Miyerkules, Pebrero 26, 2014

PBA Scenes: San Mig Super Coffee Mixers Win All-Filipino Cup Championship

Best of the Night. Reread the title of this entry. 'Nuff said.



(c) Nuki Sabio/PBA




Worst of the Night. The second quarter walkout. I get the whole rationale behind Rain or Shine's bench clearing, locker room-hitting move early in the second quarter. As a sports fan, I really think we all needed that just to add a lot more spice in the Finals. After all, we might be seeing the last game of this conference. I actually salute coach Yeng Guiao for the wrath just because I really expected this game to be special in one way or another. It's Game 6, you know. But then again, this appears beside the worst of the night header, and that's because of the sour consequences Rain or Shine is about to face. Commish Salud had it all set tomorrow. I believe this is gonna take a lot of money from the Painters' bank accounts, but we don't know any exact amount yet. Anyway, the funny side is that the Painters walked out of the court twice empty handed. Well, not really, they have the runners-up trophy on the second march. 


Final Score. Mixers 93-87 Painters




Finals MVP. Mark Barroca is the biggest little man among everyone who played their guts out in the Finals. After punching a lot of thighs tonight and scoring 24 points from 16 shots, Barroca, the Tamarraws kick-out, and former Gilas guard, wins the Finals MVP hardware. Nobody's gonna object on this because it's the Coffee Prince who actually pushed a lot of Potassium Chloride directly on the Painters' veins. With that I mean the big, clutch shots at end game. He dished 5 dimes too. So tonight, we didn't only saw the handling of the championship trophy to Marc Pingris, we saw the coronation of the next Coffee King. All hail!




Sweet Sixteen. Obviously, I'm not referring to coach Tim Cone's age in this one, but the number of championships he's won in the PBA... right now. As charged as always, Tim Cone overtook the great Baby Dalupan in terms of the number of rings kept in their cupboards. A couple of good news for the triangle system fans, I'm pretty sure that's not it for Tim Cone, and right now, his face will surely be etched in our imaginary PBA Mount Rushmore.  



Defense. Alright, after all, defense truly won the San Mig Coffee Mixers their Philippine Cup chip. The Mixers stopped the Painters' rhythm and disrupted their ball movements through out. Mixers went on to end the night shooting 50% from the field while limiting Rain or Shine to 39%.



Three-Point Slump. Both teams shot 20% from beyond the arc. How bad is that? San Mig drained 4 of 20 shots, Rain or Shine just nailed 6 of their 30. That wouldn't win them tickets at Timezone as well. The shooters went to sleep early this game. 




Worst of the Night Runner-Up. I remember stating that any ejection will be worst of the night. It still is if not because of that epic walkout. But this is easy, and I am sure that coach Yeng Guiao wouldn't mind receiving this runner-up header after he was ejected for throwing a ferocious bounce pass to referee Mariano. So in this epic night, coach Yeng Guiao delivered his usual numbers. One warning call, 2 technicals, one ejection, zero hair, and zero All-Filipino Cup title. Pretty tough way going home to Pampanga. 




Quote. All of the "Thank you's" you heard live or on TV. Nothing beats a celebration full of gratefulness. 




Bits.

-Beau Belga and Paul Lee didn't wanna give in just yet. In the dying seconds, Belga and Lee scored most of their final points.


-Paul Lee, by the way, had 23 points. Pretty valiant.


-I really think the "on fires" tonight should go to Joe Devance and PJ Simon. Both tripled their Game 5 outputs. Duh. 


-Like any given night, Marc Pingris had stopped Beau Belga, Raymond Almazan, Jeff Chan, Chris Tiu, Paul Lee, coach Yeng, coach Yeng's assistants, Painters' ballboys, Big Dome's mop boys, the cameraman sitting baseline, and apparently, everyone wearing dark clothes. Sakuragi is a defensive bull.


-Jerwin Gaco got a lot of swag celebrating in the dugout. He played for a total of 15 minutes this series, and even striked Yeng Guiao out, so he's got all the rights.


-Same with Rafi Reavis. At one point, I really thought he considers himself a candidte for MVP. Why not?


-Well, we need to let Cawaling and Holstein celebrate too because they are champs too, technically.


-If you're wondering, yes, Cawaling and Holstein are actual PBA players. I understand you though.


-All in all, this finals have been special. I don't know how, but it was.






The Commissioners' Cup starts next Wednesday. So that means the Mixers are really well rested.


