Akeem Scott Buzzer Beater

The P.C.'s last game didn't go so well as his team lost 102-87, but Keem did play well with 24 points and 5 rebounds. He also hit a pretty cool shot at the buzzer, see below:

(As always, thanks to Hippo for the tip.)

Akeem Scott signs with Lappeenranta, back to Finland!

As hinted at yesterday, Akeem Scott has signed with a Finnish team and is headed back to the Koponen motherland.

Akeem will soon be joining Lappeenranta, a team that sells sweet t-shirts you can't buy and has a cool logo (of course) that reminds me of ice cream. Here's what Hippo had to say on the team:

Helll yeah. Lappeenranta, Finnish champions '05 and '06 and FIBA EuroChallenge participant 2007/08. Maryland swingman Landon Milbourne's dad Andre Foreman played with them in those championship years.

Good luck for Keem!

We caught up with Scott and he was nice enough to fill us in a little more on his new opportunity:

Q: What excites you about this opportunity?

what excites me the most is, knowing there is a chance for me to be a TWO TIME CHAMPION in THREE YEARS of being a pro. a lot of Americans come over to prove themselves by having great stats!! after being away from the game for some time, i know it is more Important be a CHAMPION, than to be a leader in certain Statistical categories !! the other thing that excites me is knowing another CITY in FINLAND, gets to know who AKEEM SCOTT is! every city i been to in FINLAND shows me much love and respect because the way I BATTLE for their city to be the best in FINLAND!! and i will do the same here!!

Q: What have you missed most about Finland?

what i miss most is the FANS!! 50percent of the fans in finland LOVE ME and the other 50 percent HATE me! but all 100 percent enjoy WATCHING ME!! i enjoy the good screams and the LOUD BOOOOOssss!!
THE LEAGUE is UP for GRABS, with so many big names back like COREY SMITH, RAY NIXON , the big THREE at PYRINTO and a FEW OTHERS, I think this season is in for a VERY LONG RIDE in Short amount of TIME!!

This is obviously big news in the DeceptivelyQuick Universe, and yes, the Akeem Scott Watch is back on. You can follow Keem directly via his twitter account: @keemscott.

Akeem Scott: DeceptivelyQuick Legend takes his place

Catching up with SPIDERMAN and HIS PETER PARKER! from joe black on Vimeo.

With that video Akeem Scott (aka Keem Scott, aka People's Champ aka Mr. If he can't do it no one can aka Spider-keem) has officially become the most important person in DeceptivelyQuick History.

We recognize this important point in time with another first: an addition to the prestigious DeceptivelyQuick Jpeg Banner of Honor. The DQJBH was previously occupied by only Finland, Roybot, and Kevin Pritchard wearing Darius Miles' necklace. Akeem joins this illustrious company. No player has had a bigger impact on DeceptivelyQuick. It doesn't seem possible that another ever will.

Please get all sentimental with some of our favorite DeceptivelyQuick/Akeem Scott moments:

- Groundbreaking exclusive interview.

- Keem becomes a sensation in Finland.

- When the crowd chants "Who the Fuck is Akeem Scott," Akeem Scott wins the game and does the bird dance and wins the title. Meet me in Helsinki!

- Keem drops 45 in his Playboy debut.

- Hippo (aka H.T., aka Finland's Finest, aka Hunter S. Thompson) first tells us of this amazingly entertaining player named Akeem Scott, which sets off a chain of events leading us to today. Somehow this was only in January of 2008. ESPN's TrueHoop was impressed enough to include the discovery in some Daily Bullets action.

As always, you can follow the Spider Man to my Peter Parker, Twitter.com/keemscott

Petteri Koponen DOES exist!

Petteri Koponen looking nice in a highlight video sent to me by Hippo. That video supplements the latest Koponen Update, as you Finnaglers know.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Bum ankle edition

Hippo (formerly H.T.) makes use of the Finnagler nickname for the first time ever, I think. Huge step forward.

