Batum's blog (Dec. 8)

Nico finally updated his blog, and apparently there will be more entries this week.  I might have to get to those at the end of the week, seeing as it's finals and all, but we'll see.  Nice to see that he's a fellow Liverpool fan. :)

Nicolas has experienced a busy start to the season. As a result, to make up for the small delay taken for his blog, this weekend he sent us several posts that we will publish throughout the week and in which you will discover his new life, how he experienced his big debuts, anecdotes on his first big confrontations and his assessment of the start of the season.

Sorry to have taken a bit of time for the blog, but the first month of the NBA passed crazy-fast and I've just gotten used to the new rhythm, with full days and the travel...

Game days, it's practice in the morning at around 10:30/11:00. After practice, you eat, you rest and you leave for the game at around 4:30 when we play at 7. We get there really early. And when we're playing away, it's the same, there's the rookie bus at 4:15 and the bus for other players at 5. When I get there, I work individually for a little half hour, then afterwards I lift weights. We're not at full speed, because there's a game later, but it's to strengthen up (?). After, we rest, we stretch. We watch the video of the team that we're going to play and watch the scouting report of the team that we're going to play. We examine the opponent, in fact.

Then, 45 minutes before the game, they close the locker room to the press. We rest among us, there's a little meeting and the coach makes a speech. And after, we go out onto the court, 16 minutes before the game. Only 16 minutes. Don't ask me why, I don't know And that, I had a hard time getting used to it at first, because before I always used to warm up for at least half an hour. A quarter hour, pff... at first it was hard. That's why at the start of the season, in the first half, I wasn't really there. Even during this quarter hour we don't really get warmed up. Three times on the left, three on the right, after we stop, some amuse themselves by shooting. So we don't really warm up and I had a hard time getting used to that. Now, I know how to warm up in a quarter hour and I'm no longer cold when I get in the game.

The days when we don't have a game are now lighter than at first. We practice at 10:00, but I always get there at 8:30 in the morning. After, at noon, weights. That's when we have two days between games. When we only have one day, we also have practice around 10:00. I also get there earlier to shoot and lift weights. After we watch tape, then a short hour of practice, but it's more recuperation: light jogging, stretching, exercises at 75%, so that we have some rhythm, but without strong opposition. It lasts an hour maximum.

Before, I came all the time in the afternoon, but now I basically don't come more than one time out of two. Because you still have to rest!!!! So I rest at my house, especially since there's my family who have arrived in Portland there. My sister is at school and I rest with my mom. We're in the process of looking for a house for them. And I rest deeply to recover well, because the first weeks were really tiring.

And then I try to do other stuff on the side, to not think about basketball all the time. I like to wander around Portland, go to restaurants, etc..., like I did in Le Mans last year. It's a calm city, it's very cool. I also often go to the Spaniards' houses, I hang out with them the most. We play video games. We play PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) tournaments. I alternate between Barcelona, Manchester, or most often Liverpool. Liverpool's my team. Sergio's the best. In general, he plays with Real Madrid.

It's good for me to do other stuff, because it's true that I'm also starting to get a little tired. The two games with 0 points... especially the one in New York, I screwed that one up. But that's another story, to be continued in another post.