     

Linggo, Pebrero 23, 2014

PBA Scenes: Rain or Shine Elasto Painters vs San Mig Super Coffee Mixers Finals Game 5

Best of the Night. Jeff Chan's 24 points and three bigtime 3-pointers. Chan led Rain or Shine's revolt on staying alive in their duel with the remaining Cojuanco-dog in the Finals. The Painters slapped the Mixers with an 81-74 win, pulled themselves to 2-3 series tally, and forced a Wednesday night blockbuster. Though Chan needed 16 shots to punch those points, his blaze illuminated Rain or Shine, who, at one point, were ten points down, by draining timely three's in the fourth quarter. It's not too common, but this series is looking like it's gonna be won through three-pointers. No offense to the old, and more common "Defense wins championships" saying. 



(c) Nuki Sabio/ PBA




Worst of the Night. Field goal percentages. Okay, I have to apologize for saying that 3-pointers will decide this series. Obviously, defense did a bunch of ranting tonight. A strong evidence to this would be both teams' field goal efficiency. San Mig Coffee shot 26 of 68 (38.2%) from the field, even beating the winning Rain or Shine team percentage-wise. The Painters drained only 28 shots out of their 74 attempts (37.8%). Talk about defense talking about doing the most talking.



Better Numbers. San Mig Coffee's statistician fans everywhere might be rejoicing over their team's dominance in game 5. Too bad, that's just statistics-wise. Mixers actually beat Rain or Shine in a lot of departments. Rebounding, 49-47, free-throw shooting, 75%-60.7%, fastbreak points, 12-7, and second chance points, 10-6. The final score is the only number taken though, so big sorry for San Mig Coffee.



Tiu-torized. I honestly shout my lungs out everytime Chris Tiu does something spectacular in the game earlier. Too bad for me, now I'm losing my voice. Chris Tiu, being the last Chris remaining in the conference, decided to step it up tonight in the name of every Chris in the league. The Atenean dropped 9 points from 4 shots, grabbed 3 rebounds, dished 2 assists, and sniped a steal, just in 17 minutes of play. It took him 8 games to find that groove, so this is beautiful inconsistency for my favorite Chris. He was a strong Player of the Game candidate until Jeff Chan happened. Good tragedy.



Brewed Veterans. James Yap and Marc Pingris combined for a good 36 points for San Mig Coffee's own revolution. Yap, who was playing intensely intense for the past 4 games, had 18 points and 6 rebounds, and even threatened the Elasto Painters with his deadly shooting late in the game. Pingris delivered his usual mountain-high performance despite being hurt when he sustained an eye injury from game 4. The former Finals MVP had 18 points and 15 rebounds for the Mixers. SMC fans are sure happy with that.



Quote. "We can not lose our sense of destiny. Even if we're behind, it's not yet over. We have to believe in ourselves and stay positive." - coach Yeng Guiao. This is one fatherly statement from coach Yeng Guiao, who, by the way, received a technical foul for calmly complaining, or maybe, the other way around.



Technical Counter. Speaking of which, Game 5 technical foul count is at 1. 



Bits.

-Joe Devance had 7 points on 3 of 12 shooting night. Yes, the speaker is quiet, so his flat top is way higher than his output. His hair deserved more of those 34 minutes he was on the floor.

-Pingris scored 6 of his 18 points from whamming the rim. Eye injury, what?

-PJ Simon's defense was better than his offense in this game. Want a proof? He has no field goals in 31 minutes, and he blocked 2 shots. See?

-Jeff Chan probably made it up to their back to back missed game changing three's from games 3 and 4.





San Mig Coffee still dictates the series. Game 6 on Wednesday.  



Linggo, Pebrero 16, 2014

PBA Scenes: Rain or Shine Elasto Painters vs San Mig Super Coffee Mixers Finals Game 2

Best of the Night. San Mig Coffee's team defense really stood out tonight. They weren't shooting well, no one dominated offensively, but their defense did the most talking. In my humble opinion, Rain or Shine can almost sue the Mixers defense right now. They were harassed on national television. The evidence is strong. Anyway, Mixers even the series with an 80-70 win. It wasn't too close the whole game.









Worst of the Night. On the contrary, Rain or Shine's offense is tonight's worst. Jeff Chan led the team with 18 points, followed by Gabe Norwood's 8. All in all, as stated above, the Painters scored 70 points. That's far, far away from their average. Well, if you don't call that bad, then I no longer know what we should call it. Anyway, this is just another proof of the superiority of the Mixers' defense. On the consistent side of things, Chris Tiu had 0 points. C'mon, Chris. That's almost 5 games in a row. Wow.



