ABA 2010 Friendship Games Announced

Manila, Philippines. The American Basketball Association (ABA) www.abalive.com now ranked as the largest professional sports league in the US in terms of teams, launched its global joint-venture in Las Vegas last December and plans for its first two ABA venues in Tampa, Florida and Las Vegas in February. It has positioned itself as #2 to the NBA, but now, its niche where teams from all over the world will see action vs. top ABA teams in a World Basketball Cup in 2011 has triggered a frenzy in the world basketball community.The $200 million dollar global expansion announced by ABA Global is kicking off with the second international team to enter the domain of the US professional league via an initial FRIENDSHIP GAME series starting April 25th in San Diego, California. After the successful entry of the Beijing Aoshen Olympians from China into the ABA, the Philippines is fielding their bet to the Olympics in 2012 - the Smart-Gilas National team to the ABA.

“The entry of the Philippines to the ABA is a tremendous follow-through after the Chinese team for ABA Global,” said Joe Newman, ABA CEO. “The Philippines has basketball as the #1 sport and it is a dream of filipino cagers, same as others from around the world, to play pro basketball in the US. You will now have ABA jerseys with international stars together with our red, white and blue balls - now called FLAG balls.”

“The entry of the Philippine team is not only historic for the country; it is also historic for the USA, as there is a very close link between the two countries,” said Paul Monocza, ABA Global Vice-Chairman. “The Philippine team will test their speed with its entry into the ABA in the US.”

The 2010 FRIENDSHIP GAMES will be a five-game series in Southern California. The Smart-Gilas Philippine Nationals will be led by their captain, Chris Tiu, the US trained 6′10″ forward Japeth Aguilar and 7 foot center Greg Slaughter. The ABA teams will include the Los Angeles SLAM, which boasts stars like “The Game,” former NBA Cleveland Cavalier Tony Farmer, And1 star Larry Williams and 7 foot center Josh Stanhiser of the University of Hawaii.

The San Diego SURF team is led by scoring champions John Clark, a 6′5″ Pacific Coast Conference player and ABA All-Star together with Terry Menefee, an NCAA standout; 6′8″ Bryan Freshwater also joins them from the German pro league and All-American Anthony Bruner. The Philippines will also play the Riverside Rainmakers and the Clayton Showtime from Northern California as part of the series.

The Under-17 national youth squad from the Philippines will also be competing against top US AAU teams in pre-game matches at 630 p.m. leading to main ABA games vs. the Smart-Gilas team at 7:30 p.m. each night. Games will be held from April 25 to April 30 in San Diego, Riverside and Los Angeles. Tickets for the series are limited and will be available on a first-come, first served basis. There are over one million filipinos in California and the sheer numbers will increase attendance in these games. The opening game will be in San Diego, the second game in Riverside, the final three will be in Los Angeles, with the final game featuring an All-Star team of top West Coast ABA Players. For ticket information, visit www.sdsurfhoops.com, www.losangelesslam.com, www.riversiderainmakers.com or www.abalive.com.

The ABL - The overview as of Nov 25, 2009

Check your TV sets during Sundays and simultaneously with the first of PBA’s Sunday double header, you have just earned front row seats to the Asian Basketball League. The league is a super-league designed to lure the top basketball players of the South East Asian region (that can’t or barely play in the PBA). This will prove important in strengthening basketball in an area, our Asian neighbors belittle. There are six teams battling for supremacy with one team having nine local players, two non-South East Asian imports and three South East Asian imports.

Parading the best in the six-team bunch are the Singapore Slingers and the Philippine Patriots.

SINGAPORE SLINGERS: The Slingers, owned by Bob Turner, was originally the Canberra Cannons of the Australia’s National Basketball League. They then moved to Hunter (to become the Pirates) before settling in Singapore. As the Slingers, they played in the league for three seasons. The team decided to bail out of the league when the league was experiencing financial woes and the back-and-forth travel proved costly for the Slingers. It should be noted that they signed current TNT Tropang Texter Jason Castro. When news broke out that the Slingers are leaving the NBL, he wanted out of his contract. The Slingers accepted this but they need a player in return. Among the names that popped up were former PBA MVP Johnny Abarrientos and Harbour Centre alum Al Vergara. They chose Vergara to add youth in their PG spot. During his Slinger break, Vergara played briefly for the Purefoods Giants in the PBA putting in 2.4ppg, 2.0apg, and 0.9spg in eight games (played during the first part of the Fiesta Cup).