Latest Petteri Koponen Watch at Bust a Bucket.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Block Party! Edition

New one up over at Bust a Bucket. These things excite me.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Supercup Edition

Hey there, new Koponen Watch up over at Bust a Bucket. I think H.T. has changed his moniker. Is the Finnish Mafia on to him?

I am perfecting the art of posting new entries at times that will minimize page views. Worst. Blogger. Ever.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Improved Edition

So did you notice that H.T. came through with a much improved Petteri Koponen watch over my last one that showed up on Bust a Bucket? Check it out here.

In other news, I've heard a lot about how much potential Victor Claver has. Size, skill, athleticism, blah blah. How come we aren't hearing about the swag? The below video doesn't show Claver doing a whole lot of things that will help win NBA games, but it does offer a glimpse at the man's swagger. It appears to be phenomenal. I suppose I should start paying more attention right about now.

Petteri Koponen Watch: The first day of the rest of my life edition

H.T. and The Finnagler make their debut over at Bust a Bucket. Is the World ready?

Petteri Koponen Watch: Beating Belinelli (for protocol only) edition

You know how this works, H.T. with his take on Petteri Koponen's latest outing...

It might be that the final Eurobasket qualification game between Italy and Finland was "for protocol only" since France had already secured their spot in the Eurobasket competition, but it sure as hell wasn't a yawner for either teams. After being butchered and gutted by the Italian sports media, the last home game against Finland was a chance for Italian team to end the summer campaign with some pride. Meanwhile, Finland's hunger just grew after that 4-point win over France and the team was absolutely drooling over their first win over Italy after 1965.

Finland took care of business, end of story. Finland won the game 89-95 (48-50)(BOX SCORE), but in the fourth quarter, it wasn't even that close. Petteri Koponen lead the balanced Finland attack with a superb 26-point performance. Even though Koponen (officially) only had one assist, it must be a question of interpretation only, because he excelled in both guard position and was simply unstoppable when it mattered the most.

Examples? Italy opened the beginning of 3rd quarter with a 14-2 run, but Koponen answered with five quick points to open a 15-2 Finland run. In the second quarter, Marco Belinelli got the crowd going with consecutive triples, but Koponen answered with two long range daggers of his own right in the face of Belinelli.

Even though Koponen took a couple of ill-adviced shots and had two awkward turnovers in 2nd and 3rd quarters, he had a heck of a game and it's safe to say he won this duel against Belinelli. While Belinelli's defense looked mediocre at best, Koponen smothered Italian guards and while Italian offense was built around Belinelli's 1-on-1 decisions, Koponen shared the ball and got everyone involved. Unfortunately the two guys didn't defend each other: Finland's starting small forward Shawn Huff covered Belinelli andItalian point guard Jacopo Giachetti covered Koponen.

Once again, team Finland relied on good, steady team play. Hanno Möttölä (16/5) opened the game with two triples and kept it going throughout the game. Teemu Rannikko (15/5 assists/3 steals) maintained his normal level of play, outplaying more athletic Italian guards. Samuel Haanpää (14/5) had a good shooting day after two 0-point performances and Tuukka Kotti (11/3) had a hot streak in the end of the game. Belinelli had 26 points and Valerio Amoroso 21 for the Italians. The biggest disappointment of the game wasAndrea Bargnani, who ended up with 7 points (field goals 3/8), 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and one technical foul in 35 minutes.

While Italy has dropped down a long way after that 1999 European championship trophy, Finland's future seems bright. Koponen had his share of growing pains and struggles a year ago when he had to accept the national team's starting pg spot, but right now it seems he is comfortable with the role alongside veteran pg Rannikko. There is always room for more improvement, but Koponen seems to be developing into an NBA style guard, being able to challenge his defender one and one in every occasion and not lacking any size and strenght compared to other young guards in the big league. 2009/2010 will definitely be an important year for Koponen; he has to fight for that starting guard position in Virtus Bologna, but if he can turn his rookie year struggles into success, landing a spot with the Blazers can't be that far away.