Sakuragi. Marc Pingris was the best player of the game with 11 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. He posted those numbers while rotating defense on Raymond Almazan, Beau Belga, Jeff Chan, and Paul Lee. As you can see, he outrebounded his points, had pretty numerous dishes, and marked multiple positions. Right now, it seems like Pingris is the only player who can do that. 



Technical Counter. Game 2 technical fouls: one. In case you missed it, coach Yeng Guiao finally had a technical foul in the finals! They were down big in a game for control and he's got heat. That's a perfect formula for a Yeng Guiao specialty.



Banger. I would like to commend Jerwin Gaco for stirring the perfect formula that I was talking about. In the second quarter, with the Mixers leading by a huge margin, Gaco got physical -this series is physical- with Painters' rookie Raymond Almazan. Of course, as a father, coach Yeng should set examples, and he did! That wasn't good though, as he puked out words that got him T'd up. Gaco kept it cool. Too bad he matched Chris Tiu's output. He might have been best of the night.



Quote. "We didn't shoot that well but we were defending well." - coach Tim Cone. I told you, Mixers' defense stood out in Game 2. That's the story.



Bits.

-We've got awesome blocks in this game including one each from Paul Lee and Mark Barroca.

- This is a pretty nice trivia. Do you know who teaches Marc Pingris' post moves? Richard del Rosario.

-They lost this game, but coach Yeng Guiao said he's not worried. That's good news actually.

-That's it right there. See you on Game 3.




That's on Wednesday, by the way. 8pm.




Biyernes, Pebrero 14, 2014

PBA Scenes: Rain or Shine Elasto Painters vs San Mig Super Coffee Mixers Finals Game1

Best of the Night. 1.6 seconds remain in the fourth quarter. Ballgame tied at 80 apiece. Huddles are heated. One final play. Ball was dead out of bounds. Jeff Chan fakes right then rushed left, drawing a defender. That man just drilled back to back threes. All eyes were on him, all minds were expecting him to finish the game. Then Gabe Norwood threw the inbound, quick, and at the center of the paint. That was far from Jeff Chan. The leather was caught. The man was 6 foot 1, quick, and bald. In a rush, a shot was made easily, and in the open. Rain or Shine win, 82-80. Best of the night should be Paul Lee, Paul Lee's game winner, and Paul Lee giving Rain or Shine a series edge over the Mixers. No questions asked.







Worst of the Night. There are a lot of Chris playing in the PBA, and Chris Tiu is the last Chris standing. He hasn't been the best Chris out there, so being the last one left, he's got that chance to be the best. So did he? Uh, not really. 10 minutes, 3 turnovers, 0 points, and a heck of difficulty escaping Mark Barroca's defense wouldn't do that at all. So apparently, Chris Tiu is STILL the worst and only Chris in the game. At least he's got consistency.



Batman. Jervy Cruz is sick of weird uniform elements and accessories. He's a simple player with a simple get up. Unfortunately, his nose tasted the bitter bone of Alex Cabagnot's elbows. So apparently, he decided to wear a protective mask. Jervy loves to keep it simple, and it became cool. And cool became cooler when he went up for that offensive board and drained the game-tying shot with less than 30 secs remaining earlier. Remember that Paul Lee game winner? That wouldn't have been a game winner if not for Jervy Cruz' heroics. So a big applause for Jervy Cruz and Jervy Cruz's face mask.



Technical Counter. Game 1 technical fouls: One. The only T that's slapped was that final time out called by San Mig Coffee, who actually burnt all of their coolers right before Lee delivered the scissors. Don't let that number fool you, this series is physical as hell.



Speaker of the House. San Mig Coffee sure put up a fight tonight. And Joe Devance sure put up numbers tonight as well. JDV went for 17 points, a couple of big rebounds, a couple of big dishes, and one big flat top. No, that's not Iman Shumpert, boys and girls.



Quote. "We got lucky in the end. We set up the play for Jeff Chan, but it was Paul (Lee) who got open. Good recognition by Gabe Norwood." - coach Yeng Guiao. Be it lucky or perfectly executed, that final play was plain dagger. 



Bits.

-San Mig Coffee is so effective without a real point guard starting the game.

