Sasha Vezenkov and Isaiah Canaan did their best to lead Olympiacos to the EuroLeague Championship, but it was Sergio Llull’s game-winner that handed Real Madrid the title in an epic finale (78-79).
The two players combined for 50 points, with Vezenkov going for 29 points, nine rebounds and a PIR of 34 and Canaan adding 21 points, on 5/6 from beyond the arc and 7/9 shooting, for a PIR of 21. Eventually, though, the “Reds” lost a second Final Four in the final seconds.
“Last year was frustrating, this year is even more,” Sasha Vezenkov said afterwards. “We have to face it. It will be a tough night and some tough moments. We lost a game, that’s all.”
“We lost our mind on offense in the last two or three minutes. We made some early offenses. We made some turnovers. We lost some defenses. We needed to finish the game early in the fourth quarter and we lost it. But that’s it. That’s basketball.
“We worked hard and played really good basketball but in the end we didn’t win the championship. We have to have a short memory,” Sasha Vezenkov added.
Isaiah Canaan, who scored a season-high 21 points in the loss, including a championship-game tying 5 three-pointers, echoed his teammate’s comments on how disappointing the result was for the “Reds”.
“It’s tough. To go out like that… on a last-second shot after battling the whole game. It’s tough. It’s just tough. It’s frustrating but it’s part of the game. There is always one winner. Tonight, unfortunately, it wasn’t us.”
“I wanted to go out on top. It’s just part of life. At the end of the day, I’m thankful and blessed to be here another year. To be able to play this game at a high level. I’m okay with playing in a high-quality championship game and be able to play in front of these fans and my family back at home watching. I’m thankful.”
“We have taken the steps in the right direction, but we still have some work to do. We battled all season long and to go out on a last-second shot like that, it’s just tough,” Isaiah Canaan told Hedgeout.net and other accredited media afterwards.