-H.T.

Something like an announcement

Posting will be slow in the coming days. I've issued that statement before, but this time around something of an explanation is in order. I will be moving to the Midwest to pursue my dreams of living in a place as cold as Finland. This could make things better around here. Being outside of the bubble can help one see things more objectively. Or it could make things even worse. We'll see.

Speaking of announcements, H.T. let me know Michael Jordan will be visiting Finland soon (or here if you can read Koponen). MJ joins Pippen and Rodman as another member of the Bulls' dynasty to take in the Finnish hospitality. Will Purdue keeps leaving messages hinting that he'd like to visit The Island Fortress of Suomenlinna, but Finland is always busy washing her hair.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Tony Parker is a baby edition

H.T. with more on how Finland beat France and Koponen beat Tony Parker.

(Photo: FIBA)

I see BlueForest escaped from those underground tunnels I locked him in. (BlueForest's game recap here.) Well, it gives me time to withdraw from game recap, the most typical form on narration. So here's a different look at Finland vs. France EuroBasket additional qualification round game.

Yep, France had already clinched their spot at the final qualification round with their very convincing victory over Italy just three days earlier. Nicolas Batum and Johan Petro were missing, and Ronny Turiaf played a total of eight minutes. Despite all this, the victory was something Finland needed and the decisive three pointer was scored by Teemu Rannikko, the same guy who missed the potential clincher against Italy a week earlier.

Even though France wasn't at their best, they surely didn't give this win for free. Young guards Nando De Colo (Spurs draftee, 18 pts) and Antoine Diot (15 pts) gave home team all they could handle and big guys Ian Mahinmi (12/5) and Ali Traore (12 pts) fooled Finnish interior defense in couple occations. But unlike in the first game between these two teams, Finnish big guys lead by Hanno Möttölä (16/9) weren't pushed around easily.

Of course, the main focus of sold-out group of 3354 people was on France's household names Tony Parker and Boris Diaw. Diaw seemed awkwardly overweight and was far from his best form. (We've seen that before. Damn you Diaw. Let me love you!-Ed) France only had six fast break points in the whole game and Diaw was non-existent in the half court offense, scoring only three points.

Tony Parker is still recovering from injury, and he seems to have a long way to go. Petteri Koponen (15/4/4 assists/2 steals) outplayed Parker on both ends of the court, forcing him to shoot from distance and blowing by him in every occasion. When Parker noticed he wouldn't get the superstar treatment he's used to, he concentrated on yapping to the referees and he left Energia Arena without speaking to the media. While Parker ended up with 4 points (with 2-14 field goal shooting), Koponen executed Finland's offense extremely well and had one of the best all-round games of his national team career.

(Of course, I have tremendous respect for Parker and I am sure he will go for MVP at the European Championship games, but even the best of them have bad days occasionally. For instance, I remember one day Hans von Blumenstock only scored 33 points in Finnish Division 4 game, making only 7-9 of his three pointers.)

Backcourt tandem Rannikko-Koponen were the heroes in the late game. Rannikko scored 14 points in a row in a four-minute span starting from last minute of 3rd quarter, leading Finland to 66-57 edge. After France took the next three and a half minutes 13-1, Koponen made a jump shot and Rannikko ended up with and-one, giving Finland a 72-70 edge. After Boris Diaw's one made free throw, Rannikko swished an NBA three pointer giving everyone in attendance the goosebumps. Tony Parker missed a strong layup with just 11 second remaining and France had to foul Koponen, who made both free throws and gave Finland the 77-71 lead.

