Two more teams bit the dust last night in the PBA wildcards, with Sta. Lucia and Purefoods knocking off Coca-Cola and Talk N Text respectively.

I was actually in the house for the doubleheader, and I had nice seats near the baseline corner, about fifteen feet away from one of the benches. Sta. Lucia won pretty handily against Coke, 94-88, with import Anthony Johnson leading the way with . Johnson's monster game made up for the absence of Kelly Williams and the subpar games from Sta. Lucia big men Marlou Aquino and Dennis Espino, who both battled foul trouble the whole game while trying to contain the massive Coke frontline led by Asi Taulava.

But the real key to the game was the play of the Realtors' backcourt, Ryan Reyes, Denok Miranda, and Joseph Yeo, who sliced and diced their way to the hoop. Even if those guys were not able to finish at the rim, it certainly put the Tigers' big men out of position, allowing Johnson to grab 11 offensive rebounds for easy scores around the basket. The Coke guards, Alex Cabagnot and Ronjay Buenafe, allowed more penetration last night than the women on Hayden Kho's video collection. It remains to be seen though if Sta. Lucia's pit bulls can do that against Burger King in the next round, which has a tougher backcourt with Wynne Arboleda and Gary David.

I also came away very, very impressed with Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez's steady demeanor on the sidelines last night. He didn't panic when the Tigers made a run to take a double-digit lead in the third quarter, nor did he get rattled when Aquino and Espino both fouled out late in the game. His team obviously has his ear and he never has to chew out any players to make a point, and the team's faith on him looks well-placed because he really prepared them well for last night's game.

Purefoods, meanwhile, survived Talk N Text in double-overtime, 126-123. I wasn't able to cheer much for Purefoods because my seat was right next to the Tropang Texters bench, and just beside the TNT tranny cheeleading section. They actually had a few zingers last night for the Purefoods players; I actually chuckled when their leader shouted, "Hoy, mag-model ka na lang ng La Coste!" at Purefoods scorer Peter June Simon, a renowned ballhog in the tradition of Jojo Lastimosa and Ato Agustin. I think the trannies probably know more about PBA basketball than Quinito Henson.

While I wasn't able to participate in the booing of Mac Cardona, my seat did me a spectacular of the Talk N Text bench. (Well, except in the fourth quarter when Pong Escobal and Gilbert Lao kept standing up to block my view. Stupid benchwarmers.) As I noted on Twitter last night, Chot Reyes' tight-fit shirts accentuate his figure. Especially his boobs.

After the jump, lots and lots of thoughts about the epic game:

To kick off your weekend on a good note, here are a bunch of great reads for a lazy Friday in the office. Because what else are you guys going to do, work?

First here's a piece in Slate by Tom Scocca on Kobe Bryant's place in NBA lore. Scocca argues that Bryant, as talented as he is, works as the ultimate foil:

The Waiting for LeBron premise shortchanges the rivalry that has truly defined an era in the NBA: Kobe Bryant against the Guy Beating Kobe Bryant.

Ask Paul Pierce. Or Manu Ginobili. Or Chauncey Billups. Or ask Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw—you don't even have to win an NBA title to enjoy the rewards of beating Kobe Bryant. It is its own reward, the defining rite of passage for a generation of players. This season, it's Carmelo Anthony and the perennially lightweight Denver Nuggets who have the privilege of slugging it out with the Lakers in the Western Conference finals. If he can beat Kobe, Anthony will have established himself as not just a scorer but an all-around star and perhaps an eventual Hall of Famer, the kind of player who can rise to the biggest occasions.

It ties neatly into a previous piece by Sam Anderson, also on Slate, about how much fun it is to hate on Kobe.

A couple of days ago at Yahoo's Ball Don't Lie, Kelly Dwyer took a look at the Spike Lee documentary "Kobe Doin' Work" and concluded that despite Kobe's (and Lee's) efforts to push what Bill Simmons calls propaganda, the uneasy truth seeps out, and it paints a picture of why Kobe is the most compelling player in the league, and why he cuts such a tragic figure:

For those who haven't seen it, Kobe is completely and utterly playing to the 30 cameras that he knows are documenting his every move, recording his every word, in a way that leaves him looking so transparent that it's a wonder he even let this thing get out.

Actually, it isn't a wonder. Kobe has isolated himself so much from anyone who will tell him that things aren't heading in a direction that isn't particularly appropriate, that it's pretty obvious that he doesn't know how poorly he came off.

I'm years removed from being angry about that. At this point, in May of 2009, I'm just sort of sad about that. The guy is so maladjusted, he just has no clue.

