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Breakdown: Gran Canaria vs. Frutti Extra Bursaspor

Breakdown: Gran Canaria vs. Frutti Extra Bursaspor

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4 April 20235 Mins read

Javier Gancedo

Breakdown: Gran Canaria vs. Frutti Extra Bursaspor

Gran Canaria (13-3) enters the 7DAYS EuroCup Playoffs on an four-game winning streak that left it in first place in Group B. Gran Canaria hosts Frutti Extra Bursaspor (8-10), which lost its last six road games and finished eighth in Group A.

Bursaspor: Been there, done that

Winning playoffs game without the home-court advantage is nothing new for Bursaspor, which did really well in the elimination rounds last season despite not hosting any game. Bursaspor knocked out heavy favorite Partizan NIS Belgrade in front of over 19,000 fans at Stark Arena in the Serbian capital. Its 95-103 road win was just the start of a great Cinderella story, as that victory in Belgrade was just the beginning of an outstanding run.

Bursaspor went on to face Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana in the quarterfinals. Cedevita was on a nine-game winning streak, but Bursaspor prevailed, 83-85, behind 20 points from Derek Needham. In the semifinals, Bursaspor downed MoraBanc Andorra 68-85 to advance to the EuroCup Championship Game against all odds. Virtus Segafredo Bologna prevailed in the end, downing Bursaspor 80-67. Three of its starters – Needham, Onuralp Bitim and David Dudzinski – are back for more, as well as head coach Dusan Alimpijevic.

Gran Canaria: True home-court advantage

Gran Canaria finished the regular season with the best record, which means it is done traveling in the EuroCup this season. Geographically located in Northwest Africa, close to Southern Morocco, Gran Canaria's shortest flight in the competition, should such a pairing occur, would be to Barcelona to play Joventut Badalona, 3 hours and 15 minutes by air. By making others take even longer flights, Gran Canaria truly enjoys a home-court advantage. But there is much more.

Gran Canaria has been indestructible at home, winning all games by an average margin of 11.8 points. Historically speaking, it is one of the EuroCup's strongest squads in front of its fans. Gran Canaria has a 92-25 home record in the EuroCup, a 78.6% win rate. As expected, though, things are more difficult in elimination games. Gran Canaria is 82-17 in group stages (82.8%) but only 10-8 in two-way or single-game elimination rounds at home (55.6%).

Coach Lakovic: An opposite experience

Coach Alimpijevic is in the same exact situation as last season: Bursaspor would need four road wins to lift the trophy. Things are quite a bit different for Coach Jaka Lakovic of Gran Canaria from last season to this. In the 2021-22 campaign, Lakovic coached ratiopharm Ulm, which made it to the elimination rounds as the eighth-ranked team in Group B with a 7-11 record. Ulm won only one of its last seven regular season games, but still reached the eighthfinals.

Lakovic led Ulm to a resounding 73-79 win on the court of Joventut Badalona, advancing to the quarterfinals. Before that game, Joventut was 9-0 at home and was the top-ranked team in the playoffs. Ulm went on to lose against eventual champion Virtus in the quarterfinals, 83-77. This year, Lakovic coaches Gran Canaria, which is 9-0 at home and is the top-ranked team in the playoffs. His experience with Ulm in the exact opposite situation may be very valuable this time.

Free throws may be critical

Both teams like to play up-tempo and shoot the ball with similar percentages. Gran Canaria scores a little bit more, averaging 86.1 points, third-ranked among all EuroCup teams. Bursaspor is tied for sixth place in scoring at 84.4 points per game. Gran Canaria had 239 turnovers in 18 games until now and Bursaspor picked up 242. The hosts have shot the ball well from all angles (58.8% 2FG, 37.2% 3FG) but so did Bursaspor (56.6% 2FG, 37.3% 3FG).

Free throws, however, are a different story. Gran Canaria is seventh at 75.6% and Bursaspor is way behind, ranking 18th overall (69.8% FT). Its only starter shooting over 80% from the line is Needham (81.2%). Dudzinski (76.8%), Bitim (76.2%) and Anthony Clemmons (72.5%) were not very efficient while Zach Auguste (54.4%) and Yigitcan Saybir (53.7%) struggled. Gran Canaria has seven players hitting over 80% from the line, including A.J. Slaughter (100%), Nico Brussino (91.7%) and John Shurna (88.5%). If the game does down to a free throw carousel, Gran Canaria may have the edge.