France will beet Bosnia and Herzegovina or Belgium in the last qualification round, while Finland plays the last national team game of summer 2009 against Italy this thursday. Since this is the first time ever Italy slipped out of European Championship Games, local media is currently butchering everyone involved in this national team campaign excluding Marco Belinelli. Finland tries to snatch their second win in a row and end up 2nd in their additional qualifying group, which isn't exactly impossible; at the moment, Finland is highly motivated and Italy just trying to recover from huge disappointment.

Boxscore Here. Highlights Here.

-H.T.

Petteri Koponen Watch: I'll never eat pasta again, Italy wins edition

You know how this works. H.T. with the latest:

Tuesday's Eurobasket Qualification game between Italy and Finland was a do-or-die type of game for both teams, since loser of the game would practically be eliminated from the competition.

Finland struggled from early on, missing their first nine 3pt attempts and basically letting Italian big guys Angelo Gigli and Andrea Bargnani walk to the paint for open dunks. Italy was leading 4-15 before Finland began to maintain their defensive form.

Even though Finland came within two points in a couple of occasions, Italy extended their lead back to 9-12 points with Marco Belinelli shooting with high percentage early on, Andrea Bargnani schooling Finnish post defenders with old school spin moves and experienced players Giuseppe Poeta, Marco Mordente and Valerio Amoroso sinking their 3pt shots.

Six minutes before the end of the game Italy took a 60-73-lead behind Andrea Bargnani's three-pointer. Finland refused to go away, though. Petteri Koponen responded with a 3pt shot of his own and just a moment later, Italian point guard Matteo Soragna got heated in the midst of Finnish defense and was given a technical foul. Teemu Rannikko sank both of his free throws and after Finland regained the ball possession, Koponen opened Kimmo Muurinen for a dunk and one, narrowing Italian lead to 68-73 with five minutes to go.

After Belinelli's heavily contested jumper, both teams missed their a couple of next shots, but Hanno Möttölä ended the drought, sinking a jumper and bringing Finland back to competition. In the other end, Belinelli had an offensive foul and Shawn Huff netted a trey to bring Finland within two, 73-75. Italy's Luca Vitali missed a three-pointer in Italy's next possession and Petteri Koponen drove from coast to coast, drew a foul from Andrea Bargnani (fouled out) and tied the game with two free throws, 75-75, with 1:42 remaining.

Marco Belinelli hit another contested jumper to put Italy up by two, 75-77, with 1:24 to go. Finland had the chance to try three relatively open three point shots in the last minute, but Petteri Koponen missed once and Teemu Rannikko twice in the end. Marco Mordente caught the decisive rebound and Italy got to head to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport with a victory.

For Petteri Koponen, the night was clearly not one of his best. Petteri opened the game with two quick fouls, two missed shots and three turnovers in the first four minutes and couldn't get the offense going. Finland got back on track with Teemu Rannikko playing PG and Petteri sitting on the bench, but in the fourth quarter, Petteri played some inspired basketball, slowing down hot-shooting Belinelli and responding with five quick points, two assists and two steals in final six minutes. He took the loss and 7-point, 6-turnover night very heavily and was clearly upset when talking to the media after the game.

Hanno Möttölä scored 16 points for Finland in a steady performance while Teemu Rannikko had 11 points and 6 assists and Shawn Huff scored 12. Top scorer of the game was Marco Belinelli with 23 (fg 10/18). Andrea Bargnani finished with 21 and 8 despite playing only 24 minutes.

Italy and France meet each other in Pau, France this Friday in a must-win game for the Italians. Finland hosts France in Vantaa next Monday.

Highlights (from the coaches game tape) here

Finland - Italy 75-77 (10-17, 34-38, 55-63)

Finland: Hanno Möttölä 16/4, Shawn Huff 12/3, Teemu Rannikko 11/3/6 assists, Tuukka Kotti 9/4, Gerald Lee 8/3, Petteri Koponen 7/3/3 assists, Antti Nikkilä 6/2, Kimmo Muurinen 3/1, Petri Virtanen 3/0, Mikko Koivisto 0/1, Samuel Haanpää 0/0, Vesa Mäkäläinen.