Anyway, Frank Arsego is calling the shots for the Slingers. Import Mike LeBlanc is the team’s top scorer with 18.7ppg (to go with 7.1ppg). Kyle Jeffers is their main rebounder (15.4ppg and 13.7rpg) and Al Vergara is their top playmaker with 3.3apg (to go with 9.3ppg). Marcus Ng (7.7ppg, 4.1rpg, 2.0apg), and Wei Jian Hong (7.4ppg, 2.6rpg, 1spg) are the teams top 5 scorers.

THAILAND TIGERS: The Tigers parade three Pinoys in Axel Doruelo (9.3ppg, 3.8, 1.0apg, 1.2spg), Ricky Ricafuerte (5.8ppg), and Glenn Bolocon (6.0ppg). Wonder not about these players because they popular in SE Asia as much as in their own country. Anyway, import Chaz Briggs leads the team in scoring (19.8ppg). The guy with an awesome name Attaporn Lertmalaiporn (15.8ppg) leads the locals in points while Ikenna Chukwuemeka Nwankwo (8.3ppg, 9.2rpg, 2.0bpg) is their towering presence.

SATRIA MUDA BRITAMA: The other SMB of Asia, this Indonesian League ballclub is the country’s representative in the League. Gideon Roring is the team’s coach. Former Red Bull import Alex Hartmann is the team’s top guy (18.7ppg, 5.1rpg). Nakiea Miller is the team’s other import (14.5ppg, 16.0rpg, 4.5bpg). Faisal Julius, Christian Sitepu, and Amin Prihantono are their local bets. Former PBA quarterback Rensy Bajar (11.0ppg, 3.4apg, 1.4spg) is the team’s top playmaker.

BRUNEI BARRACUDAS: Former FedEx coach and former TNT assistant coach Bong Ramos acts chief in this ballclub. The team heavily relies on non-Asian import Michael Pilgrim (15.4ppg, 8.1rpg). However, the team equipped themselves with three talented Pinoy reinforcements like former Sta. Lucia, San Miguel, and Red Bull player Francis Adriano (13.4ppg, 3.6rpg, 2.0apg, 1.7spg), former TNT and Coke player Leo Avenido (14.9ppg, 6.9rpg, 2.7apg, 1.0spg), and former TNT, Alaska, Purefoods and Red Bull standout Don Camaso (10.6ppg, 4.4rpg). They also scoured Reggie Larry to shore up their scoring (23.5ppg, 7.0rpg).

KUALA LUMPUR DRAGONS: Goh Cheng Huat is the mentor of the squad. KL boasts Jamal Brown (11.1ppg, 9.4rpg) and Chris Kuete (18.0ppg, 9.8rpg) in their fray. Their locals include Shee Fai Loh, Guganeswaran Batumalai, and Li Wei Chee. Their Pinoy pickup are composed of UAAP standouts like Adamson’s Roel Hugnatan (8.3ppg, 3.7rpg), and UE’s Toto Bandaying (11.5ppg, 1.3rpg) and Rudy Lingganay (17.3ppg, 4.3rpg, 2.3apg).

PHILIPPINE PATRIOTS: All teams in the ABL have Pinoys in them, which make the Patriots the automatic team to beat. Their reinforcements are former Coke import Jason Dixon (12.2ppg, 9.7rpg, 1.0bpg) and Brandon Powell (13.0ppg, 5.8rpg). The team snatched Rob Wainwright (7.7ppg, 3.0rpg) and Mark Andaya (recently released by the squad) from Barako Bull when they were traded to the squad for the rights of Jeff Chan and Mike Hrabak. The team is a collection of players owned by Mikee Romero and Tony Boy Conjuangco. Former PBA stars include Red Bull’s Warren Ybanez, SMB’s Froilan Baguion and Sta. Lucia’s Christian Coronel. Jerwin Gaco is a long-time member of the Harbour Centre franchise. Other collegiate big names include Ateneo’s Nonoy Baclao, UE’s Elmer Espiritu and Val Acuna, Letran’s Dino Daa and JP Alcaraz, and UST’s Khasim Mirza. Louie Alas spearheads their struggle.

The Patriots have an impressive lineup whose main downside is their constant changing of players. The Slingers seem to gel nicely since their lineup is pretty much intact since two years ago. Like I said, when the end nears, it will be Singapore against the Philippines.

Get the news about the ABL at http://www.aseanbasketballleague.com and watch the games on TV5 every Sundays at 4pm.

