Batum's stats: 18pts, 8rebs, 1ast, 6stls on 8/13 FG, 0/3 on three, and looked like the best player on the floor for a large part of the game (before TP got hot in the second half). Sick.
Great game for him. What's also interesting is he had 0 fouls and 0 turnovers with those points and steals. Six steals with no fouls is amazing. Great to see after the shoulder scare earlier this week.
Rudy is coasting. He has like 10 points and mostly threes and is making fools out of his defenders with some ridiculous passing. Found this on Blazersedge: http://www.lnb.fr/index.php?pid=50&id_article=17181&cursor_start=0 Apparently, the Blazers are bringing Nic back to Portland to re-examine his shoulder.
It seems like Nic was laissez faire about having to go back to Portland. Tony had to do it so he was ready for the request by Portland. Hopefully it's a non-issue and he enjoys a few nice sunny days in Portland. Here's the France/Italy summary on Eurobasket. http://www.eurobasket2009.org/en/ci...ANOrUf9le2.season_2009.gameID_6375-B-4-4.html France clinched their group so the next game against Finland is meaningless. If Nic misses that game it shouldn't be a big deal to his team, aside from playing together and getting team chemistry.
I am excited about Nic's play, as I had doubts if he was going to bring his offensive game to a higher level than the non existent level of last year. He looks confident, and looks like he may have added some "handle" to his game, as they had him playing guard some.