Italy: Marco Belinelli 23/2, Andrea Bargnani 21/8, Angelo Gigli 10/6, Matteo Soragna 8/0, Marco Mordente 6/3, Giuseppe Poeta 5/1, Valerio Amoroso 3/2, Marco Cusin 1/3, Luca Vitali 0/3/5 assists, Jacopo Giachetti 0/3, Luigi da Tome 0/0.


-H.T.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Nicolas Batum Edition

What happens when two of DeceptivelyQuick's favorite players in the Blazers Universe collide? H.T. checks in with an update of Petteri Koponen (and team Finland) versus Nicolas Batum (and team France). Boxscore Hotness here.

Batum leads "Les Bleus" over Koponen and Finland

Determined French national team won their second consecutive game in the additional qualifications for European Championship Games 2009 in Poland. This time they didn't need an overtime to do so like in their first game against Italy; they managed to beat Finland rather easily in front of loud and rowdy group of 7,500 spectators in Pau, France.

The name of the game was French interior dominance. While Finland did very well against French guards, just the strength and athleticism of French forwards and centers was way too much for Finns. France powered their way to the low post with superb pass and slash offense and finished with a 2pt field goal percentage of 67,5 % (27/40). Nicolas Batum (14/1), Florent Pietrus (12/6/3 assist), Ronny Turiaf (9/6/3 steals) and Johan Petro (8/4) did pretty much what they wanted against thin Finnish front line.

Finland didn't give up despite trailing throughout the game. Finns sank their 3pt shots with very good percentage (52,2 %) lead by 22-year old, 6-8" small forward Samuel Haanpää (21/0), who drained all six of his field goals, including five long range bombs. Point guards Petteri Koponen (16/5) and Teemu Rannikko (14/2/5 assists) also relied heavy on their outside shots. Finns basically had no weapons inside the paint; they finished with only two fast break points and ten 2pt field goals in the game. Another weak point for the Finns was their turnovers caused by lack of mobility: French help defense did excellent job in covering the passing lanes and forcing Finnish big men to stop dribbling in the middle of two- or three-man defense.

Here's a quick look at how the game did proceed. As you can see, it was pretty much a "catch me if you can" type of game, with French team extending the lead with fast breaks and Finland catching up with outside shots: 8-5, 21-9, 30-28, 48-35, 52-45, 63-47, 69-60, 75-60, 77-70, 82-72.

Tony Parker, recovering from a minor ankle injury, played only four minutes in the game, finishing with 3 points, one rebound and one assist. Boris Diaw was in foul trouble from the beginning and despite draining all four of his field goal attempts, his 10-point, 4-assist performance in 26 minutes was rather disappointing. Leaders of the young French team were forwards Batum and Pietrus, who caused problems for Finns all over the court, and 20-year old point guard Antoine Diot (16/3/4 assists).

And how did Koponen do? Good and bad. Everybody could clearly see he has turned out to be a very Americanized point guard. He managed to beat his man off the dribble every single time and cause some minor trouble for French interior defense momentarily, but because Finnish big men weren't really a threat, French big men Turiaf, Petro and Diaw could let their men almost open and roughen up with some very physical defense. Defensively, he did good job covering Parker and Spurs draftee Nando de Colo (8/1/5 assists/3 steals).

Finland has a couple of days off before hosting Italy in Vantaa this Tuesday. The game is a must win for both teams, so it will be interesting. French team travels to Italy next Friday and it's pretty safe to say that if they manage to win, they clinch their spot in last qualification round.


France - Finland 82-72 (28-21, 46-35, 63-47)

France: Antoine Diot 16/3/4 assists, Nicolas Batum 14/1, Florent Pietrus 12/6/3 assists, Boris Diaw 10/0/4 assists, Ronny Turiaf 9/6/3 steals, Johan Petro 8/4, Nando de Colo 8/1/5 assists/3 steals, Tony Parker 3/1, Alain Koffi 2/0, Aymeric Jeanneau 0/1, Yannick Bokolo, Ali Traore.

