Powerade Team Pilipinas had another gangbuster start in the fourth game in the 31st William Jones Cup, but Japan survived the opening onslaught and held on for an 87-85 victory. The Nationals blitzed the Japanese early for a 27-15 lead at the end of the third quarter, but Japan capitalized on their turnovers to force a tight game the rest of the way.

Continue reading "Jones Cup day 4: Japan narrowly edges Powerade Team Pilipinas"

Powerade Team Pilipinas finally tasted victory in the 31st William Jones Cup in Taipei, turning the tables on Kazakhstan for a lopsided 85-67 victory. The team built on their momentum from the second half of the Chinese Taipei game, leading from start to finish against the Kazakhs.

It was the first time the Nationals opened with swagger and energy, and they flew up and down the court to take a 22-12 lead in the first quarter, flustering their tall but inexperienced opponents. Kazakhstan made a bit of headway to end the half, cutting the lead down to 7, but our boys blew the game wide open in the third quarter with their lethal zone defense.

Continue reading "Jones Cup day 3: Basketball learnings of Powerade Team Pilipinas for make benefit against glorious nation of Kazakhstan"

Kristie Kenney has been the most visible US Ambassador to the Philippines in my lifetime. When not doing the papaya dance on national television, she can usually be seen at the Araneta Coliseum taking in a PBA or UAAP game. It does make me wonder how the hell she finds the time to watch all this basketball. Isn’t she supposed to be, I dunno, doing ambassadoring or something? Maybe this is why it took so long for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to get an audience scheduled with Barack Obama. Then again, maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.

Continue reading "Chris Tiu’s hot birthday date"

It wasn’t as bad as their performance in the opener, but Powerade Team Pilipinas suffered another setback in its second game in the 31st William Jones Cup in Taipei. The host’s Team A survived a second-half charge by our boys to come away with an 86-77 victory.

The Nationals’ shooting woes continued to haunt them at the start of the game, as the Taiwanese opened with a 12-0 run to begin the game and kept the Filipinos at bay for most of the first half. But Powerade Team Pilipinas caught fire in the second half, cutting the lead to three by the end of the third quarter.

Continue reading "Jones Cup day 2: Chinese Taipei’s Team A repulses Powerade Team Pilipinas rally"

The Jordanian national team wiped the floor of Taipei’s Hsinchuang gymnasium with the Powerade Team Pilipinas yesterday, 90-59, as hostilities opened in the 31st Jones Cup. And yes, the 31-point drubbing was every bit as awful as it sounds – the only reason I watched the game all the way through is because I’m a masochist who commits to watching even the ugliest blowouts. Yeng Guiao certainly has his work cut out for him.

The sky is not (yet) falling, however, and we ought to take this loss with a grain of salt. Or maybe take two grains, for good measure. Consider:

Continue reading "Jordan gives Powerade Team Pilipinas a rude awakening"

Just wanted to pass this along for everyone enjoying the lazy weekend:

Continue reading "Pic of the Week: Kirk “Brüno” Long and Mark “Pretty Boy” Barroca"

So the San Miguel Beermen are the champions of the 2009 PBA Fiesta Conference, hammering Ginebra, 90-79. The Beermen led from start to finish, frustrating every comeback mounted by the Gin Kings.

I know I picked Ginebra to win, but I also offered a caveat that San Miguel would win if Marc Pingris went berserk (in a good way). And go berserk he did, punishing Ginebra’s small forwards on the block and off the offensive boards, so much so that Ginebra coach Jong Uichico was forced to counter with a big lineup. It worked in game 5, when David Noel had a good shooting game, but in game 6 and game 7, it paralyzed the Gin Kings offense. Ginebra’s halfcourt sets were uglier than Dorian Pena and Mick Pennisi.

Continue reading "SMB wins! SMB wins! SMB wins!"

Well, the long and short of it was that Ginebra didn’t have it last night. Sure, San Miguel played tough defense, and kept the Gin Kings at bay, but it all came down to Ginebra not having anything last night.

Hey, it happens. A couple of days ago, I talked about Jong Uichico’s major gambit of playing big against San Miguel (with Willie Wilson and Rafi Reavis logging heavy minutes), and it caught up to him in game 6. Like I mentioned, the plan works if David Noel shot well, but Noel had a miserable game, and so did the rest of his team.

Continue reading "San Miguel beats up hamstrung Ginebra, forces game 7"

And you wonder why this site is named Fire Quinito. Our favorite columnist went to the WWE Smackdown/ECW house show at the Araneta Coliseum last Friday. Now, I didn’t see the show myself, but I usually catch the reruns of the wrestling shows on weekend mornings, and I’ve been an on-again, off-again fan my whole life, so it’s not hard to see just how utterly ridiculous Quinito’s report on the show was. He was disappointed about the whole card (big names like the Undertaker, Edge, and Batista all missed the show due to injury), and his prescription to make it better? A main event featuring Mark Henry vs. the Great Khali.

Continue reading "Quinito Henson doesn’t know shit about wrestling either"

The Powerade Team Pilipinas is off to Taipei tomorrow to compete in the 31st William Jones Cup, the team’s final stop before starting their campaign in the Fiba-Asia tournament in August, where they will aim to qualify for next year’s World Basketball Championships.

The tournament has attracted a lot of marquee teams especially in recent years, as its Taiwanese organizers usually shoulder the travel cost for the various competing teams – often Asian national teams looking for high-quality tune-ups before Fiba-Asia. In the 2007 edition of the Jones Cup, our national team had several impressive outings, including a victory over the Iranian national team coached by Rajko Toroman that ended up winning that year's Fiba-Asia championship and qualifying for the Olympics.

Continue reading "Powerade Team Pilipinas schedule and TV listings for the Jones Cup"