Pippen The Finnagler

Scottie Pippen in Finland to play two of what those funny people outside the U.S. call "matches" may seem random, odd, and/or insignificant. But basketball news is slow, so why not make a meal of this tasty morsel. By the way, in finding the news from Say Hey, I learned this is not the only blog supported by the invisible Finnish hand, and they write about The Finnagler (Petteri Koponen, if you happen to be new) a lot, and better. Well, let me know when you have the juice to get his side bar info-box thing on wikipedia edited to include things you made up. That's real juice, that's being a real Finnaglerphile. Getting your junk into that box is like getting your synapses of Brian Bosworth's full-length feature film "Stone Cold" added to THE BIBLE.

Anyways, Pippen will play these "matches" for a team located in Helsinki. Helsinki is only 20.3 "kilometers" (LOL, who still uses "kilometers"? That is so 80's) from Espoo, where none other than the Finnagler himself plays for the Tapiolan Honka, whom interestingly take the name from an ancient Battle-Axe culture phrase that roughly translates to "Honkeys."

Former Blazer Pippen so close to future Blazer Koponen. Like ships passing in the crisp Finnish night? Coincidence or fate? My dreams tonight will include a Miyagi-LaRusso relationship. Perhaps the stars have something special in mind for these two, which I mean in the most heterosexual way possible. Clearly, the gods always smile warmly to the Trailblazers.

El Finnagler

As you no doubt have heard, DeceptivelyQuick was rocked recently when the Invisible Finnish Hand released us from its icy grasp. This was encapsulated by the secret organization removing all Finnagler-related references from Petteri Koponen's wikipedia. Our embedded informant, the mysterious "H.T.," has long since broken off all contact, and we fear the worst.

A minor victory then, that "The Finnagler" still appears in all its glory on Koponen's Spanish language wikipedia. The Invisible Finnish Hand knows two-hundred ways to kill a man, but it does not know Spanish. A small but significant weakness indeed. If any more dead humpbacked perch show up on my doorstep, I'm booking a flight to Mexico.

Pippen versus the Finnagler

With DeceptivelyQuick's powerful and dark association with the Invisible Finnish Hand, it is no surprise that we were very excited about all this Scottie Pippen in Finland business. This anticipation was heightened when we learned he would be playing against he, Petteri Koponen, The Finnagler, and our beloved Honka Playboys.

The epic battle went down January 5, and Pippen's squad came out on top. Thanks to a rally from 16 down, Pippen and his team Torpan Pojat prevailed over our Honka Playboys 98-85. True, his team was already favorites going in, having been riding an 17 game Finnish League winning streak and all, but let's hope Pippen added something. He struggled with his shot on his way to 9 points and 9 rebounds. After checking in with Tim Kisner, an American who plays for Honka, any struggles could be understandable:

Pippen played two games here one on Friday and then against us on Saturday. He missed his original flight here so he did not arrive until Friday morning, so needless to say was not in the best physical shape to be playing, besides being 42 years old with creeky knees. I thought Pippen played ok, he could not make a shot, I think he was 8-28 in the two games, but played good team basketball and they won both games. It is crazy to see guys that you grew up watching, it is also hard to watch them being a shadow of their former selves. The people of Finland were very appreciative of him and both games were well attended with a good atmoshphere, which is saying something for Finnish basketball.

Strange indeed, seeing a former NBA great show up in Finland for a few runs, but remember this sort of thing isn't exactly unprecedented. Tim was around when Rodman blew into town as well ,"two years ago Rodman came and played for the same team against us and it was huge, but Rodman is more famous over here due to his off the court stuff."

Which champion Bull will be next? The obvious choice to pull for is Jordan, but don't sleep on Ron Harper.

UPDATE: Ball In Europe has the best coverage of Pippen in Finland, including links to his boxscores. Also nice to see the Finnagler still putting numbers up. They also showed a clip from Pippen being introduced, they pulled out the classic Bulls intro. In Finland, no expense is spared.

Petteri Koponen touches down in Portland

Was there really a Josh McRoberts headline on this blog for like five days? Terrible what I did to you there.