Finland: Samuel Haanpää 21/0, Petteri Koponen 16/5, Teemu Rannikko 14/2/5 assists, Hanno Möttölä 7/4, Tuukka Kotti 5/5, Gerald Lee 4/3, Mikko Koivisto 3/0, Antti Nikkilä 2/2, Kimmo Muurinen 0/3, Shawn Huff 0/1, Petri Virtanen 0/0, Vesa Mäkäläinen.

Petteri Koponen: 34 minutes, 2pt field goals 1/5, 3pt field goals 3/7, free throws 5/6, points 16, rebounds 5, assists 1, steals 1, blocks 1, turnovers 2, personal fouls 1.

-H.mr.T.

In unrelated news, I really, really have been wanting to use the below video for a while. It does not make sense in this post. Don't worry about it. Still awesome.

And now for some quiet time

The next few days posting will be slow or non-existent as I'll be doing many things that are considered less than fun. In the mean time I leave you with Delonte West's latest brilliance:



If you've never fully appreciated the full Delonte West DeceptivelyQuick library, I urge you to treat yourself.

Also, H.T. sent me the video below, which I think is pretty self-explanatory.



UPDATE: I just found out DeceptivelyQuick is "quirky," I'll take it.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Freeeeedooooom! Expanded. Edition

H.T., in an effort to make me look bad, waited for me to post this flimsy Petteri Koponen update before sending me a feast for all Finnaglerphiles. Enjoy.

Now this post is rather long, but don't act like you got anything better to do...

Like you already noticed, team Finland has only a couple of days to go before the additional qualifications for Eurobasket 2009 tip off.

Finland is facing France and Italy in their qualification group and it's needless to say that nobody is really expecting Finland to get proceed to the next qualification round. Italy is trying to earn a spot in the Eurobasket competition with a deep roster full of veterans and lead by Andrea Bargnani, Marco Belinelli and Daniel Hackett.

The French team is even more impressing, with nine current NBA players in the roster: Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Nicolas Batum, Ronny Turiaf, Alexis Ajinca (Bobcats), Nando De Colo (Spurs), Rodrigue Beaubois (Mavs), Johan Petro (Nuggets) and Yakhouba Diawara (Heat). Joakim Noah and Mickael Pietrus have also been named to the "Les Bleus" squad, but Pietrus' post-season surgery keeps him out of the games and right now it seems unlikely that Chicago Bulls let Noah play.

Finland played their first game in European Division A in several years last summer and managed to win three of their eight games, including a shocker over 2002 World Champion Serbia. Even though there were good moments, it must be said that the overall team play could've been a lot better; two ugly, lop-sided losses to Bulgaria and two last-minute losses to team Italy (who were missing all their best players) told that team Finland was yet to achieve its premium level.

The biggest story of this summer for team Finland is the backcourt tandem of 21-year old Blazers draftee Petteri Koponen and 28-year old veteran PG Teemu Rannikko, who has nursed injuries these last two seasons after being named one of the top point guards in Euroleague while playing for Slovenia's Olimpija Ljubljana. The two guards have been giving nightmares to their opponents in the national team games so far this season, being able to find an open man or beat their defender 1-on-1 in every single offense.

Petteri Koponen struggled at times last summer as the starting PG of team Finland, but even though he has been forced to play a lot without the ball and accept a defending role in Italy's Virtus Bologna, he has certainly improved a lot on both ends of the court. These last a couple of games Koponen has been straightly dominant in the offensive end, sinking impossible-looking jumpers and drawing fouls with the best of them with his drives to the lane.

