Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

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Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by Colter_Nuanez » Mon May 01, 2017 3:43 pm

Bobcats sign Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen
http://skylinesportsmt.com/nikkarinen-signs-with-msu/



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by GrizgradCatFan » Tue May 02, 2017 4:43 am

Any tape on this kid out there?



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by imacat » Tue May 02, 2017 6:13 pm

Welcome to the Bobcat family Lassi!


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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by Finnish wolfpack » Wed May 03, 2017 1:42 am

On FIBA U20 YouTube channel you can see some of Nikkarinen in action against the best in Europe. Nikkarinen ´97 played as underclassman the reserve pointguard role in that team behind Finnish pro league pg Tuomas Hirvonen ´96. Nikkarinen´s jersey is #3 and Hirvonen`s #4. I recommend especially games against Spain and Lithuania, in which Nikkarinen gave a big contribution to Wolfpack. Besides Nikkarinen there were 3 underclassmen in that team. Lauri Markkanen´97 (Arizona), Remu Raitanen´97 (U of San Francisco) and Tomas Murphy ´98 (committed to Northeastern)

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... 20+finland



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by Rich K » Wed May 03, 2017 7:35 am

Finnish wolfpack wrote:On FIBA U20 YouTube channel you can see some of Nikkarinen in action against the best in Europe. Nikkarinen ´97 played as underclassman the reserve pointguard role in that team behind Finnish pro league pg Tuomas Hirvonen ´96. Nikkarinen´s jersey is #3 and Hirvonen`s #4. I recommend especially games against Spain and Lithuania, in which Nikkarinen gave a big contribution to Wolfpack. Besides Nikkarinen there were 3 underclassmen in that team. Lauri Markkanen´97 (Arizona), Remu Raitanen´97 (U of San Francisco) and Tomas Murphy ´98 (committed to Northeastern)

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... 20+finland

Thanks for the links. Took me a couple minutes to figure out that the '96, '97 etc was birth years. :D


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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by msu_agfan » Wed May 03, 2017 8:23 am

Finnish wolfpack wrote:On FIBA U20 YouTube channel you can see some of Nikkarinen in action against the best in Europe. Nikkarinen ´97 played as underclassman the reserve pointguard role in that team behind Finnish pro league pg Tuomas Hirvonen ´96. Nikkarinen´s jersey is #3 and Hirvonen`s #4. I recommend especially games against Spain and Lithuania, in which Nikkarinen gave a big contribution to Wolfpack. Besides Nikkarinen there were 3 underclassmen in that team. Lauri Markkanen´97 (Arizona), Remu Raitanen´97 (U of San Francisco) and Tomas Murphy ´98 (committed to Northeastern)

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... 20+finland
Thanks for the link. I was able to watch the first half of the championship game in the video that follows. Look for Nikkarinen from 21:00 to 30:00, and 43:00-55:00. Two of his biggest plays are at 50 and 55. He also plays the last 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter, and from 8-5 minutes left in the 4th. He looks pretty young, just like Frey did/does. This is the championship game, so that is impressive; he will have definitely had some big game experience, and experience against solid players.
Last edited by msu_agfan on Wed May 03, 2017 1:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by iaafan » Wed May 03, 2017 8:27 am

He's going to be a difference maker by extending defenses. MSU will have three good to excellent 3-point shooters on the court at one time Lassi shot 41% from one foot further out, which is very good. Hall shoots 43%. Frey shoots 41%. Frey and Lassi are both excellent passers, so with this kind of shooting the passing lanes are going to be large. Going to very fun to watch this team next year, not that they weren't fun to watch last year.



