Petteri Koponen Watch: Christmas is a time for giving

The venerable H.T. gives word that things may be looking up for Koponen after a rough stretch of games. Petteri certainly deserves to have some things go his way, hopefully this is the start of a new trend.

Bologna had a rather easy outing this Christmas Day at home against league newcomer Carife Ferrara.

Team's top scorer and starting point guard Earl Boykins only played 17 minutes when Virtus Bologna cruised to a 78-63 (41-35) victory. Petteri Koponen was inserted back into the starting line-up and he played a total of 33 minutes (team high) in the victory. Petteri delivered a steady-but-not-fancy stat line of 7 pts (FG 2/3 FT 3/4), 2 rebs, 2 assists and 2 steals. Petteri's +/- stat also shows that while he was on the court, Virtus took the game by 19 points. The clearly negative side for young pg was that he recorded a total of four turnovers, which doubles his Italian Serie A record so far.

Sharrod Ford lead Virtus Bologna with 15 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Roberto Chiacig had 14, 10, four steals and three blocks. For Carife Ferrara, the Infamous Ndudi Ebi scored 11, Harold Jamison had 7 and Rick Apodaca finished with 8.

Virtus Bologna is now second in Serie A with an 8-4 record. They'll play an away game against yet undefeated Montepaschi Siena January 4th. Siena's roster is filled with some names that are familiars for those living in the States as well: Terrell McIntyre, Romain Sato, Kristof Lavrinovic and Rimaitas Kaukenas could ring a bell. In Euroleague, Siena is sporting a 6-2 record.


H.T.