Petteri Koponen Watch: Moral victories edition

H.T. checked in recently with a Petteri Koponen update. It isn't pretty. I'm beginning to think that if Petteri can make it through this experience he will be a much stronger player for it. Either that or his psyche will crumble and he will never recover. Think positive thoughts...

Bologna suffered their second consecutive loss in Serie A against Banca Tercas Teramo. Virtus already had the game in their hands but Teramo finished the game strong and won 80-77. This was the fourth loss in 11 Serie A games for Virtus Bologna.

It seems Bologna is struggling with turnovers right now. They had 26 effing turnovers against Teramo; Earl Boykins turned the ball over seven times while Jamie Arnold and Keith Langford had four TO's apiece and Sharrod Ford and Roberto Chiacig had three.

Petteri only played five minutes, and finished with one point (FT 1/2), one turnover and two personal fouls.

I don't exactly know what happened because I was only able to follow the game through live stats, but the end of first quarter was extremely strange. Teramo was leading 23-8 when there were two minutes remaining and Petteri entered the game. Bologna took the final two minutes of the quarter 14-2. Does this have anything to do with Petteri? Don't know, since I didn't see the game. But the turn was absurd - 14-2 in 2mins? After this stint, though, Petteri only played three minutes.

Here's a statistical recap of Petteri's first ten games in Serie A:

Games 10
Starts 2
Min 12,7
Pts 2,8
Reb 1,1
As 0,6
St 0,4
To 0,6
Pf 1,8
Ft 75,0% (9/12)
2pt 50,0% (5/10)
3pt 18,8% (3/16)

In six games under Bologna's new head coach, Matteo Bonicinolli, Petteri has averaged:

Games 6
Starts 2
Min 13,7
Pts 3,0
Reb 1,5
As 0,5
St 0,3
To 0,3
Pf 2,3
Ft 75,0% (6/8)
2pt 60,0% (3/5)
3pt 20,0% (2/10)

In four games of FIBA EuroChallenge Cup, it's just about the same:

Games 4
Starts 3
Min 13,8
Pts 3,3
Reb 0,8
As 0,5
St 0,5
To 1,8
Pf 1,5
Ft 100,0% (4/4)
2pt 42,9% (3/7)
3pt 16,8% (1/6)

So, the learning experience continues. Petteri has already had a couple of good games, but he has yet to find steadiness in limited minutes coach Bonicinolli is providing him. Next up for our friends in Bologna, an Italian Serie A game (Dec 28th) against Carife Ferrara (featuring Ndudi Ebi!) at home.



-H.T.

P.S. MERRY KWANZAA!