Game Over.

Happy Birthday Chrisangelo! - My 19th Birthday Basketball Wishlist

Actually my birthday ended about 17 minutes ago but what the heck, it has been one super busy week so don’t expect me to do any extra-curricular activities on time. So yeah, just yesterday I celebrated my birthday and just like any other typical college boy, I too have my own wishlist on my birthday. That of course includes an IPhone, a custom classic Fender Jazz Bass, an M17x Alienware laptop, Jessica Gomes and Jessica Gomes’ used underwear (lol) but since non of those things that I’ve mentioned above are possible right now, I have to be contented with Sydman sending me birthday kisses (I puked while I said that) over at Facebook. And other than seeing Marlou Aquino on a porn flick.. that probably is one of the worst things I can ever see in my entire life. Lol

Anyway, off we go to the sport that I loved ever since August 30 1990… Cricket.

Oh snap, here are my 5 basketball related wishes for my birthday

1) For the Philippines to gain respect once again in Asian Basketball

8th place finish. Well it’s actually better than the last time right? Atleast we made the quaterfinals right? Are you all guys contented with that? I’m not. Right now, we are ranked at number 53 in the FIBA World Basketball Rankings. Exactly how bad is that? Right behind us is a country called Cape Verde, have you heard of it in terms of basketball related stuff? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

For a country that loves basketball so much, it’s tough to see our team sucking in the sport. We probably have more courts on the streets than Argentina has on their whole country combined. But why do we suck so much in a sport almost everyone loves in this country? Is that even a question? Read the newspapers and you’ll see one major reason.

Politics. Yes, the Filipino people apparently loves politics so much, even in basketball they practice it. SBP vs BAP. PBA vs Smart Gilas. If we can’t even pull our shit in our own country together then how can we expect brighter things ahead in international competitions? If we want to become a respected basketball entity in Asia again, this basketball organizing body conflict bullshit has to stop.

2) Atleast 2 more rings for Kobe and the Lakeshow

It’s no secret. I’m a big Laker fan and watching Kobe and the Lakers pull it off last year was probably the most satisfying feeling I’ve had in years. Seeing all the haters shut up for atleast a month or two was fun. Now if only we can shut them off for.. let’s say.. for life, it would be better.

How would it be possible? Well, atleast 2 more rings for Kobe Bryant and he’s on par with Mike on the ring count. It’s not even that far fetched.. the Ron Artest signing and LO’s decision to sign with the Lakers again make this wish one huge possibility.

3) For AI to finally find a team

I’m not a fan of Allen Iverson but it’s tough to see someone like him exit the NBA this way. I mean, he prolly could go down in history as one of the best scorers ever (Top 10 maybe) and to see him go down this way sucks. Sure, he hasn’t been that hot as of late, but he’s definitely not Stephon Marbury. This guy can still contribute and give you respectable numbers night in and night out. Plus, he’s a competitor so.. hopefully he finds a team that will suit him.

4) More teams in the PBA

I’m getting bored with the PBA to be honest with you. With the SMC franchise hogging every player possible and MVP using Burger King as his own basketball player fast food, everything is looking so predictable now. However, if only we could get some of our local business tycoons into basketball we could atleast control the power in the PBA. One named being thrown around is SM’s Henry Sy . It would be cool to see them around considering they have the money and the resources to pay big time players and compete with the San Miguel and the PLDT franchise.

5) Marlou Aquino’s retirement

Hey Syd! Do you really think I’m going to end this entry without taking a shot at my favorite player, Marlou Aquino? Hahaha

Marlou Aquino needs to retire and hopefully he will. The last time I saw him play with heart and an actual drive to win was during his days with Jawo and the storied Ginebra team. After parting ways with Robert Jaworski and the thousands of Ginebra fans, Marlou lost the fire that he once had when he was with the Gins. From being a major low post threat, he became a punching bag for bloggers and fans which I know breaks Sydman’s heart everytime he reads it.

So for your fans’ sake Marlou and thank God I’m not one of them.. you need to retire.

