The NBA had a shortened slate of games this week after returning from All-Star Break, but that didn’t stop Canadian players from making their presence felt.

Starting in Charlotte, nine-year NBA vet Kelly Olynyk got his first career game-winner in a 127-126 OT victory for the Detroit Pistons against the Hornets.

“It took me nine years, but I’m here,” Olynyk said.

With 2.1 seconds on the clock and the Pistons trailing by one, Olynyk rose near the baseline to take the final shot in overtime and watched as it sank through the net as time expired. The win snapped a 15-game losing streak for the Pistons against the Hornets.

Olynyk finished with 20 points in the win, shooting 7-for-13 from the floor and 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. He added eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in his 24 minutes of action. In addition to his game-winning heroics, Olynyk also scored 13 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter.

“It’s one of those things where you’ve just got to always be ready,” Olynyk said after the game, “As cliche as it sounds, stay ready. You never know what’s going to happen.”

The Pistons collected the game ball to present to Olynyk in the locker room after the game, where teammates doused him with water and coach Dwane Casey shouted him out in his post-game address to the team.

Heading over to New York, RJ Barrett made his return to the court after missing four games with an ankle sprain prior to the All-Star break. Barrett exploded for a new career-high in his return, finishing with 46 points against the Miami Heat.

The Knicks fell 115-100 in the game, but not for a lack of effort from the 21-year-old. Barrett shot 13-for-22 from the floor including 6-for-11 from beyond the arc and added nine rebounds and two assists in 38 minutes.

Barrett’s 46 points were the most scored by a Knicks player since Carmelo Anthony in 2014.

He also became the youngest Knick to score 45+ points since Carl Braun in 1947.

Dating back to before his ankle injury, Barrett is averaging 29.4 points over his last five games, up from his 18.7 point-per-game average for the season.

In Indiana, the Pacers picked up a huge 128-107 victory against the Boston Celtics on Sunday behind a 27-point performance from Oshae Brissett.

The 23-year-old Toronto native shot 9-for-14 from the floor and connected on a career-high six three-pointers in the game, making 6-of-9 attempts from deep. Brissett is averaging 7.7 points and 4.9 rebounds in 20 minutes per game for the Pacers this year, but has shown when he gets the playing time, he will put up numbers.

“I felt like I was in the right position to get going,” Brissett said. “We just want to win. We’re going to do whatever we can to win. I feel like we’re going in the right direction of really wanting to play for each other.”

In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder are thrilled to have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander back on the floor after the guard missed 10 games with an ankle sprain. In a back-to-back following the All-Star break, Gilgeous-Alexander showed little rust in his return. He began with scoring 32 points to go with five assists in a Thunder loss to the Phoenix Suns.

He followed that up with a 36-point, eight-rebound, five-assist performance in an overtime victory against the aforementioned Indiana Pacers. He also added two blocks and three steals for good measure. The 23-year-old is averaging 23.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists in his fourth NBA season.

With a full slate of games and a jam-packed schedule the rest of the way, look for more stellar performances from Canadians all over the NBA this week.