Luckily I got an email from H.T. letting me know the Finnagler himself will be in Portland Sunday to workout and get ready for summer league. The Finnagler and the Blazers, together again. Petteri should be excited to show off his growth as a player, coming off a Finnish league title and MVP. The Blazers are also excited, hoping he brings some sweet Nokia phones that haven't been released in the States yet.

I'm excited for summer league, but things have the potential to be depressing on the Koponen front. Last summer, he got very little opportunity to play pointguard. Hopefully his development will warrant an honest chance at running the team this time around. Finnaglerphiles should be hoping the Blazers don't draft any pointguards.

Also, the esteemed H.T. interviewed Koponen, which can be found achieving its manifest destiny over at Blazers Edge. If this interview is any indication, H.T. is becoming a major player in the Finnish Underground and with the darker Invisible Finnish Hand. I suggest you all click that link and read the text with your eyeballs.

2007 Summer League: Portland vs. Seattle

Portland 84 Seattle 78
Box Score

I wasn't going to write anything tonight, I honestly believed I had gotten my fill of watching summer league. I love all things basketball, but there's only so much a man can take. Then after deciding to take a peek, I noticed Koponen was actually getting decent minutes in the first half. Even more, he was getting to run the point. I can't let Finland down, so on we go:

The Finnagler looked more comfortable than in any previous summer league game, maybe due to a combination of getting used to the atmosphere and actually getting to play his position. He sunk a couple jumpers and had numerous nice plays setting up teammates for easy buckets, which they often didn't convert. The play-by-play for the game shocked himself by exclaiming, "Koponen is seeing everything on the court." Good stuff.

After all the Sergio hating I've been engaging in (still plenty of room on the Trade Sergio Bandwagon, by the way), I should probably note that he ran the offense as well as he has all summer today, and really wasn't looking to score as much as usual. He had some of the usual defensive slips, but none of those disturbing lapses we've seen in previous games. The truth is that Seattle doesn't exactly have top-flight guards on this team, even by summer league standards. This probably had something to do with Sergio & Koponen's play tonight.

Joel Freeland is a man. This has been verified. On one baseline in-bounds play Mancinelli threw him a lob, which Freeland jammed through the hoop with two hands in traffic-and got the foul. He also canned a nice jumper from 18 feet, and even gave someone a version of Kevin McHale's slippery eel, which always gets big points with me. He continues to prove he can be as active as anyone down low.

Zendon Hamilton was again Portland's best offensive threat down-low. The man is playing to get back in the league and made a fine case that he should be. Also solid tonight was Chris Ellis.

Stefano Mancinelli showed flashes of those solid all-around skills, although he still would disappear for long stretches. He also had the assignment of guarding Kevin Durant all-night, so maybe we cut the guy some slack tonight.

Martell reminded us how beautiful his jumper is. Taurean Green didn't get many minutes (and had to play off the ball most of the time), probably so The Finnagler could get in some work at point.

Quick notes on Seattle:

Kevin Durant can play, but Jeff Green can play too- and he was the man tonight.

Robert Swift was rocking a very long, very red pony tail on the sideline. This is only excusable if you are as good as Bill Walton. Robert Swift, you have been warned.

Finnagler aka Petteri Koponen UPDATE

Just when you think Finland has cast you aside forever, they come back all smiles like an absentee father. And as much as I was hurting from them leaving, I can't help but let them back into the DeceptivelyQuick family. Especially when its H.T., our Invisible Finnish Hand embedded informant, long feared to be lost forever.

H.T. brings not only news of being alive, but some Petteri Koponen updates as well. I've been curious how Koponen's military service would effect his play, to which H.T. brings some insights (bolded stats are my doing):

Koponen began his military service just two days after the 2007/2008 campaign tipped off. Koponen started the season slowly, battling against fatigue and struggling with turnovers while going through intensive army recruit training. In November, Koponen has performed stronger than everbefore, averaging 19,7 points, 4,2 assists, 4,0 rebounds and 2,3 steals agame while shooting .549 at 2pt, .464 at 3pt and .818 from the charitystripe. He still averages three turnoves a game, but his assist-to-turnover ratio is still among the best in the league. Blazers fans might be pleased to hear that Koponen has improved quite a lot in the defensive end. Maybe that is the reason he went to the Finnish defence forces? Anyway, Koponen's possibilities to crack Trailblazers' rotation in 2008/2009 are looking good at the moment.