That’s it folks. My five basketball related birthday wishes, I know at some point most of those things that I’ve mentioned above will come true.. just wait and see. hahaha

Polls: Smart Gilas FTW

Reality Bites

8^th place, out of a field of 16.  Team Pilipinas ends its campaign in the 2009 FIBA Asia Basketball championships as a middle of the pack team, one place higher than 2 years ago.  First off, much appreciation should be given to the players and coaching staff.  The task at hand was already a tall order as it is, but you had consider they had to endure a multitude of injuries,  conflicting schedules due to commitments to mother teams, leading to lack of practice and preparation time, and overall lack of exposure to the international game.  This team only had 2 proper international tournaments.  Their win at the SEABA championships should not count as they were playing against inferior competition.  Still despite these challenges, our boys in blue, white and red showed grit, heart, and determination in the tournament, impressing even in losses to Iran, Korea, and Jordan.  Their lopsided loss to Qatar was more of a reaction to their crucial loss against Jordan 24 hours prior to the game more than anything else. 

 

The laments of a hoops hysterical nation over this last performance are starting to pour in, but let me digress.  Let me be one of the few who do not consider this as disappointing.  Disappointing is finally getting to talk to the hot chick you’ve been going crazy about for the longest time, only to find out she’s already in a relationship……with another chick (well on second thought).  You get the picture.  For me, this year’s performance is just a sweeping statement of where we are at right now in terms of basketball:  Compared to the established and rising powers in Asia, at this very moment, WE ARE JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH. So I am fairly satisfied with their performance. 

 

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End of the road: Jordan 81 Philippines 70

Just like my past few Team Pilipinas post, here are my in game tweets and post game thoughts here.

Pre-Game

• NBA 360 is over. Now we go to serious stuff. GO Team Pilipinas!
• This is it boys and girls. Hopefully Coach Yeng has a plan to stop Wright cause that dude is a fucking monster.
• Man, this Jordanian team has some ceiling. We have speed and heart, hopefully that’s enough

First Quarter

• First 5 for us, Thoss, Baguio, Asi, Jared and Jayjay. Game starts now. Go go go
• Thoss opens the scoring for us
• Cyrus manning Wright early, number 9 dude scores for Jordan, we are tied at 2
• I can see this Jordan team needs some main and tail. Jordan up 4-2
• 3 straight misses for Jayjay. It’s okay man, just keep on taking it
• Jared nails our first three. Jordan by 6-5
• WOW! Penetration by Asi starting from the 3? Awesome. Game tied 8-8
• JJ is firing blanks. Jordan up by 6 now 14-8
• Kerby nails a three. Hopefully that will build his confidence Jordan 14-12
• James Yap is in, James Yap nails a three. Jordan 17-15
• Yes, that was a bullshit call ref. Real bullshit
• James Yap is now guarding Wright. Uh oh, mismatch. Jordan by 5 20-15
• Basket is good for Gabe Norwood. Jordan by 3 20-17
• Buzzer beater by number 8 guy from Jordan. Jordan only up by 5 22-17 at the end of the first
• Thoughts on the 1st: So far, we’ve been holding our own defensively. We just have to limit their second shots.

2nd Quarter

• Penissi opens the 2nd q with a three. Jordan by 2
• Great defensive set
• Back to back threes for Mick Penissi! WE ARE NOW UP BY 1! 23-22
• Strong move by Gabe. Good job Gabe
• Timeout Jordan. We’re up by 1. I like what I’m saying, the toughness is there.
• Gabe splits his charities. We’re up by 2. 24-22
• We’re defending well but the second chance shots are killing us. Game tied at 24
• Miller drains a three. We are tied at 27
• Norwood tips in a Jordan shot. Lol Jordan up by 2 29-27
• Back to back threes by Jordan. 33-27
• What is it with Arwind Santos and International Games?
• Number 10 Sam Douglas splits his charities. Jordan up by 7
• 10-0 run by Jordan. 37-27
• Jayjay breaks the run. 37-29 Jordan
• And all of a sudden, the Jordanians are on fire behin the arc. 40-29 Jordan
• Jayjay, stop fucking dribbling. Asi with the put back. 42-31 Jordan
• Jordan now with their biggest lead on a three point play 45-31
• Unsportsmanlike foul called on Wright
• Cyrus nails both freethrows. 45-33 Jordan
• Jayjay, what’s up with those shots? 2nd quarter ends with Jordan on top 45-33
• thoughts:Their off rebounding are killing us. Defense is okay but our offense is one again stalled by dribbles