-I'm not sure, but I think Alex Nuyles and Jeric Teng will soon have an explosive exposure in this series.

-Raymond Almazan is already exposed, so nevermind him.

-But Almazan threw down a beastly slam earlier, so let's mind him again. He needs to do that all the time.

-Jeff Chan was on fire in the fourth quarter. That is one bad news for the Mixers in this series.

-Beau Belga is now Rain or Shine's main man. That is two bad news for the Mixers.

-None is in the injured list in this finals. That's good news, right?

-There's no compression shirts in this series. This upsets me up honestly.

-Nothing really exciting about Game 1 when it comes to funny bones. We'll see about that come Game 2.





Game 2 of the Finals will be on Sunday at 4:30pm. Tell your friends.
   

Miyerkules, Pebrero 12, 2014

PBA Scenes: Barangay Ginebra San Miguel vs San Mig Super Coffee Mixers Game 7

Best of the Night. The San Mig Super Coffee Mixers, after a rough start to this season, and finishing at 5th seed, have knocked the top seeded Barangay Ginebra San Miguel out, 110-87, setting their dance against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters for the Jun Bernardino hardware. Are you kidding me? No further explanations. Next.



(c) Nuki Sabio/PBA


Worst of the Night. Is there anyone out there who actually thought Ginebra put up a fight? A few maybe. I'm going straight to the point, the league's top seeded team sucked tonight, and they did it at the expense of moving on to the Finals. That wasn't a great timing. So just based on that, Ginebra really stunk.



Big Game. 30 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 3-pointers. Aren't these the numbers James Yap was producing when he won those two MVP's? Yes they are. So tonight, apart from blaming his flames to his weird arm sleeve, Yap is really determined --and inspired-- to bury Ginebra six feet below the shiny and blue Big Dome floor. Anyway, James Yap, after all injuries, and personal infernos, looks fine.



Big First Quarter. If anyone asks you regarding who was the tone setter for this big Mixers win, he might just laugh hard if you happen to say Rafi Reavis' name. But truth hurts, and is funny at the same time. But nothing could take away the truth from that truth, and the truth is Rafi Reavis scored the first 8 points for San Mig Coffee and closed the opening quarter with 12. Of course, he went back to being Rafi and finished the game with 15 points, a couple of big rebounds, three nice fall downs, one thick headband, and two sweaty arm sleeves. 



Golden Mohawk. It's not official, but I think JayJay Helterbrand tried to pay homage to Asi Taulava in game 7. I don't know why, and I don't even know if he actually did, but those are cool threads right there. 



The Apostle. Peter June Simon descipled James Yap's performance with 28 points of his own. The vets have stepped it up really high tonight. Oh well, as they should.



Quote. "Really stunning performance by us. Great shooting! Wow! I didn't do anything, these guys did it all." - coach Tim Cone. Even coach Tim couldn't believe how his team shot lights tonight.



Bits.

-Ginebra has set two PBA game attendance records. One was tonight. They lost both games. It's funny.

-24,883 gate attendance is a pretty huge number. Too bad, San Mig dropped the bombs, so there are lots of casualties. Puns.

-Mark Caguioa should have played that way from the beginning... of the season!

-You know what's higher than San Mig's morale right now? Joe Devance's flat top.

-Have you seen Justin Melton's pregame locker room dance? I won't attempt if I were you.

-I still believe Rafi Reavis was best player tonight.




Oh well, this ends the semifinals chapter of the PBA Scenes. But don't panic, a lot more is coming! The Finals chapter starts on Friday! The PBA All Filipino Cup Finals starts on Friday! That should be an awesome Friday the 14th! Now go tell your dateless friends to watch!


Lunes, Pebrero 10, 2014

PBA Scenes: Barangay Ginebra San Miguel vs San Mig Super Coffee Mixers Game 6

Best of the Night. Aside from the intensity of tonight's game itself, we are all in for a treat in 48 hours.  8pm on Wednesday, we are going to have a Manila Clasico that would corral everything that matter, hang them on the line, and blast a game for everything that these two teams have been working for. It is not here yet, but my best of the night is the fact that San Mig Coffee and Ginebra will all be pitted once more for an all important Game 7. Now you can go tell your friends.  


(c) Nuki Sabio/PBA



Worst of the Night. After a game like that? Duh, there's none!