Apparently the Blazers have sent their own eyes to see how The Finnagler is doing, and he is doing quite well. H.T. is on it:

Portland Trailblazers' representative Steve Gordon arrived to Finland just a couple of days ago to witness how Blazer point guard prospect Petteri Koponen is progressing. Koponen didn't disappoint, playing full 40 minutes in a 76-60 victory over Joensuun Kataja. Even though Honka Playboys is struggling with injuries (three of their starters and their sixth man are out for more than a month), Koponen managed to general Honka to victory with 27 points (2p 4-6 3p 4-9 Ft 7-7), six rebounds, seven assists and four steals while allowing Kataja's point guard Louis Hinnant only 14 points.Gordon will stay in Finland for a few days and will probably suffer through a salmon overdose.

Excellent news indeed (except for the certain impending salmon overdose of Steve Gordon). To top it all off, H.T. also included another amazing Finnish music video, which is as good a way as any to end this post.

Finnagler concussed, but fine

I was a little freaked out yesterday when our manifest destiny friends at Blazers Edge reported that He, The Finnagler, Petteri Koponen, had suffered a concussion. I was also a little freaked out that Blazers Edge has a source in Finland. The Invisible Finnish Hand: No longer content with only controlling the most obscure of blogs. Ambitious and deadly as ever.

Tim Kisner, an American teammate of Koponen's, has been nice enough to give us some insider insight on the situation:

"He did suffer a concussion. From the sounds of it, kind of like a football player concussion. Remember, Doctors in Europe are much more cautious than ours I have come to find out. He is doing fine now, no problems, so I think he will miss about a week and he missed one game so that will be it. Because he is in the army though, and cannot play, he has to stay in the army full time now until he can play. So not really nice for him. He feels fine they just want him to avoid contact for a few days."

Good to hear he's ok. Interesting that he can get a break from his military service only when he's actually playing in games. Looks like its back to the barracks and ski-warfare until he can resume jump shots.

Mike Barrett's Finnish Crush: Petteri Koponen

We know Petteri Koponen has been in Tualatin working out with Blazers staff in preparation for summer league. Mike Barrett has been watching salivating. From his blog:

The first thing I noticed is that he has grown, or at least I thought so. Koponen wasn't sure, but it appeared to most of us watching, that he's at least 6-5 now, and has put on some muscle.
Koponen worked out Tuesday with Steve Blake, who wanted to get in a workout. Both players looked very sharp, and Koponen was impressive. He's very quick, is a great ball handler, and was sticking his outside shot from just about everywhere. This is just my opinion, but as the Blazers search for help at the point-guard spot continues, this guy could be the answer.

And from another entry of Finnagler love:

There has been talk that, depending on what happens in the next few weeks, he could be signed and claim a roster spot.

Remember Mike Barrett works for the Blazers. The organization would not let him put crazy talk up on his blog. That gives the possible roster spot speculation even more gravity. It is the first such bold endorsement of The Finnagler that I've heard from a Blazers employee.

Still, all of this is contingent on the spot actually existing. I will go out on a limb and say Pritchard is likely trying to work Jarrett Jack into some deals. It could also mean the Blazers failing to acquire any number of targeted pointguards in the league. In any case, Koponen seems to be increasing his chances of wearing a Blazers uniform next season.

(Thanks to H.T. for the heads up)

Deceptively Quick: officially an obscure subtle influence on something

On post 10 of my epic Day of 100 Entries, I admitted to altering Petteri Koponen's Wikipedia page to include the nickname that will surely bring me fame and fortune one day, "The Finnagler."

Its obvious someone lacking excess creativity/skill added it to his page (my signature calling card, much like how the Wet Bandits would flood the houses they robbed in Home Alone), my method was to just stick it to the bottom of the first section. A one sentence closing paragraph. Mission accomplished.