3rd Quarter

• Good defense to open up the third
• And Dilinger opens our offense with a 3
• But Wright answers back with a 3 too. 48-36 Jordan
• Asi nails both freethrows, 48-38 Jordan
• Miller with a breakaway. 48-40 Jordan
• Wright with his second three, 51-40 Jordan
• Wow, an unsportsmanlike foul called on James?
• Wright nails both fts 53-40 Jordan
• Idaiz is killing us. 55-40 Jordan
• James Yap finally nails one. 55-43 Jordan
• Idaiz now with 4 fouls Good one. 57-43 Jordan
• Jared nails both fts, 57-45 Jordan
• Willie gets a lucky break, splits his freethrows, Jordan up by 11.
• Wow, was that a beautiful move by Willie Miller or what? 59-48 Jordan
• Jayjay is not having a good day today.
• Oh that hurts. 3 point play for the number 13 guy 62-50 Jordan
• Kerby splits his freethrows, 62-51 Jordan
• Missing freethrows doesn’t help. Jared splits his, 64-52 Jordan.
• Oh man, that three hurts. That fucking hurts. 67-52 Jordan

4th Quarter

• Cyrus opens the 4th with a 3. 67-55 Jordan.
• Great, now the breaks are going to Jordan
• Gabe nails a three, lead down to 9
• Back to back threes by Gabe. Go Philippines, only down by 7! 68-61
• Lead down to 5!! Breakaway lay up by Cyrus!
• Oh, tough break, three point play by Wright. 70-63 Jordan he missed the ft
• Oh man, two straight shots by Jordan. 72-63 Jordan. On the bright side, number 15 fouls out
• All of a sudden we can’t make shots. 73-63 Jordan
• 7-0 spurt by Jordan. Back to 12 with 3 minutes to go
• And 1 play for Gabe. He’s having a great night.
• Oh tough break, everybody’s going for the rebound. That would’ve been crucial.
• Jordan nails two crucial freethrows, lead to 12 again with 2:50 to go
• Miller scores on a lay up. 2:40 to go 10 point lead jordan
• FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. Sayang efforts ni Gabe. Take the fucking shot Kerby!
• 1:40 to go, looks like this is a lost cause. Jordan up by 12
• It’s over folks. It was a good run. 1 minute to go, 80-67 Jordan.
• So.. the dream ends.. 81-70 win for Jordan. Great effort guys, keep your heads up

Post game blog

So, the dream officially ends again. Ended by Jordan again. In another near yet so far game again.

It actually felt like dejavu of their last FIBA-ASIA meeting between the two teams. With Philippines hanging on early, Jordan breaking away midway through the match, RP making several desperation runs to cut the lead ending with Jordan having the poise to finish the game off.

If you were to ask me, I think they played great defensively. Minus a few defensive lapses by Mick and Willie, they played a great defensive game. They actually controlled Wright more than China did so that’s a plus. I like the way they forced TOs and stayed in front of the Jordanian bigs, specially in the first and last quarters.

So why did they lose? Two things.. they gave up too many second chance points and they got their offense stalled by guess what.. DRIBBLING.

RP is at their best when they’re moving the ball well and running the breaks, not by taking about 20 seconds out of their clock by dribbling.. and that’s exactly what they did earlier specially during the time when they got the lead down to five.. Miller got hit by a sickness called dribble-itis and then boom, the lead went back up to 12 again.

But overall, I like how this Powerade team represented us. They’re probably the shortest team in there, not really the youngest and not really the most prepared team but hey, they did well. They faced bigger and better teams in Iran and Jordan and they competed. And that’s why I salute you guys. I know it sucks but, that’s a tough reality we have to face now. ASIAN Basketball is not only about China anymore. Countries are improving and that’s why we need to be back on the track of improvement again. So how do we start getting back on track? Well, having a UNITED, SOLID, CONCRETE Basketball organization would be a start. Yes, I’m actually talking to you guys over at the BAP, SBP and the PBA.

As I close, I’ll leave you guys with my conversation with the Ocho earlier

8: we really need an inside guy
8: to balance it out
8: unless we get that
8: we may never get over the hump
8: its just not our time pare
8: also need more time to prepare
8: im not sure about smart gilas…powerade is still better talent wise
Chris: yes
Chris: pero they’re getting old
Chris: Penissi, Asi, Helterbrand, Miller
8: ahh  yeah
8: basiucally i think we need a good program
8: same thing as USA basketball
8: they have a good program
8: leche kasi itong SBP, BAP, PBA, etc
8: iba ibgang groupo
Chris: oo nga e
Chris: basketball nalang

Chris: pinupulitika pa

8: until they sort that shit out pare
8: we will always be like this
8: its just that we will never be a power like before

Very good points. I go now and oh, don’t forget to vote for @Bassman500 in the Mr Twitter Philippines competition! Click here