Outworked Win. For about 45 minutes, San Mig Coffee outplayed, outrebounded, and outhustled Ginebra. The number of turnovers and rebounds tell the story of those 45 minutes, but, unfortunately for the Mixers, not the dying seconds. Ginebra beat San Mig Coffee, 94-91, and as I have said, we're all in for a 7th game in this Manila Clasico semifinals.   




Great Amount of Spark. I am well aware that Greg Slaughter had a huge night tonight. But I have to disagree that the giant rookie carried Ginebra solely to the win. The past few games, coach Ato Agustin seemed to have fallen inloved with utilizing Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar to help them win games. But that combination didn't worked that much in the postseason. So earlier, Mark Caguioa decided to take matters to his own hands and reclaim his reign of the country's most popular team. The Spark scored 21 points, most of which helped them climb back from being down 14 at some point in the first half. Greg Slaughter strode the finishing kick, but Caguioa, as far as this game is concerned, manned their resurrection.



Bounce. LA Tenorio is one bouncy point guard, so he just bounced back. 



Words From Worski. Ginebra legend and PBA all-time great Robert Jaworski was in the sidelines watching the game, just because, you know, he's Robert Jaworski. And it was also for that same reason that he crashed into Ginebra's locker room to deliver words for the team endangered of being eliminated. I'm pretty sure it was nothing compared to Ric Flair's flare at the 49ers locker room, but somehow, Jaworski's presence may have factored the release of Ginebra's "Never Say Die" hormones.



Sakuragi. Marc Pingris have done it again. They lost though, but he managed to pull out his inner and beastly Marc Pingris in the second half. Ping dropped majority of his 20 points from one step teardrops from the paint, which obviously brought trouble to Slaughter's reputation on the defensive end. By the way, those 20 points I'm talking about, they're Marc  Pingris' season high.



Quote. "Game 7, sa amin yan." -- Marc Pingris. These ain't bold words at all. These are determined words.



Bits.

-Rafi Reavis scored more than Justin Melton, Joe Devance, Jayjay Helterbrand, Chris Ellis, and JR Reyes. He's still kickin' it out, with a sick headband.

-James Yap equalled Reavis' production, so Rafi really did a great job out there.

-Speaking of James Yap, he had a really good and long, long, long look at the basket on that final play. Well at least no inner Arwind got involved.

-"No comment"- James Yap's comment on that crucial foul called on him that put Caguioa on the line.

-Mark Caguioa converted those two lead-taking freethrows.

-Slaughter was wearing LeBron XI Gamma Blues earlier. He might have stole it from that huge San Mig guy with the no.5 jersey.





Game 7 Wednesday, 8pm. We all know what to do.

    


Sabado, Pebrero 8, 2014

PBA Scenes: Barangay Ginebra San Miguel vs San Mig Super Coffee Mixers Semifinals Game 5

Best of the Night. It's unbelievable how James "Washed Up" Yap has been so powerful in the past two games. He topped his team in scoring in their game 4 loss, then lifted San Mig Coffee over the Barangay earlier, 79-76, with a crunchtime three. It was a little bit premature, considering that Yap is just having a 7-point afternoon prior to unleashing his rainbow dagger, but it went all the way through, so all negatives had been eliminated. The Super Coffee Mixers lead their series 3 games to 2, and James Yap, with 10 points and an all important finishing kick, is my best of the night.


(c) Nuki Sabio/PBA



Worst of the Night. Sometimes when teams are down by three with about 7 seconds remaining, their best guys call on every saint, and summon all kinds of miraculous spirits they know to help them salvage a game. It was odd, but LA Tenorio decided to forget every saint, and summon his inner Arwind Santos by going all the way to the basket despite being down 3 in the dying seconds. I personally don't know what Tenorio's mindset was, but it was that mental lapse that cost them the game, and eventually putting Ginebra in a twice to beat disadvantage.



Air Force. For the past two games, the best scorers are ending up with the losing team. Chris Ellis had 20 points, including a game-tying and a tie-breaking shots down the stretch. He was in the zone in the fourth quarter, and was all swaggy in the whole game. They lost though, so all positives had been eliminated.



Triangle Defense. I just need to mention this because it's amazing and it's tough to break. San Mig Coffee's defense has been superb in the postseason. How superb? Well, they are about to eliminate the conference's top seeded team.



Quote. "You get caught up in the moment. I wasn't also sure if we're up by two or three. LA's one of the smartest players I've been around with." -- coach Tim Cone. In the sport of basketball, losing focus by being caught up in the moment is a fact. And if it was an all-time great basketball coach who mentioned your name among the smartest players in the league, any end game lapse can be excused once in a while. 