Recently I checked back to see any updates, and there it was. For some reason, the nickname made it from where I clumsily jabbed it in all the way to the little box on the sidebar:


Nickname "Petsku", "Pete", "Finnagler"

I'm not sure which awesome person added it to his sidebar, but I have an internet crush on them. Maybe wikipedia is so awesome it does this by itself (self awareness? Scary! I just crapped my pants), or maybe they pay people to do it, I'm not sure how this mysterious world of pure truth operates. I googled variations searching for other places where the name is coming up, but nothing as of yet. You better believe I'm on it.

Blazers injury bug lashes out at DeceptivelyQuick

Oden's knee. Roy's heel. Today I learned that this injury plague is not limiting itself to Blazer players. None of us are safe, not even obscure sportsbloggers. This weekend, I contracted this. Just read the introduction paragraph, ya, things have not been good.

If I were Jordan, I might just score 47 against the Knicks in my condition. However, I am me, and will settle for a blogpost.



One update that won't gross you out is a new take on my creepy Pippen/Finnagler fantasy brought to you by BlueForest (somehow this had gone unnoticed by me until now):

"BlueForest said...
DQ, those ships could well wage a naval battle. If the Pippen GAMES do happen, one of them should be against Honka. Two years ago, when Rodman played one game for Torpan Pojat, it was against them. Ol' Dennis revealed a new side in his game by shooting 5/14 on THREE-POINTERS, but he could not run, jump or pick up a ball off the floor. I hope Pippen has a bit more left..."

Indeed, it seems the combination of former NBA greats and Finland can produce strange phenomenon. A potential Pippen v Finnagler showdown just got even better. Anybody have a hookup for Finnish airfare?

Blazer Nicknames, 10

I'm a nickname enthusiast. I enjoy giving them to everyone on the basketball court at any level. My favorite has been the guy that used to frequent the same pickup games I did, whom I deemed White Jesus for his ability to work miracles. It stuck, and when he walked in the door even infants screamed out his new name. Awesome.

When pointguard Petteri Koponen was drafted, I figured he must have some sort of nickname. I heard it was "The Finnisher." Thats all well and good, he is from Finland, so I guess that works out. While I support the play on his nationality, I can't buy this nickname because he's not, you know, a finisher. Plus I'm just not sure he's that badass yet.

So I have been championing "The Finnagler." He may not be a finisher, but you can definitely see him as a finagler, so I'm into it. In my efforts, I edited his wikipedia page to make it true. Wikipedia = the truth, I saw it on Colbert Report.

But in my efforts, how could I ignore the fact that he plays for a team called the Playboys? Casey Holdahl at OLive referred to him as "The Playboy," which may render "The Finnagler" obsolete. Its difficult to compete with the comedy that is foreign things that sound funny. If it is the will of the people, so be it.

Also, I like calling Darius Miles "Big Pun." I love that he used to call himself "The Punisher," and figure that since he is reportedly pretty fat, Big Pun would be a nice modification.

The allure of Finnish Hip Hop Culture

Our favorite embedded Invisible Finnish Hand Operative H.T. checked in again, and is bringing the crazy:

"Ugh!No, I haven't forgotten my special mission to keep bizarre sports blogs informed about how private Koponen is doing in the Finnish army. Since nothing new is happening and the Finnish league regular season is just three games old, I just decided to keep you entertained with this video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD7jO9KlE3g

--> especially wait for the basketball sequence.

That surely is worth watching.

H.T."

Here's the video. The computer I'm working on right now has no speakers, but even without sound this is pretty amazing:


There's only one Stig Dogg.

You have to wonder, will this glamorous lifestyle suck in our beloved Finnagler? In the States, when a young baller hits the big time friendships with rappers are assured. Fast cars, fast women, wave caps. Does this mean we'll start seeing Stig Dogg courtside? Will the Finnagler start throwing up the Invisible Finnish Hand after completing a sweet play? We can only hope.

Blazers kick off summer league with a reminder of what summer league is

Blazers had their first summer league game against the Washington Wizards on Monday. The probably still incorrect box score can be found here--hey its summer, lower your standards! If I chose one word to describe the game, I would make one up, and it would be "summerleaguey." By summerleaguey I'm referring to the presence of the usual pick up ball characters; bricks, turnovers, fouls, more bricks/turnovers/fouls, and a general sense of disjointednesses.

