TNT Draws First Blood

Defending champions Talk N Text Tropang Texters had a seemingly easy Game 1 victory over upset-minded Powerade Tigers, 116-100. Point guard Jason Castro led the star-studded TNT with an all-around performance of 23 points along with 6 boards and 8 dimes. Hard working forward Sean Anthony carried the scoring duties with 23 points for the Powerade side, which missed the services of starting point guard Jayvee Casio due to injury.

Talk N Text showed why they are the defending champs early in the game. They posted double digit advantage and never looked back as early as the first quarter. With a clear lineup advantage, TNT had 6 players in double figure scoring. Jason Castro was almost unstoppable driving to the basket, creating his own shot or kicking to an open teammate. Coach Chot Reyes made a good job shuffling his talented players with no Texter logged more than 33 mins.

King Tiger Gary David struggled throughout the game and made only 5 of 15 from the field and zero 3pt made. He scored 19 points, his lowest so far in the 2011-12 Philippine Cup Playoffs. The Tigers offense was visibly terrible, greatly missing the orchestration of Casio. Rookie Marcio Lassiter also contributed 19 in a losing effort. Powerade actually shot well on the field with 42.3% but it was their defense that made the difference, allowing TNT 51.8% field goal shooting.

Scores:

TALK ‘N TEXT 116 – Castro, 23, Reyes 15, Dillinger 15, Fonacier 14, De Ocampo 14, Peek 13, Alapag 9, Aguilar 6, Carey 4, Williams 3, Gamalinda 0, Raymundo 0.

POWERADE 100 – Anthony 23, David 19, Lassiter 19, Lingganay 13, Kramer 12, Cruz 4, Antonio 3, Vanlandingham 3, Adducul 2, Crisano 2, Allera 0.

Quarterscores: 38-21, 68-52,96-81, 116-100

2011-12 PBA Philippine Cup Finals Preview

After two fierce Game 7's, the dust has settled and the smoke has cleared. Two deserving teams left, but only one championship. Who will be crown king of Philippine Basketball? Let's take a closer look.

On the way to the Finals

A clear underdog, the Powerade Tigers made believers from doubters in their incredible playoff run. After completing an epic upset against top-seed B-Meg in the quarters, the Tigers roared their way against a highly physical, and sometimes dirty, Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters. Before Game 7 of their semifinals, E-Painters' coach Yeng Guiao commented on the Tigers being a "3-man team", referring to the Tigers' Big Three of Gary David, Marcio Lassiter, and Jayvee Casio. The Coca-Cola franchise responded with a total team effort, with 6 players in double digit scoring, to eliminate the E-Painters and booked the first Finals seat. Led by 2-time scoring champ Gary David, the Tigers showed they are tough to beat when everybody is involved offensively.

The other Finals protagonist is no newcomer to the PBA's biggest stage. The Talk N' Text Tropang Texters has been in all three Finals last season, and just one win short from a historic PBA Grandslam. The Texters has fought tooth-and-nail in the most competitive PBA Semis ever, against the team that spoiled their almost perfect season last year, the Petron Blaze Boosters. Jayson Castro, arguably the league's best point guard (although teammate Jimmy Alapag and Booster's Alex Cabagnot have something to say about that), carried a loaded but limping defending champions on a 92-91 decision. Castro has scored 21, helping the TNT erase the Petron's 3-1 series lead.

The Finals Push

But to compete against the defending champs and highly favored TNT, the Tigers must be able to make sure everybody has to contribute. Floor generals Casio and Celino Cruz must look for their open teammates to get them involved. Marcio Lassiter must be consistent with his scoring day in and day out. The front court duo of Doug Kramer and Sean Anthony must also provide muscle inside the paint on both ends of the court to against the more superior bigs of TNT. Of course, Gary David. After averaging close to 30 points in the Semis, David must be able to play decoy and share the ball as he is expected to be a marked man in just his second Finals appearance.

For TNT, their main concern is to stay away from injuries. On paper, the have a clear edge on talent and depth, but these advantages will not equate into wins if their top players won't be able to play 100%. Coach Chot needs to distribute playing minutes in his players so as to avoid possible unnecessary injuries. Also, TNT has a tendency to play more one-on-one as Petron out assisted them in their Semis encounter. Sharing the ball could make basketball easier for TNT with reigning MVP Alapag and Castro directing their offense. With former MVP Kelly Williams still playing hurt, the highly criticized Japeth Aguilar must step up big time and show why he was chosen No. 1 during the 2009 PBA draft.

I believe that this year's PBA Philippine Cup finals will be nothing short of a war. The two teams will try to write history, one to become the first 8th-seed champion and the other the first to defend and all-Filipino since the 80's. Game 1 kicks off later 6:45PM at Digos City in Davao Sur.

photo courtesy of InterAktv

Quick Update

It's been a while since my last blog post. And I think many events were undocumented for the past few months. Haha. Well, I'm not really that into writing.

Where should I begin? Oh, hello Cebu! I'm already on my third week here in the Queen City of the South. This place will be, uhm, my "home" for the next three months. Hopefully I can have maximize my stay here, like go to places, meet new friends, and of course finish what I started back home.

And by the way, for those who are asking if i want to become a priest (as if they're reading my posts. haha), only my Lord knows what my future is. :) I can only see at most five seconds into my future, not five years or more.

Kevin Durant on a Roll!

Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder continues his hot scoring streak to 28 games with at least 25 points. His last game against Minnesota Timberwolves, the 2008 NBA Rookie of the Year scored 32 points on 50% shooting. Durant, a top TEAM USA prospect, is currently second in scoring per game with 29.8 ppg, trailing only to reigning NBA MVP LeBron James with 29.9 ppg. The Thunder extends their winning streak to 9, improving their record to 33 wins with 21 losses, good for 5th in the competitive Western Conference.