Bits.

-Tenorio is one bouncy point guard, so I think he'll bounce back in the next 2 games.

-That's right, this series will go all the way. I'm hoping I was right.

-Ginebra's big men are hurt. Rumors, so chill.

-Rafi Reavis scored the first 2 points of the game, that alone signaled how strange the game would go.

-It's pretty amazing how the TV screen would shake everytime a team scores. Thrilling.

-Money Ball is still annoying as hell. Include the fact that I can not download that app.



Oh well, Game 6 is Monday.


For now, let's flap some birds. LOL.

Biyernes, Pebrero 7, 2014

PBA Scenes: Rain or Shine Elasto Painters are Championship-Bound.

Best of the Night. Rain or Shine advance to the All Filipino Cup Finals. Duh.

Worst of the Night. Petron Blazeless Boosters were sent fishing. Another duh.

Odd. As I said, the Elasto Painters calvarized the Boosters, and are now sitting above a line in the Finals bracket. They did that without coach Yeng Guiao, who's been suspended for extending the banned metacarpal at Arwind Santos in a previous game.

Bits.

-The last game of Petron bearing the Petron name and jerseys was absolutely frustrating. They're done for this conference. That's a third duh.

-I wasn't able to watch the game, so basically, your thoughts are all better than mine with regard to this humble blog entry. Literally DOWN TO EARTH.



Ginebra and San Mig Coffee's revolutions resume tomorrow at 3:30 pmin their very own Semifinals Game 5.

Miyerkules, Pebrero 5, 2014

PBA Scenes: Barangay Ginebra San Miguel vs San Mig Coffee Mixers Semifinals Game 4

Best of the Night. Mac Baracael. There are nights when players are in the zone. Tonight is Baracael's in-the-zone night. Like an unleashed fireball, he shot the lights out with 20 points, with 12 fierce points coming from way down town. With this, Ginebra built a pretty solid 16 point lead heading into the fourth quarter, and snatching the win at end game, 85-82. That's pretty solid and really, really tough.





Worst of the Night. As a basketball fan, I give worst of the night to this San Mig Coffee loss. Down 16 heading into the payoff period, the Mixers squeezed every ounce of energy to stay sticky with their pressure defense. They forced stops and turnovers to chop down BGSM's lead, and snatching the driver seat, 72-70, halfway through the fourth. You see, that's a very tough thing to accomplish and the only reward acceptable is to win. That should have been more meaningful, since SMC should have been up 3-1. If they only held on a little more.



Big Game in a Big Loss. You wouldn't believe this, but James Yap actually played well tonight. Enduring the pain in his elbow, and with his ugly and shabby shooting sleeve, Big Game James dropped in 20 points for the Mixers, and he almost hit the game-tying three in the end. The rim was a little slippery for that beautiful leather though, so it slipped and missed, basically. But still, hats off for Yap whose last 20-point game was... well chill, I don't remember as well.



By the way. Chris Ellis, who is still the better compression shirted Chris, and Rafi Reavis, who donned those black double sleeves, are best of the night looks-wise.



Quote. "The breaks went on our side, that's why we won the game." - coach Ato Agustin. This reminded me of coach Pido Jarencio's "uminom ng malamig na San Miguel Beer" moment in the UAAP. It's worth a laugh.



Bits.

-Mark Barroca was contained.

-Justin Melton too.

-And PJ Simon , too!

-All in all, a pretty bad night for the little ones of San Mig Coffee.

-Is Japeth Aguilar still drunk or something? 7 points. Almost 10 shots. Disaster. Well, at least they've won.

-Series is tied, 2-2.



Huge shoutout to my bro, Alvin John "Vanes" Alvarez, who's celebrating his 22nd birthday today! Thanks for the magnificent food brad!




Martes, Pebrero 4, 2014

NO! NO! Derrick Williams Denies Derrick Williams.

It took Derrick Williams one season to practice passing to his teammates. Right after he was traded to the Sacramento Kings, Williams have mastered that craft.

Now that he's done with that level, he decides to lift it up a little bit and practice something that only players of great skill can perfect, a pass to himself. Not to mention, through the backboard.

Last night was the perfect opportunity, as his Sacramento Kings blew out the visiting Chicago Bulls. The result was far from perfect.