The Expendables

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expendables_(2010_film): A team of highly-skilled combat mercenaries goes on a mission to South America to overthrow and execute a villainous dictator and his army, who has been causing devastation and chaos for the last 20 years.  This is a movie that will feature Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Stone Cold Steve Austin (yes him), and Randy Couture (yes him too).  It’s basically similar to the Dirty Dozen or Seven Samurai years back where a team of soldiers, misfits and rejects band together to do good for others.  Here Stallone is the leader, Statham is the point man and 2^nd in command, Li is the hand-to-hand combat expert, Lundgren is the sniper, and Couture is the demolitions expert/enforcer.  Definitely something to look forward to next year.   

Much has been talked about how Team Pilipinas has performed below expectations in last month’s Jones Cup and how they are having a more respectable showing currently in the FIBA Asia championships.  A lot of comments and criticism have been raised on how the team is coached but especially who made the team and who were deserving but not fortunate enough. They are the expendables.

 

The Point Man: Jimmy Alapag – “Where’s Jimmy?”  This was asked by Fati El-Khatib, Lebanon’s resident star who, no doubt, remembers how Alapag made clutch shots and ran rings around Lebanon. Indeed, where is Jimmy? Just 2 years ago he was one of the best PG’s in Asia, now he’s relegated as the best in Talk N Text.  Coach Yeng Guiao says that he is a matchup problem on defense because of his height.  Granted, he is diminutive compared to most players in the tournament (I’m just about the same height, but he’s really bulked.  I can vouch for this because TNT used to workout at Fitness First at the Fort), but he is the best pure PG in the league.  No offense to MVP Jayjay, but he also does a lot of the scoring chores for Ginebra.  Alapag is like Hector Calma, but light years ahead in terms of athleticism and quickness.  He sets up the table and knows who to pass to and when to do it.  Plus he already has the international experience.  With the injury to Ryan Reyes, Jayjay is the only legit PG in the team, but Willie Miller has filled in admirably. Team Pilipinas’ problems with ball movement and offense were highlighted during the Jones Cup, making his absence felt really badly.

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Operation: Upset

So it is official.. the Powerade Team Pilipinas will be going to the Quaterfinals. Which means, it’s one and done time for everybody. That means, there are no time for bad nights, mental lapses and excuses. Right now, it is win or go home for every team. I repeat, EVERY TEAM.

Finishing 3rd in the first two rounds with a 3-2 record (4-2 to be exact) and Jordan’s close and I repeat, close close loss to Asian Powerhouse China earlier sets up a rematch of the 2007 Tokushima first round clash between the Philippines and Rasheem Wright and the Jordan National team. If I can remember right, that was also a do or die match for us. We win, we go to the next round, we lose, well, we blame the coaches. Lol

Fast forward 2 years later, we’re in a bigger phase, facing the same country which eliminated us before and we’re about 2 big wins to regain basketball glory back to our country. The problem is, we could be facing the same country but we’re facing a different team.

IMO, Jordan has improve leaps and bounds ever since our last official meet in a FIBA tourney (Tokushima 2007) and as for our country? Well, let’s just say we’ve been playing with heart alone and the answer to whether we’ve improved as a basketball team is still up in the air.

To quote Coach Yeng Guiao

If we take it as Jordan, we lost to Jordan by 30 points in the William Jones Cup. Now, I don’t know if we have improved by 30 points in such a short period of time.

But we are not giving up on it.

We are going to be there and see what’s the best way we can give ourselves a chance of making it to the top four.

This is exactly what I want to talk about now. Jordan, as we all know is a superior team. Talking about height, talking about sytem and talking about chemistry. This team, as I was watching them play China looked like a basketball team that could beat any team in Asia right now. They are well coached, they have a very huge frontline and a star player in Rasheem Wright that could give them a boost anytime they need it.

The Philippines on the other hand has done exactly what every Filipino basketball fan wants to see. Win games that you’re supposed to win and stay competitive in games that you’re supposed to lose. I personally think we could’ve beat Korea to be honest with you and we could’ve done much better in our game against Iran so.. what am I trying to point out here?

I’ll it make this one fast and simple. As stupid as I may sound right now, at this very moment, Turkey is very reachable. Yes, that phrase might be synonimous to wishful thinking but I believe that we cracking the Top 3 is very possible right now.