Finland has won four out of eight national team games this summer while Koponen has averaged 17,0 points, 2,9 rebounds and 2,3 assists a game (21/3/3 vs. New Zealand, 20/6/6 vs. The Netherlands, 20/3/3 and 8/8 fg's vs. Estonia and 26/4 steals vs. Hungary). Even though Finland has lost a couple of games they shouldn't have lost (Hungary & Sweden), they have looked sharp in their last two games, victories over Estonia and New Zealand.


(Estonian TV's clip of Estonia-Finland game in Estonian capital Tallinn, Koponen blue #11.)

French team has been murdering opponents in their preparing games, with 98-57 victory over Austria, 82-44 rout over Belgium and 84-66 win over Czech Republic. They also managed to beat Hungary 70-69 in dramatic fashion without Tony Parker, who injured his ankle in the game against Austria. Here's latest on Parker's injury: http://www.eurobasket2009.org/en/coid_9mipySPFI--JhV,ctnX7N1.articleMode_on.html

Team Italy has gone up and down in their preparing games; they've lost to Czech Republic, but beaten Canada and New Zealand in their latest friendlies. Italy's lastest "friendly" game against Canada was nothing but friendly, with Stefano Mancinelli ronartesting his way out of the game, as you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWsC_XdG7NA

Here's the schedule of the additional qualifying round. Only the winner of the Group B will proceed to the final qualification games against the winner of Group A (Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium).

Aug 5th Italy - France (Cagliari, Italy)
Aug 8th France - Finland (Pau, France)
Aug 11th Finland - Italy (Vantaa, Finland)
Aug 14th France - Italy (Pau, France)
Aug 17th Finland - France (Vantaa, Finland)
Aug 20th Italy - Finland (Porto San Giorgio, Italy)


-H.T.

Move over Koponen, Finland's next great basketball player is here

"Man, Finnish basketball prospects are like Randy West, they just keep on coming..."
-H.T.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Not really. Well sorta. A break from trade rumors, anyways. Edition

I would like to share with you the latest from our Finnish Insider, H.T. Rumor is he sent me this e-mail right before taking the stage to perform a cover of "Dangerous" at the Michael Jackson tribute. While Petteri Koponen isn't mentioned specifically, I think it is safe to say we know what he is up to: watching IHMEBANTU!

Cheers,

since nothing new is happening in basketball frontier, here's some more Finnish TV awesomeness for you. The following is a clip from amazingly popular reality TV series, kind of Finnish version of "Cheaters":



-H.T.

Petteri Koponen Watch: Presidential Approval Edition

Below is the latest update on Petteri Koponen from the World Famous H.T. The emphasis is my doing and is meant to help our American readers with short attention spans.



A really, REALLY late Petteri Koponen playoff update

Petteri Koponen's first professional season in Europe with Italian Serie A team Virtus Bologna ended after the first round of the playoffs. After celebrating the FIBA EuroChallenge Cup championship in late April, Virtus Bologna lost their last five regular season games and dropped down to #5 spot in the Serie A standings. In the first round, Virtus was able to beat Benetton Treviso twice in their home court, but nothing could give them the much-needed away victory to proceed to the semifinal stage.

What made the first round loss even more painful for Virtus was the fact that because Brandon Jennings' team, Lottomatica Roma, also lost their first-round matchup, Virtus would've received a three-year Euroleague license if they would've gone to semifinals. Next year, Virtus will play in the FIBA EuroCup, the second-highest international club competition in Europe, but being seven points away from the cream of the crop was pretty much painful enough for the club.

Petteri Koponen didn't get much playing time in the playoffs. In four games of action, Koponen played 28 minutes and finished with 7 points. Koponen suffered a very minor ankle injury right before the playoffs tipped off, and coach Matteo Bonicinolli seemed to use that as an excuse to not give him any minutes. After game 3 of the playoffs, team president Claudio Sabatini took and had this to say (according to Italian sports newspaper Gazzette Dello Sport):

"Earl Boykins is the reason we couldn't get the home court advantage for the playoffs. I have no more patience left with him. Koponen is our future, I hope coach Bonicinolli will play him more."