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by Colter_Nuanez » Wed May 03, 2017 2:45 pm

Stability helps MSU recruiting become more focused as Fish continues cultivating international inroads
http://skylinesportsmt.com/stability-he ... e-focused/



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by Finnish wolfpack » Mon Jun 19, 2017 12:54 am

Finland U20 and Nikkarinen are playing a tournament in Iceland now. Other teams are Israel, Sweden and Iceland. Today´s opener is against Israel, whose leading player is pg Tamir Blatt, David Blatt´s son. The game vs. Israel starts at 5 p.m. Iceland time and there is live video from all the games. http://www.kki.is/



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by msu_agfan » Mon Jun 19, 2017 7:08 am

Finnish wolfpack wrote:Finland U20 and Nikkarinen are playing a tournament in Iceland now. Other teams are Israel, Sweden and Iceland. Today´s opener is against Israel, whose leading player is pg Tamir Blatt, David Blatt´s son. The game vs. Israel starts at 5 p.m. Iceland time and there is live video from all the games. http://www.kki.is/
\
Thanks for the info. Iceland time is 6 hours ahead of us, so I'm guessing this will be starting at 11 am Mountain time this morning. Here's the Iceland time to double check: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/iceland


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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by mslacat » Mon Jun 19, 2017 1:09 pm

Lassi Nikkarinen scored 11 points, 5 assits 1 steals shooting 57% from the field 33%3 from 3 point range in 20 1/2 min off the bench to help Finland U20 86 over Israel U20 68

Box score (you may need to right click and click on the "translate"

http://www.fibalivestats.com/u/KKI/616944/bs.html



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by mslacat » Mon Jun 19, 2017 4:45 pm

mslacat wrote:Lassi Nikkarinen scored 11 points, 5 assits 1 steals shooting 57% from the field 33%3 from 3 point range in 20 1/2 min off the bench to help Finland U20 86 over Israel U20 68

Box score (you may need to right click and click on the "translate"

http://www.fibalivestats.com/u/KKI/616944/bs.html
Correction Lassi did start for Finland U20



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by msu_agfan » Tue Jun 20, 2017 7:05 am

It looks like Finland will play against Sweden today @ 11 am MST again, and @ 2pm tomorrow against Iceland. The above link should work for the games. Audio, but no commentary, it is a good clear video.


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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by mslacat » Tue Jun 20, 2017 5:44 pm

In his second game of the 20U tourney Lassi Nikkarinen helped Finland to a 74 to 70 win over Sweden. Nikkarinen had 3 points 6 assists 2 rebound and shot 50% from the field. Findland ran out to an early 8 point lead mid way through the 1st quarter but Nikkarinen picked up his 3rd foul and was benched for the remainder of the 1 and 2nd quarter. By half time Sweden had a 10 point lead. Finland came back in the 3 and 4th quarter and tied at abou the mid way point of the 4th. The teams then traded the lead until late. Finland had a 3 point lead with about 15 seconds left and they fouled Nikkarinen how had two shots to put Finland ahead by 4or more and missed them both, Finnland played good defense the remaining 15 seconds and won the game. The game was uglllllly. Over all there were not a lot of fouls called but they all seemed to called on 4-5 players (both side). When Nikkarinen back in in the 3rd quarter it did not look like he was looking to shoot at all but more to facilitate the game. The first half of the game was sloppy with a lot of turn overs, Finland looked a lot better in the second half taking care of the ball. Nikkarinen had some real nifty passes to the interior when he was doubled. He also was not afraid play in your face defense but he is going to need to need to work on this fouling business. Statistically it did not look like a great game for him but I really enjoyed how he played.

Tomorrow the home team Iceland!



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by mslacat » Thu Jun 22, 2017 9:15 pm

Just to let you folks know how Lassi Nikkarinen U20 tourney ended up. His Finland team was beaten pretty bad 75-60 by Iceland in the final game of the tourney. Both Iceland and Finland finished with a 2-1 record for the tourney but through the magic of international rules Iceland was crowned the champion. Lassi finished with with 10 points and 4 assists.. I think he lead the tourney in assists. Findland did not play well and Iceland shot 53% from the field. After watching him for 3 games. Fish recruited him as a 3 point shooting point guard who could come in and contribute as a reserve from day one. I think he is a solid point guard, despite not being very muscular is willing to mix it up. He is very physical defensive player and should be well ahead of most freshman guards I think he has very good ball skills does not get rattled. As a three point shooter though he only took three 3 point shots for the entire tournament, and seemed to prefer to drive to the hoop and draw contact. There is nothing wrong with that but if I had to go off these three games alone i would probably come to the conclusion that three point shooting is not his forte. I am wondering if he has any more U20 games but I really want to see what he does in the august Canada Trip.