Let’s take it back to last month’s Jones Cup. After that poor showing from Team RP, how many of you guys expected our National Team to reach the quaterfinals? How many of you guys thought of them playing at this kind of level? I’ll be honest with you, I definitely didn’t expect this.

As I’ve said in my opening paragraph, it is win or go home for EVERY TEAM. That includes a very good team like Jordan. Sure, the odds are stacked against us but hey, there’s always a small amount of percentage that says our team can beat them. Well, Safeguard users could still be infected by the .1 percent of germs that won’t be killed after using the soap.. you know what I’m saying?

To put it more blatantly, what I’m trying to say is we’re in a situation where in one game could very well change everything and luck could play the biggest factor in a basketball game. If we pull out a big big upset against this Jordan team, we are going to have TWO I repeat, TWO chances at going to Turkey. So do you see how important next Friday’s game is? Do you guys now see how much of a chance we’ll have at beating the odds and exposing the impossible by starting with one big upset?

It all starts by doing one “almost impossible” feat. So don’t lose hope guys.

Iran 88 Philippines 78 Twitter Posts and Post Game Blog

It’s a sad loss but, still we fought good, fought hard. It’s tough but I’ll take that.

Much like my post yesterday, I’ll be posting my PBP Tweets and post game blog over here.

First quarter

• Game starts now, Asi, Thoss, Dilinger, Helterbrand and Baguio to start for RP
• Cyrus opens up the game with a bank shot, Thoss follows up with a jumper. 4-0 RP
• Iran scores, Jayjay nails a 3. 7-2 RP
• 2 Unforced TOs for Team RP and Hadadi is a huge man 7-5 RP
• We are giving up lots of fouls, already 7 foul shots for Iran. Iran up now 9-7
• Too many turnovers, someone pull Dilinger out of the game. 13-7 now Iran and one.
• Miller nails a jumper, Iran has been scoring gimmes on the freethrow line. Iran up 15-9
• And another turnover. We are falling in love with the dribble again. 22-12 IRN
• Iran nails a three, Cyrus responds with a 3. 18-12 IRN
• 25-14 for Iran. Too many turnovers, too many fouls.
• 27-14 Iran to end the 1st. Things are not looking good.
• Thoughts on 1st Q: So far, we are not executing well. Again, the dribble-itis has hit us again. We’ve also given them about 10 or 11 fts now

2nd Quarter

• Hadadi opens with a gimme, Kerby misses a gimme 29-14 IRN
• Wow, 4 foul shots in the first minute of the 2nd quarter? honest d guys!
• 31-14 Iran. Bounce back, bounce back!
• This is getting frustrating, a 3 and a foul away from the ball. 22 point lead for Iran.
• Make that 24. 38-14
• James Yap finally nails a three. We’re down by 21
• Kamranny responds. 41-17 IRN
• Penissi responds with a 3. First good execution for us.
• 2nd 3 for Mr James Yap. 43-23 Iran
• The good news, the 3s are falling. The bad news, we’re still down by 19
• Norwood nails a long jumper. 47-29 IRN
• Hadadi gets fouled, makes 2 FTs. This guy is good. 49-29 IRN
• 7 straight points for Gabe, 49-31 IRN
• 51-34 IRAN. The threes are falling for us, 3rd 3 for James
• 51-34 at the half for Iran

Halftime

• Thoughts on the 1st half: The issues is still the TOs and our defense. So far, we’ve given 2 20+ quarters for Iran.
• Our leaders: James Yap 9 points, Miller with 3 Rebounds and Aguilar with 2 assists
• Hadadi is a given entity. He will dominate, but atleast put an effort to stop the other slashers.
• 3rd q keys, Yeng Guiao needs to pump our team up big time. We must lessen our turnovers and atleast try to make Hadadi work
• The Ocho: Khali (Ehadadi) needs to be stopped
• The Ocho: They need to hit him with a chair or something
  

3rd Quarter

• 3rd q starts now
• What a way to open the 3rd. Another pair of foul shots for Iran
• 6-0 rn to start the third for Iran. Frustrating, I know. Yeng, please take Sonny and Dilingger our of the game please
• Jayjay nails a three. We’re still down by 18
• Dilinger is stalling our offense. Take him out please
• Finally Dilinger nails a 3. Now go out please.
• Hadadi now with 19. 65-42 IRN
• Jayjay nails his 3rd three. 65-47
• Iran responds with a 3, Cyrus with a floater 68-49 IRN
• Norwood with a 2 handed dunk. 68-51 IRN
• Iran responds with 5-0 run. Back to 22
• E Hadadi is just too big, man. He nails both freethrows too. 73-54 IRN
• Put back by Norwood 74-56 IRN. Offense is not the question now. DEFENSE IS!
• James Yap nails a jumper at the buzzer 74-58 IRN
• 74-58 for Iran at the end of the 3rd. Somehow, I’m still hoping.