And still, I love summer league. I'm coming to believe this is a symptom of some sort of disease. It is fun to try to get some insight into how those players dubbed as "projects" are coming along, nice to see the new guys, and equally enjoyable to watch lesser known talents scrap their heart out to get a shot at the big dream. But yeah, still ugly.

Last summer I went a bit crazy with the summer league game recaps. No more, we're scaling back (it is a recession after all). This time around, Comcast is actually broadcasting the Blazer's games on TV, so I assume more are able to watch. This is how I rationalize my laziness. Onward!

Petteri Koponen:
At long last, The Finnagler. (Fuck you all for not helping popularize that nickname, by the way.) The man that can stir lust even in grown men named Mike Barrett. Petteri has been working and waiting for his time to show the Blazers his improvement. This is a big summer for him, being left off Portland's regular season roster would mean a return to Europe with a contract that would likely be difficult to get out of.

With so much riding on these games, it is understandable Koponen came out a little shaky. Some bad decisions, lots of jumpers landing short, and getting pick pocketed by Dee Brown amalgamated into a first half a little rougher than he would have liked. But once he got loose and settled, The Finnagler was able to finagle a good nights work.

He started hitting more consistently from deep. Getting by his man got easier. He hit some nice floaters in the lane and did a very good job setting up his teammates. The rumors are true, the man can play. Very noticeable along with his skills is his size. Granted, Washington does have smaller guards, but Koponen looked gigantic next to them all. Hopefully we'll get to see Petteri minus the shaky start the rest of the summer and will find him on the Blazers roster come fall.

Jarryd Bayless:
So what of the new lottery pick? Let me paraphrase my man Sartre: He felt the heat. And the heat was actual.

Bayless is ready to score at the NBA level. He will give the Blazers what they are in need of in terms of a perimeter player who can get to the hoop and convert, and he will give it to them by the truckload.

I was happy to see that most of the night Bayless was matched up with Washington guard Nick "The City" Young. Young will be a rotational player next year, he is an explosive guard who can score. And for the most part, he looked outclassed by Jarryd Bayless tonight. This is good news.

Undoubtedly, you will hear knocks that Bayless cannot or will not pass the ball. Don't worry, Nate said in an interview Bayless was told to be very aggressive and look to shoot. Be excited that we have a player that will put considerable pressure on defenses with his ability to get to the basket and either convert, draw fouls, or both. Plainly, Jarryd Bayless was the best player on the court tonight.

Finnagler in arms, Update!

Once again, the Invisible Finnish Hand has surfaced. Agent H.T. offers us this first look at Koponen in uniform:

Slick. Not only can this uniform help you hide from enemies, but its also perfect gear to do the robot in at a European techno club. If you don't know whats going on, get up to speed on the Finnagler in the Finnish Defence Force.

Petteri Koponen packs his sunscreen, heads to Italy

Bittersweet news that Petteri Koponen has signed a four year deal with elite Italian club Virtus Bologna. Although we at DeceptivelyQuick are sad Koponen won't be with the team this season (especially if they sign Luke Jackson to that last spot instead, dear God man!), there is reason to be happy. Apparently the contract is reasonably buy-outable (new word, exciting!) if Portland wants to bring him over before the four seasons are up. The Finnagler will also face some tough competition to be sure, which is really something he needs at this point.

But there are some concerns. Something else Koponen needs is experience. Odd then that he chose to sign with the club that just made NBA pointguard Earl Boykins the highest paid player in that league. Koponen reportedly had multiple teams chasing him, so why choose one where you are basically guaranteed to not be the primary pointguard?

I have a hunch they will use him as a back-up point and also play him at the shooting guard spot. These roles don't strike me as optimal for his continued development as a pointguard. Here is to hoping that everything works out, and that The Finnalger ends up in Portland in time for a title run.

UPDATE: Check out the Breaking News status given to Koponen from True Hoop! Finnagler-Fever continues to spread!