T-Mac Now Back In Scoring Form

Tracy McGrady is a 2-time NBA scoring champion in 2003 and 2004 when he averaged 32.1 and 28.0 points per game respectively. His career has gone downhill due to various injuries he had the next couple of seasons. Just recently, he is now playing for the New York Knicks via a 3-team trade between Houston, Sacramento and New York. In his debut as a Knick against Oklahoma City Thunder, he registered his first 25-point game since January of 2009 when he scored 26 against the same team.

His complete stats in his debut game as a Knick:

26 pts, 4 rebs, 5 ast, 1 stl

Too bad, Kevin Durant has had a moster game with 36 points, spoiling T-Mac's debut. Thunder win 121-118 OT.

My thoughts on a Pacquiao-Valero Showdown

Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38KO), the reigning WBO Welterweight (147 lbs) and pound-for-pound boxing king, is in the middle of his training for The Event at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles under 3-time coach of the year Freddie Roach. His upcoming challenger is the hero from Ghana, now based in New York, Joshua "The Grandmaster" Clottey. Since the fall of the megafight between Pacquiao and former pound-for-pound champ Floyd "Money" Mayweather, Jr. (40-0, 25KO), there are only a few more fighters left that can be considered a good match for Pacquiao. However, one fighter begs to disagree. He is the underrated knockout artist from Venezuela, Edwin "Dinamita" Valero.

Valero (27-0, 27KO), the former WBC Lightweight king (135 lbs), whose last victim was then WBC Interim champAntonio DeMarco (9th round TKO title defense), is claiming he can give Pacquiao a one hell of a fight. Not many know about Valero is since he is not fighting on US grounds because of visa problems. His last fight against DeMarco has been in Mexico.

But can he really beat Pacquiao as what he is saying? I don't quite agree. Basing on his fight with DeMarco, Valero has dynamite punching power, good speed and a big heart. His drawback? DEFENSE. He punches hard but at the same time he leaves himself wide open for counterpunches. Although Pacquiao is not a counterpuncher, he can unload dynamite punches in different angles you don't expect in an exchange. If Valero plans to fight fire with fire against Pacquiao, he doesn't stand a chance. Pacquiao is a genius in offense, and very poor defense will just let Pacquiao eat him alive, just like what happened to Ricky Hatton. Even former WBO Welterweight champ Miguel Cotto can testify Pacquiao's firepower.

I think Valero needs to further prove himself first against better fighters. His plan on moving to light welterweight (140 lbs) seems to be a good idea. He can fight a big time fighter in that division, and if he wins impressively, then he might just arrange a date with the King.

Which Way to Go? PERCDC, RF, EXCEL

This Novemeber, I will be taking my licensure examination for Electronics Engineer, of course provided I will graduate this March (fingers crossed!). It may months away from now but I need to get myself the best preparation I can have. My review classes will start this May and I still have a hard time choosing the right review center. PERCDC, RF, and EXCEL have already made their claims of being the best, it just adds to my confusion.

On PERCDC...

This is the first review center that came to our school. As early as December of last year (2009), they have presented their center and I admit that they're pretty good. To add to their good advertising talk, they also said PERCDC will open a branch in Cagayan de Oro City (that's where I live). Wow, that's an interesting development. This means that I do not need to go somewhere far like Cebu or Manila to have my review. Also, they have this early bird promo until February 2010. Since most of us were very convinced at that time, I immediately grabbed the promo, paid the downpayment and reserved a spot here in Cagayan.

On RF...

A few weeks later, another review center came. This time it's REVIEW FOCUS or simply RF, a new review center with a new branch in Cebu. We thought they will just be wasting their time since most of us, if not all, had reserved in PERCDC. However, the RF owner caught us off guard. He blew our minds away, literally! I mean, to be fair with PERCDC, they had a black propaganda. Yes, he might have presented and claimed their strong lineup of reviewers, but he also pointed several issues not only in PERCDC but including EXCEL (where he was working before). So the following week, he scheduled a sample review to prove his teaching brilliance. And wow, again I said to myself, he's pretty good! What he was saying a week ago may seem true after all. So, at that point, we want to go RF, 'dahil sa lakas ng lineup!'

On EXCEL...

And here comes the third presentor, EXCEL Review Center, since 1991. Noteworthy: they were the only review center that brought with them their own mini sound system. Again, I thought I will be sticking to RF, but here goes this Excel VP with his own black propaganda. So much with that black propaganda, let me go to the bright side of their campaign. If PERCDC has Cagayan branch, RF with its "lakas ng lineup", Excel here boasts of its facilities. Not only they have a new building in Cebu this May, they claim to have the best materials needed for the best review experience. Proof? Anyone needs a proof? Well, they showed us a OCTOBER 2009 exam questionaire. What the?! I thought it only gets released after 4 years? I don't really know how got it, nor is it genuine, I'm only sure they are extremely confident with their facilities.

Last note...

Just this afternoon, PERCDC came back to our school, this time to have a sample review. The topic, Satellite Communication. The reviewer, a relatively new in the field of teaching, virtually unknown for most ECE students. He said he just graduated last 2004 and passed the board exam 2006. He claims he is not driven by money to teach, but with passion and gratitude. I have to say he looked passionate when he presented the lesson, even had the passion to go beyond the topic in order for us to see the bigger scheme of things that most oldie teachers forgot to share to their students. I thought he had a great presentation, no doubt about it. The problem is, it just makes me more confused on where to have my review.

I need to decide fast. Any suggestions?