Alaska needs Mr. M and Star Magic

This post is originally published by yours truly in the blog site The Hotdog Stand, where I am one of the contributors.


 In yesterday's PBA game, we saw how the recent blockbuster trade benefited Air21 in their campaign this Commissioner's Cup. Dondon Hontiveros, Danny Seigle, Dorian Peña, and Paul Artadi have masterfully led the Express to the last playoff spot, effectively eliminating B-MEG from playoff contention. The Express showed great heart and effort to get the win.

And at the same time, I was dumbfounded by how GREAT, yeah, how great Alaska Aces screwed up the game. It can't get any worse than what they showed in the last minute of the ball game.

It's a bad acting job for a team that is raring to get back at B-MEG, which came back from a 1-3 deficit in the '05-'06 Philippine Cup semifinals and eventually won the title, and swept them in the '09-'10 Philippine Cup Finals.


First of all, I can't find any good explanation for how Tim Cone and the Aces wanted to treat the game as a "playoff match" already (as what the courtside reporter mentioned last night). In the third quarter, Tim Cone used Paolo Bugia, Bonbon Custodio, and Brandon Cablay in the crucial stretch where Air21 built it's double-digit margin.

But hey! They found a way to come back into the ball game. Thanks to LD's thunderous jams, Alaska got as within three points. And with a minute left in the ball game, LD Williams may have finally realized what his teammates are aiming to do, after all. And he joined the partey!

Half a minute left in the ball game, the Express leading by three points, LD Williams went for an ill-advised three. Tenorio got the ball and went back to the three point line and threw the ball anywhere near the rim. Then, Borboran got the offensive rebound and went for another trey. Brick.

The Express got the ball and the rest is history.

But wait, there's more! Just when everybody thought that Alaska's show has ended already, there's still another class act waiting for all of the PBA fans. With the Express leading by five points, the Aces were taking time inbounding the ball, and when they did, Mr. Big Shot LA Tenorio SLIPPED awkwardly and lost the ball. With a frown in his face, it signified how sad he was to lose the game. And happy that they won't be facing B-MEG anywhere in the playoffs.


Obviously, it's a bad day at the office for the Alaska Aces. They played a really bad acting job.

As Alaska flops, B-MEG must re-group to fix themselves

This post is originally published by yours truly in the blog site The Hotdog Stand, where I am one of the contributors.


As the Commissioner's Cup ended unexpectedly for the B-MEG Derby Ace Llamados, it's time for them to re-group and lick their wounds from a fierce battle to prepare for the season-ending Governor's Cup.

B-MEG has no one to blame, not Air21, not Rain or Shine, and not even Alaska, but themselves.

The Llamados were facing the battle all-season long with most of their key players nursing their injuries. Raymundo started the season out of the country for his rehab, while Reavis has yet to play this season with his foot injury. Just as Kerby was about to return, Rico Maierhofer suffered a season-ending ACL injury earlier this conference.

To put more insult to the pain, Don Allado and Jondan Salvador, B-MEG's key back-up  big men, were injured in the latter part of the eliminations. And as if the basketball gods have cursed B-MEG, James Yap suffered a calf injury that sidelined him in B-MEG's last three crucial games.

If I'm to be asked, injuries has been the root cause of B-MEG's struggles this season. With key players getting in and out of the injury list, chemistry has been a big problem for the Llamados. A key testament to that is their dismal assist-to-turnover ratio this conference. B-MEG ranks last in the assist department while is one of the worst in taking care of the ball.

Poor import scouting has also hurt B-MEG's chances this conference. Sub-par imports has taken a toll on the team's campaign. In connection to the earlier problem, repeated import changing has also caused B-MEG's team chemistry to struggle.

They must take this long break to regroup themselves and prepare for the next conference. Our injured players will have enough time to heal their injuries, especially for James Yap. Rafi Reavis' expected return come June will definitely boost our team's post defense next season. Sadly, Maierhofer will not return until the next season.

This is also the time for our team to scout for the import to fit the team. As much as possible, bring in the import candidates here in the country to practice with the team. Then, the team must decide for their official import as the next conference starts.

It will be a short and busy conference break for the Llamados. And as far as they're concerned, there's no way but to go up for the struggling Llamados 

Three's a charm for B-MEG?

Courtney Beasley

With their struggling performance in the on-going Commissioner's Cup, B-MEG Derby Ace Llamados decided to change their inconsistent import Shamari Spears with Courtney Beasley. This will be B-MEG's 3rd import this conference, after they started with Robert Brown.

Apparently, Spears asked to be released because he misses his family so much. His stint in the PBA with B-MEG is his first overseas work as a pro baller.

The need for a change  was long due for the Llamados, who found Spears to be consistently inconsistent with his performance. He is only averaging 17 points and a dismal 7 rebounds per game. Spears, though, managed to put up a stellar performance against Smart-Gilas, corralling 26 points and 8 rebounds; although he got majority of those against the 6"11 Slaughter who is still raw and needs further development on his game.

B_MEG's new import will bring in a different brand of game compared to Spears. With injuries to Jonas Vllanueva and James Yap, the Llamados gone for an off-guard who can play the perimeter. Beasley wil definitely boost the perimeter offense of the team, inasmuch as his decent low-post game will be a big plus for the team.

Part of the reason for letting go of Spears are the impressive showing of Kerby Raymundo and Marc Pingris as of late. In their last game against Smart-Gilas, both players recorded double-doubles. Raymundo scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while Pingris recorded an 18-19 point-rebound output.


We'll see whether he'll give the team the much-needed lift they've been searching for tomorrow in his debut game against San Miguel..