Brian Wheeler: Koponen's Dream Will Soon Be Crushed

That beautiful man in the purple is none other than Brian Wheeler, radio voice and employee of the Blazers. In addition to play-by-play broadcasts of Blazer games, he happens to also have a radio show. His being employed by the team comes with the drawback of him basically being a mouthpiece for the organization. This is not all bad, if you sift through the wafts of PR rhetoric you can generally count on his information to be accurate.

I bring all that up because last night on his radio show he divulged that our man The Finnagler (aka Petteri Koponen) will probably not join the Blazers next season. If that happens Koponen will likely sign a deal with a Euro team for at least three seasons, maybe more. This decision could very well be the end of the relationship between Koponen and the Blazers.

Wheels went on to say that he believes Batum will get a roster spot. The team would still have one slot open, but would rather keep that option than fill it with Koponen. There is a lot to chew on here, including the logic of keeping Batum who is a small forward project that would be behind current SF projects Webster and Outlaw. DeceptivelyQuick will remain in a holding pattern until the official word is released.

UPDATE: The audio from Brian Wheeler speaking on the subject is available here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From our cousin Jason Quick: Batum has officially been signed. This means one remaining roster spot, and Pritchard loves to keep a roster spot open for trade flexibility and possible free agent pickups. Not looking good for Koponen.

Oden's Debut: Portland Notes

I just finished watching Portland kick-off their summer league in Vegas against the Boston Celtics. Oden's debut will obviously command much of everyone's analysis, but there was quite a collection of young talent on both squads to be excited about.

(Because of blogger length limitations, I've broken my Portland and Boston notes up into two separate posts: Boston Notes are here. Also, read why David Stern wants you to hate him.)

The Celtics won 74-66 (boxscore). It wasn't as close at the final score, Boston was comfortably in control a majority of the time.

Notes from the game:

Oden: Lets just say he took full advantage of the generous foul system in place during Summer League. He collected 10 fouls in 20 minutes, and was far from dominating offensively in the post. He is pretty unselfish with the ball, he gave a few nice looks to Aldridge when they ran high-low. Even while struggling, it was hard to ignore his presence. He changes games just by being on the court. Him and Aldrige showed they will play well together on both ends, it will be great to watch this dynamic develop.

Taurean Green: Sergio is obviously going to get the minutes this summer as they try to raise his consistency, but Green was no doubt Portland's best guard tonight (not bad for a guy taken #52 in the draft). He plays hard and showed his toughness getting numerous steals and rebounds. Plus its always fun to watch players that are that fast. Just like the scouting report says though, the jumper is a little shaky.

Lamarcus Aldridge: He is the truth, and it was all on display tonight. With his array of jumpers, post moves, blocks, rebounds, and ability to run the floor, Aldridge is on another level than the summer-league competition. He won't have any problems shouldering the offensive load this season down low if Oden needs time to develop.

Sergio Rodriguez: The Blazers are playing him a lot in an attempt to raise is quality of play when logging big minutes. Rondo was on his hip all night, and although Sergio managed to shake free on several occasions his teammates were often ill-prepared to do anything with his passes. A little disappointing tonight.

Joel Freeland: Gets a bullet point just because I've been hyping him up so much lately. Sadly, we didn't see much of Freeland (the pattern continues), but he had one very nice play on defense where he blocked a Leon Powe dunk attempt. I yelled, "White Keon Claaaaaarke!"

Martell Webster: Don't let the stat line fool you, Martell was mostly a non-factor until the fourth quarter when the outcome had been determined. He managed to show his potential with his athleticism and beautiful shot, but still didn't really seem like he has put it all together. He had some success when Portland would run him off of screens for catch-and-shoots (as opposed to what we saw all last season-Martell standing in the corner), maybe they'll explore that route more in the future.

Stefano Mancinelli: Wow, anyone predict this guy to get so much burn? Despite almost 20 minutes of PT, Mancinelli didn't do much. I spent the whole game wondering why he was in instead of forwards like McRoberts (4:32) or Freeland (9:46).

