Finland Shocks France 77-73, Petteri Koponen Outplays Tony Parker

by Timothy Varner

Kimmo Sinisalo is a Finnish citizen who, not surprisingly, lives and works in Helsinki. He’s been around basketball for 30 years. He’s a self-described basketball lifer who has coached, played, kept stats and referred more games at the amateur level than he can remember. He’s also a 48MoH reader. Kimmo had the good fortune of attending today’s France-Finland rematch, and was kind enough to send his thoughts our way. The following post, and title thereof, belongs to him. Thanks, Kimmo. You’re the very best of our Helsinki crowd.

Finland got a huge upset over France thanks to Portland pick Koponen, ex-Ute and Hawk Hanno Möttölä, and some hot shooting from Euroleague vet PG Teemu Rannikko, among other guards. Nic Batum and Johan Petro did not play for France.

My evaluation of Parker: he seemed to move without discomfort, but was clearly nowhere near full speed. He did not push the ball full court, was not aggressive in the halfcourt offense, could not earn any free throws and missed every one of his jumpers off the front of the rim. A classic case of playing with heavy legs. Parker totaled 4 points on 2/14 shooting and just 3 assists despite playing 31 minutes. Koponen was able to stay in front of Parker, getting 2 blocks and a steal off Parker’s hands. At the other end Koponen used his size advantage to hit two pull-up 3s over Parker, as well as get inside paint and dish several perfect assists. OK, this was TP at maybe 60%, but I believe Koponen could be a solid backup PG in the NBA. Hopefully someone buys his rights from the Blazers, who may not ever find room for him.

Anyway, this surprising mismatch was crucial for Finland winning. France, of course, had nothing to play for and did not show their best defensive intensity.

Then the good news: the other two Spurs were the most efficient players for France.

Nando de Colo played 23 minutes at 2 and also 3 in small-ball lineups. He was top scorer for France with 18 (8/11 shooting), hitting 2 clean spot-up 3s and several layups coming from good backdoor cuts, loose balls and fast breaks. On D, he showed awareness and quick hands, getting several deflections. Overall a smart and solid performance with no eye-catching mistakes.

Ian Mahinmi played little in the first half, but in the second half he was very active and mobile for a 10-minute stretch, scoring efficiently at the rim (5/7) and rebounding well. He got 12 pts and 5 rebs in just 12 minutes. His post defense against the wily moves of veteran Möttölä was also the best on the French team.