(c) SBNation

It was a beautiful, wide open lane, Kings up by at least 30 --that's right, the Bulls were that bad last night--, and Derrick Williams got a purpose. All of these are the perfect ingredient to pull out what Williams wanted to accomplish. It was a cool and swift pass off the backboard, nice elevation, and of course, a hillarious fall out.

Good thing it was a blow out and the Kings won, so this one falls beneath Javale McGee- antics in terms of boneheadedness.

See you on Shaqtin'-A-Fool, Derrick "NoNoNoNo" Williams.

 

Lunes, Pebrero 3, 2014

PBA Scenes: Petron Blaze Boosters vs Rain or Shine Elasto Painters Semifinals Game 4

Best of the Night. Everytime the Elasto Painters win a ballgame, it's gonna be hard picking up who or what was the best of the night simply because they are playing spread up basketball. Because of that, and because no one really outshined the others in this game, I'm giving best of the night honors to the whole roster, especially to coach Caloy "Cool Head" Garcia... just because they won, 88-83, and are a shoe away from the Philippine Cup finals. That must be sweet for Jeric Teng and Raymond Almazan. Obvious reasons, duh.



(C) Nuki Sabio/PBA



Worst of the Night. As I said last night, every ejection is worst of the night. So expect Yeng Guiao in here. The bald, hot headed Pampanga politician and proball coach got ejected in the third quarter for two technicals. To make matters worse than worst, this is his second consecutive ejection. But of course, thanks to his assistant coach Caloy, his boys won the game. So everything's just okay tonight. 


Ankle Breaker. This is about Paul Lee. Nah, that's not the ankle breaker that you're thinking. The Lethal Weapon went down in the second quarter, buckled his ankles, and was out for the game. We are yet to see his status by tomorrow. Regardless, we all hope he is fine. At least now, he's already aware of what might happen if you try to stop a streaking Chris Ross laying a basketball up.  


Speaking of Chris Ross. The guy is still wearing that weird, oversized compression shirt! So he's a candidate for worst of the night too. Good thing he lost that match to coach Yeng.


Kraken Watch. June Mar Fajardo was his beastly self, scoring 29 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. He was the sole fuel for the Blaze Boosters in the game. That is why Rain or Shine's defense collapsed at him most of the time, and I really don't know why coach Gee Abanilla wouldn't change his attacks. Anyway, if there's something positive about Petron tonight, it's the Kraken. The fist fight against Rain or Shine bigs didn't happen yet though. Again, maybe next game.


Araniac. Ryan Arana was the best player of the game with 12 points and key assists throughout. So I think he deserves a highlight on this one. Cool pink shoes though, Ryan! And socks too, by the way.


Quote. "I take my hat off to coach Caloy for not giving up where I gave up." - coach Yeng Guiao. This is actually sweet, and coach Yeng surely owes coach Caloy a sack of tocino.


Bits.

-Again, the worst Chris was Chris Tiu. 0 points, 'nuff said.

-Beau Belga had 4 difficult-to-stomach fouls in 19 minutes! Being Belga, you'd probably think he'll foul out, and you would surely be wrong. Beau finished the game with 3 points and JUST those 4 fouls. Kindda cool.

-Before going down in the 2nd quarter, Paul Lee already had 7 points. Imagine if he finished the game.

-I'm not sure, but are these players exchanging shoes?!

-And I'll just have to say that the halftime game "Dribol of the Pipol" is pure bopol.



HUGE shoutout to Doug Baldwin and the rest of the Seahawks for slaughtering the defenseless Denver Broncos earlier at Super Bowl XLVIII.

No games tomorrow. Action resumes on Wednesday, February 5, 2013, where the San Mig Coffee Mixers look to start piling dirt at Barangay Ginebra, and take their own 3-1 series edge. Ginebra will retaliate, of course.

Linggo, Pebrero 2, 2014

PBA Scenes: Barangay Ginebra San Miguel vs San Mig Super Coffee Mixers Semifinals Game 3


Best of the Night. The little ones for San Mig Coffee. Mark Barroca stayed in form and led his San Mig Coffee Mixers to a 97-89 win over Manila Clasico rival Barangay Ginebra. The Coffee Prince dropped 25 points, grabbed 8 boards, and dished 5 dimes for his team, who now took a 2-1 series edge over their sister team. But two little ones are better than one little one, so Justin Melton basically joined the fray. That was a cool way to bounce back after Game 2's stoppage.




Worst of the Night. Mac Baracael's ejection. This is plain boneheaded. This is the night's worst because he obviously could have helped Ginebra on both sides of the floor. Every player has a crucial role in the playoffs, so until further notice, every ejection will be worst of the night.  