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of "The Finnagler" Petteri Koponen or hometown guy Terrance Green. Terrance is in the impossible position of needing desperately to impress to get on with an NBA team, but not getting an opportunity to play. Hopefully that will change, but as a 4th pointguard on the roster, isn't likely.

Overall the game was typical Summer League in that the quality of play pretty much sucked. The tempo was disjointed and there was a whole lot of fouling going on. With all these talented young players it would have been great if the teams could have gotten out and ran more, but this happened rarely. It was still nice to see how players are developing, and let us all pray for the end of internet blackouts.

Petteri Koponen Watch: For protocol only edition

As Goonerluke dropped in the comments, Koponen played a great game against Italy a couple days ago. Specifics have yet to emerge, but here is the gist:

In Thursday’s Group B fixture, Finland topped Italy 89-95 in a game for protocol only. Finland guard Petteri Koponen scored 5 of his 26 points after Italy closed to within 2 with 90 seconds remaining to lead his team to the win.

Another good outing for The Finnagler. Also, I'm going to start using "for protocol only" in my daily life.

Koponen! Akeem Scott! More from Finland!

Seriously, what kind of NBA blog posts updates from Finland when the playoffs are in full swing here in the States? One that has a sweetpotato as a mascot.

BlueForest chimed in and reduced my fears of The Finnagler being snared in a Joel Freeland-like horrible situation with a Euro team next year. BlueForest (I assume forests are blue in Finland) assured me Koponen has enough support with enough people to avoid the situation of a horrible buy-out clause and limited minutes/development. Whew.

H.T. also sent along a nice recap of the Espoo championship game that featured a surprise injured-Koponen appearance and chants of "Who the fuck is Akeem Scott?!?" He also sent along some nice video documentation. Watch as Akeem Scott breaks out a celebratory Bird, Koponen drops someone with a crossover, and good times are had by all.

Yep,

it was a storybook ending.

Petteri Koponen broke his thumb in Finnish league semifinals. Honka Playboys
coach Mihailo Pavicevic had no other possibilities but to enter Koponen's
substitute PG, Akeem Scott, into starting line-up for the finals.

Akeem struggled with playmaking but showed incredible confidence, turning
two of four final series games into Honka victories with some last minute
heroics. Akeem scored Honka's last seven points in 70-68 game two victory
and scored a grand total of 36 points in deciding game 4, including a
running jumper with three seconds remaining which gave Honka 72-71 lead and a W.

But even Koponen got his share of shine in the finals. When Akeem Scott got
his fourth foul with eight minutes remaining in game 4, coach Pavicevic
entered injured Koponen. Koponen hadn't been able to practice in two weeks
because of the thumb but his presence was needed: Koponen stabilized Honka's
offence and gave Akeem a couple minute breather before the nitro ending.

Honka had a great opportunity to win the championship in game 3, but Kouvot
took a 67-66 lead with Corey Smith's low post basket with four seconds
remaining and Akeem Scott travelled in Honka's last possession. In game 4,
Akeem truly showed what he was made of and more than made up for his game 3
flaw.

Throughout game 4, Kouvot fans harassed Akeem chanting: "Who the f*** is
Akeem Scott, Akeem Scott, Akeem Scott / Who't the f*** is Akeem Scott, he's
a loser", but as you can see, Kouvot fans should've been more careful with
their words..

"Who the f... is Akeem Scott? He's a winner!"


H.T

Vegas Vacation

I've called the good folks at the Rose Garden and let them know not to let anything major go down until next Saturday (9/22), as I will be on leave from Blogfrica. I'm going to Las Vegas, and may end up with my head in a vise, which would actually still be better than this. Needless to say, there will be no hot blogging action. As an ever opportunistic blogger, I planned my vacation to somehow avoid both summer league and the FIBA Tournament. Thats just how I roll.

Since we have to spend this time apart, go ahead and send in any ideas, comments, and/or such: deceptively.quick at yahoo.com

And if you happen to be from Finland, I already know that you would like to see more on Petteri Koponen. This blog is oddly popular in Finland, and I've written a good deal about The Finnagler. If you have any updates on the guy, that would be awesome, and I'll probably post them. The credit I give you is certain to bring you great fame and fortune.