I can not find an english version but here are Lassi Nikkarinen tournement stats

http://www.kki.is/motamal/leikir-og-urs ... id=5416645

Findland Iceland box score

http://www.kki.is/motamal/leikir-og-urs ... -400$t&0=1



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by Finnish wolfpack » Fri Jun 30, 2017 3:55 am

Finland U20 and Nikkarinen went to Portugal for a tournament. They are facing today Great Britain ( 9 p.m Portugese time, 2 p.m Mountain time), tomorrow Belarus (5 pm. Portugese time, 10 a.m. Mountain time) and on Sunday Portugal (7 p.m. Portugese time, 12 a.m. Mountain time). All games are live on line here https://www.fpbtv.pt/ . Finland cut it´s roster to twelve and their 7´0´ center Hannes Pöllä (Oklahoma) is healthy and with them now. Nikkarinen is supposed to be a starter with Pöllä, Edon Maxhuni (G, Long Beach State) and Lasse Gummerus (F, Marist).



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by Finnish wolfpack » Fri Jun 30, 2017 3:43 pm

Finland beat Great Britain 79-60. Here is the box score. http://live.fibaeurope.com/www/Game.asp ... eID=126659



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by TomCat88 » Fri Jun 30, 2017 10:17 pm

Finnish wolfpack wrote:Finland beat Great Britain 79-60. Here is the box score. http://live.fibaeurope.com/www/Game.asp ... eID=126659
Nikkarinen second in scoring with 12 points, team-high 5 assists.


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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by Finnish wolfpack » Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:54 am

Finland beat Belarus 88-67. Another solid game from Nikkarinen 10 pts/4asts/7stls in 26 minutes. http://live.fibaeurope.com/www/Game.asp ... eID=126661



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Re: Fish signs Finland point guard Lassi Nikkarinen

Post by mslacat » Sun Jul 02, 2017 7:13 pm

In Lassi's final game (and tournament championship) Finland went down to the host team Portugal 84-83 in OT. Finland scored with one second left in the game to put them up, a timeout was called and ball advanced to half court. So with one second left, Portugal in-bounded the ball to a guard at the top of the key he looked around, found a post player close to the basket passed down low he got the ball did a head fake, took a dribble, and then scored off the backboard. Again in 1 second. It really reminded me of playing against the Griz in Missoula. Now they went back and showed the replay (in slo-mo so you could not time it) and the clock went to zero BEFORE the guy threw it in-bounds. Now the clock should not have rolled over until a player on the court actually touched it but they played the final 1-4 seconds with the clock showing no time left. Portugal was announced winners and in less than a minute later medal were handed out. Again very Harry Adams Field House like. :lol:

For the game Lassi had 18 points, 6 assists, 3 steals 2 rebounds while shooting 63.4% from the field and 50% from 3 point range. He also lead the team in minutes played with 34. He plays a very aggressive defense and was guarding Portugal go to guard for most of the game, Portugal was also picking Lassi up the minute he got the ball over the mid court line and guarding him closely. Of the games I have watched this summer, this game he looked the most comfortable shooting the 3 point shot. He was listed with 6 assists, and I was watching pretty closely and he did not seem to get credit for assists to the post or else he could have easily had 2-3 more. Lassi is a solid point guard who plays very unselfishly, almost to a fault. I am not saying he is the second coming of Frey,(yet?) but he will help the team quite a bit next year.

Hey Finnish Wolfpack, is that it for U20 play or does Lassi have anymore games this summer.

Box score

http://live.fibaeurope.com/www/Game.asp ... 664&lng=en



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