Barça 59-63 Olympiacos: No Final Four

So near but so far. FC Barcelona will not be going to the Final Four. And it hurts, because despite leading almost all the way in the rubber game of this best-of-five playoff series, they won't be going to Berlin for the end-of-season showdown to decide the European champion club. In a game that was far more about defence than offence, Olympiacos found a little more punch in the final minutes to spoil what had, until then, been a magical night at the Palau Blaugrana.

Intensity

This series has brought so many stories, and with both sides having everything to play for, this game was as intense as could be expected on a basketball court. As he does so often, Laprovittola was the man bringing the magic as Barça racked up a promising early lead, reaching +9 early in the second period. But we have seen this last few days just what a mighty team the Greeks are, and once they started rolling out their own A-game, they were quickly back in contention and by half-time it was 27-25.  

Battling away

With the likes of Pau Cubarsí, Marc Guiu, Jana Fernández, Sergio Lozano and Marc Casadó looking on, the Palau was buzzing. An Abrines three widened the gap again (38-30) but that was one of the rare moments when there was any meaningful light between the teams. Olympiacos soon responded, and going into the final period, everything was still to play for, the teams locked at 40-40.. 

FC Barcelona remained ahead, but it was always too close for comfort. Laprovittola's score to make it 47-42 was the first time in the final period that there was any kind of breathing space, and that soon disappeared as a Mckissic triple put the visitors ahead for the first time since the opening minutes. And things were getting very, very heated out there...

Frustrating finales

Barça needed to find a little bit of extra thrust to get through the final minutes, but sadly it was instead the Greeks who did that. Seven uncontested points from them suddenly meant Barça were trailing by eight. Barça needed to find something, and find it quick, otherwise the Final Four dream would be over. They did it, and were back to within three with 17 seconds to go. The Palau was roaring. Not much time, but enough time to at least take the game into OT.

But no. It was Olympiacos who bagged the late points, and that was the end of all hope.

MATCH STATS

Barça, 59
Olympiacos, 63

Barça: Vesely (6), Kalinic (-), Satoransky (2), Laprovittola (17), Parker (4), Ricky Rubio (6), Willy Hernangómez (9), Abrines (13), Jokubaitis (2) & Da Silva (-)
Olympiacos: Walkup (3), Canaan (6), Fall (-), Papanikolaou (11), Peters (6), Williams-Goss (8), Petrusev (5), Mckissic (12), Milutinov (10), Larentzakis (-) & Wright (2)

Periods: 12-9; 15-16 // 13-15; 19-23

Referees: Sreten Radovic, Damir Javor & Uros Nikolic