4th Quarter

• Norwood opens up with jumper. 74-50 IRN
• James Yap nails another 3. 13 point lead nalang. Little by little guys
• Hadadi has some serious skills. Can pass, can shoot, can post up. 78-63 IRN
• Asi splits his charities. 78-64 IRN
• Yap and Norwood takes a seat? Wow
• Dilinger nails a 3, still a 13 point lead.
• Turnovers are killing us. Why attack? Take the damn three!
• Miller nails another 3. 82-70 IRN
• Good stop. 4 minutes to go. 12 point ball game. Go go go
• Miller with another 3! 9 pt game!
• 3 minutes to go. We can still do this!
• Again, blame the turnovers. Over 2 minutes to go 84-73 IRN
• Dagger three for Iran. Back to 14
• Jared for 3. 1 minute to go. 88-78 IRN
• Miller with a beautiful spin but a bad lay up. It’s over folks
• Game over. Iran 88 Phi 78. Atleast we fought hard

Post game stats

Point leaders: James Yap 14, Willie Miller 14 and Gabe Norwood with 13

Rebound leaders: Willie Miller 9, Asi Taulava 6 and Jared Dilinger with 4

Assist leaders: Japeth Aguilar 2, Gabe Norwood 2 and Cyrus Baguio with 1

Key Stats

Freethrows: Iran 23/30  Philippines 2/4

Fouls: Iran 6 Philippines 23

Assists: Iran 18 Philippines 5 (Ehadadi had 5 assists, the same number of assists the Philippine team dished out combined)

Turnovers: Iran 14 Philippines 15

Post game thoughts

To be honest with you, we played a bad game. Our bigmen was indecisive, our defense was nowhere to be found and so was our execution. Everyone knows we can’t beat Iran by dishing out only 5 assists while turning the ball over 15 times. That’s an assist to turnover ratio of 1:3, probably the worst I’ve seen from a team.

In the first half, I think we played intimidated. We were once again hit by a sickness called dribble-itis. Jayjay, Gabe, Willie, Jared, Cyrus.. I thought all of them took more dribbles than needed. Our defense literally sucked all through out the game, I don’t think we can ever stop Hadadi, that’s a long shot, but their slashers also hurt us bigtime. I thought we were a step slower than the Iranians.

On the bright side, our offense was there. James and Willie was solid and Gabe really gave us life especially in the third. We nailed more 3s than we had 2s (16 to 14) and our pacing and defense picked up a little bit in the second half. I’m still not sold on Jared, although he nailed some crucial threes to cut the lead down, I still think he stalled our offense for most part of the game.

We played a bad bad game and we only lost by 10 to the 2nd best team in Asia, although a loss is still a loss, atleast we didn’t lose without trying to put up a fight. We fought back and showed that we have the heart to bounce back. The boys, despite having a bad bad outing represented us well by showing that we, the Filipinos have heart. We showed that we won’t lie down and give up an easy win to those bigger and longer Iranians. And that’s something to be proud of, despite having a not so good outing in this game.

Tomorrow we face the Kuwaitis. I don’t know much about this team but based on my little scouting, I find that this team is a very young team and from what I’ve heard they have some tall young guys too.  But I don’t think there’s a need to worry for Team Philippines, they lost against Chinese Taipei by 22, to Korea by 20 and to Iran by 48 freaking points.

The game will start at 9 am tomorrow and since I have school, I won’t be able to do Play by Plays.

Oh and again, vote for @Bassman500 over here!

Philippines 77 Chinese Taipei 70 - Twitter Posts and Post Game Blog

View my original tweets here

Pre Game

• Home now. Live feed starts at 4! Early results Korea 78 Kuwait 58
• Iran vs Japan now. Jordan whooped Kazakhstan earlier, 98-80
• End of 1st, Iran 29 Japan 14
• Meh, the Iran - Japan game is getting boring. Iran by 26 now. I’ll be leaving you guys and I’ll come back later to cover RP vs CT
• So Iran officially murders Japan. The Team Pilipinas - Taiwan game will start in a few..
• They had tough defense, but didn’t have enough offense - Mico Halili on RP’s last game. I agree

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