To put it mildly, Bonicinolli and Sabatini thought pretty differently of these two players. Right after the playoff loss, Sabatini fired both Bonicinolli and general manager Andrea Luchi. Out of all rotation players in the team, it seems that only Koponen, Alex Righetti and possibly Keith Langford have a future with Virtus Bologna. After playing majority of his minutes out of his natural position (point guard), it's unclear whether he'll be able to start as PG next year. Pretty much all the transaction rumors I have read are saying that Virtus will acquire an American point guard. Right now it's early to see how things will go, but here's what we know for certain:

-Virtus Bologna will play in Serie A and FIBA EuroCup in 2009/2010
-Petteri Koponen will play with Virtus in 2009/2010 (unless Portland wishes to bring him in or trade him to a team willing to give him a chance)
-Whole Virtus Bologna team will undergo a massive makeover

Finnish national team begins training for Eurobasket Qualifications next week and Petteri is right now in Finland, preparing for the upcoming summer. When asked about 2009 Las Vegas Summer League, Koponen said that "he's not sure yet" whether he'll participate. He hasn't said it out loud, but pretty much everybody is assuming that the Blazers have to make the first move if they want Koponen to run the point in Vegas. If not, he'll be able to concentrate 100% on the qualifications. Finland will play tough games against Italy (Bargnani, Belinelli) and France (Parker, Diaw, Pietrus, Noah etc...) in mid-August. Koponen vs. Tony Parker will be interesting to watch.

P.S. I forgot to say that Brandon Jennings wasn't even included in Lottomatica Roma's playoff roster. Even though Koponen's numbers were mediocre, Jennings' ones weren't that much better - and everybody knows Jennings will be a lottery pick. (Just to put things in perspective..)


-H.T.

A Nation in Mourning: Akeem Scott a Playboy no longer

Fresh from H.T., undeniable star of the blog Akeem Scott has left the Honka Playboys. (No crying!) Akeem is one of the most entertaining athletes on the planet and we will continue to follow his exploits in the future.

The Akeem Scott Era in Espoo is now officially over.

Honka Playboys entered the Finnish Korisliiga playoffs as no. 1 championship contenders after mid-season trades which brought in experienced role player Elias Kajander, Finnish national team power forward Tuukka Kotti and Denmark national team's starting point guard Chanan Colman. Honka had indeed the best individual players in the league, but after only three semifinal games, they found themselves swept against hustle-and-grind team Namika Lahti (lead by former German Bundesleague slam dunk champion Ray Nixon and NCAA 2001/2002 scoring champion Jason Conley).

After losing the semi-final series 0-3, Honka had an opportunity to grab the bronze medals at home, but long and tall Tampereen Pyrintö, which featured an impressive starting five of 7-0", 6-10", 6-8", 6-5" and 6-5" tall players, defeated Honka 74-83. It's sure going to be a rebuilding year for those Honka Playboys.

You can't blame Akeem Scott, though. Scott never became that true point guard he wanted to be, but he had the fighting spirit, the intangibles and the will to make his team better. In regular season, Scott averaged 17 points, 4,1 rebounds, 2,2 assists, 2,5 steals and 2,3 turnovers a game with percentages of 58,3% (2pt), 30,0% (3pt) and 72,0% (Ft).

In playoffs, Akeem the Dream registered 16 points, 4,3 rebounds, 1,9 assists, 1,9 steals and 2,4 turnovers a game, with percentages of 48,5% (2pt), 46,5% (3pt) and 74,1% (Ft). Despite finishing only fourth in Finnish Korisliiga play, Scott will be remembered as a willing player whose pure hustle brought Honka Playboys their second consecutive championship while Petteri Koponen was sidelined with an injury.

Thank you for all the memories, Akeem!


-H.T.