Petteri Koponen's Italian Experience: Update

H.T. sends in an update on how things are going in Italy for Petteri Koponen, the man I refuse to stop calling The Finnagler.

Italian Serie A tipped off this Monday and Petteri Koponen played the
first game of his professional career when Virtus Bologna defeated
Angelico Biella 83-72 (49-36) in the home opener. As expected, Koponen
came off the bench behind Virtus starting point guard Earl Boykins,
who played a grand total of 32 minutes. Koponen managed to score five
points (FG 2/3), steal the ball two times and dish out one assist
(with one turnover) in his 12 minutes off the bench. While these stat
numbers are modest, the official website of Virtus Bologna called this
an "optimal debut" and the writers at fan forums have already began
wanting more playing time for Petteri.

Anyway, it is certain that even though Petteri Koponen has lead Honka
Playboys to consecutive Finnish championships and Finnish national
team to Eurobasket 2009 additional qualifying round, this will be his
first full season playing against top class opponents. It is possible
that season 2008/2009 will develop Petteri quite enough for him to
become an NBA substitute point guard, but most likely he won't blossom
before he has spent at least one full season in his new team.

Virtus Bologna - Angelico Biella 83-72 (49-36)

Virtus: Sharrod Ford 18/11/4 blocks, Earl Boykins 14/1/5 assists,
Jamie Arnold 13/2.
Biella: Reece Gaines 18/1, Joe Smith 15/3/4 assists, James Gist 14/3.
Petteri Koponen: MIN 14 FG 2/3 (3p 1/1) PTS 5 AST 1 ST 2 TO 1 PF 2