Sakuragi. The opening tip activated the Gilas persona of San Mig Coffee's ace big man Marc Pingris. He dominated the opening minutes scoring 6 of their first 8 points. Pingris' explosion dictated the flow, giving Tim Cone's boys a 20-6 run early. It ended quite early though, but Pingris wasn't done. His defensive presence was everywhere. He's tough. He started guarding LA Tenorio, went over to Mark Caguioa, then to Japeth Aguilar, then ended up guarding Greg Slaughter. Every time SMC needs to stop a guy, Ping was the answer. And he did quite an amazing job. He always does. Next.


Gregzilla. Greg Slaughter stepped it up tonight. The top rookie selection carried Ginebra through the first half, notching 19 points and 9 rebounds. Of course, like the most cliche statement in Philippine basketball, Ginebra never said die, and actually took a one point lead through the half. Slaughter finished with 29 points. Just equally massive as his frame.


Accessory Watch. They're not necessary actually, but they are facts we see in every basketball game. Tonight was no different. First of, I want to commend Chris Ellis for being such a swagger. As I said in a tweet, Ellis is the unofficial Jordan brand player of the PBA. With the remaining teams in the playoffs, two Chrises sport a compression shooting shirt, and we saw the better compression shirt tonight. Chris Ross' is plain dreadful that we all wait for the day he takes them off, so I tip a headband to Chris Ellis. -- Next--. I don't need to say anything more, Rafi Reavis' double arm sleeves were dope. If only it helped him with his shooting, it would have been better. But looks-wise, it's okay. Speaking of sleeves, James Yap's sure helped his stroke after he scored 13 points. The only thing bad is, it doesn't look good, and fresh.


Quote. "We're still not comfortable being 2-1. We need to be an A+ team to beat this team." -coach Tim Cone.



Bits.

-San Mig Coffee started the game without a real point guard. It actually worked.

-Is Japeth Aguilar hurt or something? He's playing outside himself.

-A lot of rookies are playing crucial roles in this series. Great future for the league.

-The series still catches more money compared to the other one.

-Joe Devance's hair is, well, on top of everybody.

-We must expect a lot more fire in the days to come.




Game tomorrow features the 4th game of the Petron Blaze Boosters and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters semifinals series.


Sabado, Pebrero 1, 2014

PBA Scenes: Petron Blaze Boosters vs Rain or Shine Elasto Painters Semifinals Game 3

Best of the Night. Arwind Santos scored 22 points, grabbed 18 boards, and shot perfect from the line, making sure there's no 2nd half collapse this afternoon. Good way for the reigning MVP to bounce back after a rollercoaster conference. Santos' efforts helped his team take one win from their best of 7 series against the sneaky Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, who still have a 2-1 series edge. Aside from these, Arwind did a little bit more.


(c) Nuki Sabio/PBA


Worst of the Night. Yeng Guiao's bald, hot head. Speaking of Arwind Santos doing a little bit more, Petron's star got into the opposing coach's nerves. Standing by the sideline late in the third having a technical foul from the previous quarters, coach Yeng Guiao did a silly choice taunting Santos. That altercation brought him his second technical which basically resulted into an early meeting with the locker room. Knowing Guiao's gut and system, he could have done something in the fourth for them to chop and overtake. The problem was he wasn't even present in their huddles anymore.


Blowout. 106-73. The Blaze Boosters, by the way, won by 33 points. They did, and they just need to.


Compression Shirt Watch. Chris Ross is still wearing that weird, white, oversized compression shirt, but he dropped 8 magnificent points and played solid leadership, so everything's just fine.


Quotation. "This win is a big lift for us. Coming into Game Four, we’ll have more confidence, but we have to manage our emotions. We don’t want to turn it into something outrageous." - Petron headcoach Gee Abanilla.


Bits.

-Chris Lutz actually contributed good numbers this afternoon, that's a first in this series.


-Alex Cabagnot too.


-The long awaited JuneMar Fajardo vs Rain or Shine big, bully boys fist fight didn't happen yet,

next game maybe.


-Chris Tiu is the worst Chris in Game 3. He had 7 points.


-So it's not a bad night for the Chrises, except for Ross' compression shirt.







Game 4 is on Monday, 8pm.
Tomorrow's game features Barangay Ginebra taking on San Mig Coffee in their own semifinals Game 3.