Exeriencing Deron Williams in New Jersey

The Nets made a trade deal that shocked the whole NBA world last February 23, when theyacquired NBA All-Star point guard Deron Williams from the Jazz for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, and two first round draft picks. With this move, the NEts now has a bona fide star that can help them build a team that will contend by 2013, when they move to Brooklyn's Barclay's Center.

However, several NBA insiders and analysts have projected Williams to leave the Nets even before they move to Brooklyn. Deron Williams has the option to opt out on the final year of his contract at the end of the 2011-2012 season. And most likely, if the Nets can't give Williams the pieces he need to contend in the playoffs, he may go away and leave the Nets with nothing.

Thus, the Nets' front office, led by general manager Billy King and the Nets' charismatic Russian  owner Mikhail Prokhorov, must build a playoff team in time for the next season to entice Williams in signing an extension. They will have Williams playing 102 games as a Net. And before the next season ends, they must have made Deron feel comfortable of the team.

But so far, everything is fine for the Nets. And with Williams' desire to help his new team improve, the morale of the newly-refurbished Nets team has been at its all-time high this season. After losing three games against Spurs, Rockets, and a close one versus the Suns, the Nets have played with so much intensity and heart in their next two games. The Nets swept the Raptors in the two-game bonanza of NBA to European fans in London. They won the first game, 116-103, and the second game via a heart-pumping triple overtime win, 137-136.

Together with Williams' arrival is the development of Lopez' game. In their last two wins, Lopez averaged more than 25 points per game. He also grabbed 14 rebounds in their last game, a rarity for a weak rebounding season for Lopez. The highlight, though, is his career-high eight blocks. Morrow and Vujacic, the Nets' two shooters, has also showed improvement in their production with Williams around.

In fact, the Nets, after the All-Star break, has led the league in assists with more than 26 assists per game. Obviously, this stat is led by Williams' great passing game that he brought to the Nets. Deron hasn't had an assists lower than 11 in his first five games as a Nets. His biggest assist output was an 18-assist performance in a losing effort against the Rockets.

All of this can be attributed to DWill's presence to this young team. His energy on the floor, highlighted by his pin-point passing ,leadership, and the will to win has inspired the whole team to play better.

And this is how the Nets experience Deron Williams.

J. Yap-Simon tandem - too much for their own good?

B-MEG's deadly duo - Peter June Simon and james Yap

Last conference, we saw the emergence of one of PBA's deadliest 1-2 punch in James Yap and Peter June Simon. Rookie coach Jorge Gallent was thinking of a strategy that would get them out of an early 0-2 record last conference. Then, he thought of putting the struggling Simon, by then, together on the floor with James Yap. And like a bread and butter, the two scoring machines blended perfectly,

The tandem led a severely-depleted B-MEG to a respectable 4th place finish last Philippine Cup.

This conference, once again, B-MEG started the Commissioner's Cup with a 0-2 record. This time, having the J. Yap-Simon tandem as their main offensive ploy.

Has the combo cooled off already? Or its just that other teams figured out how to disrupt these two?

B-MEG's offense, with this duo carrying a lot of the team's scoring load, has taken a toll on the ball rotation of the team. Low assist outputs of the team is hurting the team's offensive capabilities. Too much isolation plays for these two has led to too much turnovers due to predictability of the team's offense.

And more importantly, James' production and effectiveness on the court has been reduced due to Simon's talent. He's almost, if not the same, as skilled as James Yap that these two players have to give the ball up to the one who is hot. And right now, Simon is scoring slightly better than James.

That's why, coach JG thought of reversing his game plan back to normal. Putting the "Super Sub" back to his throne, and starting James Yap in their game earlier against Air21. And it seemed like the ploy went perfectly, as they drubbed the Express to the tune of 119-90. James Yap scored 22 points while PJ Simon contributed 19 in a well-balanced game that the Llamados showed.

Even with this scintillating performance, don't expect that we saw the last from this deadly duo already.

PBA on Studio 23

At the start of the PBA Commissioner's Cup, the games were already shown in Studio 23 as part of the agreement Solar TV has come up with Studio 23 in terms of their continuing coverage of the PBA. And I feel that by the next season, ABS-CBN will already get hold of the exclusive coverage of the PBA.

Will it be a better move for the PBA or not?

ABS-CBN is known for their great advertising techniques on sports events. Just by looking on the progress of popularity of the the UAAP had when they started their partnership with ABS-CBN in 2000. Moreover, boxing matches were also a great hit to boxing fans due to ABS-CBN's coverage of big boxing matches - except for Manny Pacquiao's fights.

Although, I am not impressed with their coverage on basketball games, on the aspect of graphics. And this aspect is where Solar TV's production team is good at. If only these people can transfer to ABS-CBN together with the exclusive covering rights of the PBA. They are very good, though, on the production side of things.

The verdict is still out on who will be the next coveror ofthe PBA next season. But if I am the one to be asked, Studio 23 fits the billing very well.

Saying hello to a painful goodbye

We're nearing the tail end of this school year, and for me, it ain't an ordinary summer break. Being a graduating, fourth year high school student, it will be hard to say good bye to the on-going school year. Maybe, it's time to say hello to a painful goodbye.

They were the best. And nothing could have made my high school years much happier than what they did. The chit-chat talks, the small pranks, the whispered "tsismis", and other what-knots. These things gave me an extraordinary experience throughout my HS years.

I don't wanna be an emo-istic punk crying and ranting about all the things that I will miss by a month from now. I just want it short and clear. I will definitely miss all my classmates as our high school days are coming to an end. But, that's the way it must be. Saying goodbye to something will merit a new beginning. A new and challenging beginning.


Yes, I will miss Trizia Irene Perez.

:)