit St Petersburg playoff had moved to Russia for games three and four. Having led his team in their first two outings, it was a lesser showing from Kevin Pangos in game three, but he did contribute 10 points for Zenit. After trailing by four at the start, Zenit took the lead and had a seven-point advantage over Barcelona before the Spanish club reclaimed their lead just before the half.

Barcelona then went on to accrue the biggest lead of the game at ten points but Zenit were not done yet: ten points in a row from Billy Baron got the Russian team to within a point in the fourth, but Nikola Mirotic responded by putting Barcelona up by eight. Pangos was one of the Zenit players who tried to turn it around in the final stretch but Cory Higgins and Brandon Davies both found plenty of late scoring opportunities to secure the win for Barcelona.

19 points from Baron was the best score for Zenit, while Davies finished with a game-high 22 points for Barcelona who took one step closer to the final four with the 78-70 win over Zenit St Petersburg. Now facing elimination, Zenit responded in game four: going ahead of Barcelona by double digits after seven minutes played.

Leading the charge in this one was Pangos with more of his trademark 'Pangdemonium', this time on home court: playing the best close range offence, he finished with a game-high 22 points. Nick Calathes and Cory Higgins was constantly trying to turn things around for Barcelona but working the defensive glass hard (32 rebounds to Barcelona's 20), Zenit shut out their opponents and kept a cool head on offence to come out with the win.

Never looking back after putting the first points on the board, Zenit forced a final showdown with Barcelona following their 74-61 win. A few days later the teams found themselves back in Spain for a final showdown for the right to contend for the championship. Unfortunately in the game itself Zenit saw missed three-pointers piling up early on, leaving the door open for Barcelona to take a double-digit lead behind higher-percentage play.

After being held by nine points in the third quarter, Zenit had a mountain to climb in the final period and despite Kevin Pangos's repeated efforts to create scoring chances for his team (He dished a game-high ten assists), no one was converting those looks into points (Pangos had just seven points on the night). Zenit's final four hopes came crashing down to earth after being routed in the deciding game 79-53 by Barcelona.

At the same time, Efes Istanbul finally prevailed over Real Madrid: after trailing for the first half of their game five 52 second-half points gave them the edge they needed to take the series 3-2 and advance to the championship round. In the deciding game between Olimpia Milano and Bayern Munich, a late ten-point run brought Bayern to within three but in the end would not be enough to save them. This sensational series came to an end with the Italian team advancing.

Both teams will join Barcelona and CSKA Moscow in the Final Four, which is to take place in Cologne, Germany, between May 28th and 30th. Unfortunately there will be no Canadian contingent contesting the Euroleague crown this year. For more information on games and details on the final four, head over to the official Euroleague website.