And in the sickest way possible, I relate to that.

The man loves the game. That is no act. For as long as he can remember, it's the only thing that he's felt safe with. It's the only thing that hasn't let him down. Coaches and teammates and family and friends and filmmakers may have run afoul of Kobe, but the game is his solace.

And he appreciates and loves and works at the game harder than anyone else in this league. It's not even close. And in his own, maladjusted, way; he wants people to know how much fun he's having, reveling in the game that has given him so much.

Elsewhere, Simmons again has a must-read column on the NBA. This week he takes on the league's shitty officiating, which has been the turd in the punch bowl in the otherwise awesome 2009 NBA Playoffs.

But while the conference finals are going on, other teams in the NBA are preparing for the draft, and there's no more intriguing prospect than 18-year-old Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio. I first heard about the guy after his performance in the European Under-16 tournament a few years ago, where he posted this sick line in the final game: 51 points, 24 rebounds, 12 assists, and 7 steals. He had been playing professional ball in Spain the past few years and last year, when he was 17, opened eyes around the world when he did a decent job against Team USA in the Beijing Olympics.

Because of this, True Hoop's Henry Abbott broke down Rubio's game to try to separate fact from fiction about the Ricky hype.

After the jump, Ricky Rubio highlights.

The PBA Fiesta Conference playoffs kicked off yesterday with the higher seeds doing quick work of their opponents.

Sol Mercado was too hot to handle for the Barako Bull Energy Boosters in the opener, scoring 27 of his first 29 points in the first half, to book the Rain or Shine Elastopainters the first ticket to the quarterfinals with a 98-88 victory. But RoS fans had to hold their collective breath as Mercado came out limping in the fourth quarter after suffering what looked like a hamstring injury.

The second game saw the Burger King Whoppers withstand a late charge by the Alaska Aces before winning, 96-90, to advance to the quarters. Yeng Guiao's conference-long strrategy of defending opposing imports, usually the most athletic players on the other team, exclusively with his fat guys, JR Quinahan, Beau Belga, and Shawn Daniels (or as Mico Halili calls them, Extra Rice Incorporated). Guiao has been hailed as one of the last practitioners of Robert Jaworski-style coaching, and I'm so glad he's carrying on the Jaworski tradition of using fat guys as enforcers. Somewhere, Chito and Joey Loyzaga, Rudy Distrito, Jayvee Gayoso, Nonoy Chuatico, Pido Jarencio, and Dudut Jaworski must all be very proud.

(UPDATE: I'm kicking myself for leaving off two legendary Ginebra bangers from the '90s, Noli Locsin and Wilmer Ong, from the original list. To Mr. Locsin and Mr. Ong, please accept my sincerest apologies.)

So far, I'm 2-0 in my playoff predictions, but yesterday's games were gimmes. The knockout games this Friday, Sta. Lucia-Coke and Talk N Text-Purefoods, should be much tougher.

I already said that I was a fan of his work, so I was very disappointed to read Rick Olivares' half-baked profile of Smart Gilas import CJ Giles. In the story, Olivarez kept alluding to the trouble that has hounded Giles throughout his collegiate career and how he's using his stint with the team to gain redemption, but never mentions what happened.

Well, Giles was kicked off the Kansas University varsity team in 2006 for a series of off-court incidents. It started with a missed practice, a violation of a team rule, and a failure to maintain his grades, all of which led to a suspension. Then after coming back, he was involved in this:

Giles was cited by KU campus police for battering a female KU student Monday night. According to the police report, the 20-year-old woman told police Giles became angry with her when she wouldn't leave his apartment and he grabbed her by the ankles, dragged her off his bed and onto the floor. She told police he continued to drag her into the hallway as she tried to get away and then "struck her in the left side of her head by her ear" with his closed fist. She left the apartment and reported the incident to police at 11:30 p.m.

Giles admitted to police that he dragged the woman across the floor, according to the report, but he denied hitting her in the head. He was not taken into custody, but was given a notice to appear in municipal court Dec. 6 for battery.

The woman told police she was in Giles' apartment in Jayhawker Towers on Monday night when he received a phone call from another woman. Giles then told the woman in his apartment to leave, she said, and when she asked why, he told her his girlfriend was on her way to his room.

She told officers she was not aware Giles had a girlfriend and that when she asked him about it, he grew angry and grabbed her by the ankles.

The report also mentions that Giles was being sued at the time by the mother of his son (not his then-girlfriend) for lack of child support payments.