For what seemed like an eternity in the third quarter, the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team was so bad it couldn’t hit water if it fell off a boat. Fortunately for the throng of Filipino fans who showed up at the Philsports Arena, Mark Barroca caught fire in the fourth quarter to lead the team to a 74-64 victory over a surprisingly competitive Duhok squad of Iraq.

Barroca poured in 8 of his 14 points in the final period, sparking the team after a nightmare third quarter that saw Iraq cut a double-digit SMART-Gilas lead to three by the end of the period. He scored six straight points after Iraq made its last run, pushing the Philippine lead to 14, 74-60, and putting the game out of reach.

Continue reading at InterAksyon.com

Trailing by 1 point at halftime against the Westsports KL Dragons of Malaysia, a disappointed Rajko Toroman had a simple message for the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national squad:

“We’re a better team than this.”

Continue reading at InterAksyon.com

I’m filing reports on Smart Gilas in the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup for InterAksyon.com, the official news website of TV5. If you’ve been following this site from the very beginning, you’d appreciate the delicious irony of me covering the team for a website of a media company owned by Manny Pangilinan himself.

Anyway, yeah, click here for my report on tonight’s spanking of Saudi Arabia, starring the much-maligned Japeth Aguilar himself. Hopefully he’ll continue to play this well when the competition gets better. Also, check out the schedule, ticket, and TV info if you wanna see the games yourself.

Venue: Philsports Arena (formerly Ultra), Pasig City
May 28 to June 5, 2011

PARTICIPATING TEAMS

GROUP A
Jordan (ASU)
Malaysia (WKL DRAGONS)
Irag (DUHOK)
Saudi Arabia (AL ITTIHAD)
Philippines (SMART GILAS)

GROUP B
Lebanon (AL RIYADI)
Qatar (AL RAYYAN)
U.A.E. (AL SHABAB)
I.R. Iran (MAHRAM)
Syria (AL JALAA)

Continue reading "2011 FIBA-Asia Champions Cup: TV coverage, schedule, ticket information"

The Smart Gilas Pilipinas national team has competed twice before in the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup since the squad was first organized, and could now be considered veterans of the tournament. Only months after it was formed, Gilas saw action in the club competition in 2009 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Powered by former import CJ Giles, the team ran off to an impressive 3-1 record in the preliminary round of the tournament. But the team lost wind in the knockout quarterfinals round, bowing to the Al-Arabi team of Qatar. The team managed to win its last two consolation round games to salvage fifth place.

The team traveled to Dubai for the 2010 edition of the tournament. Gilas barely made it past the preliminary round with a 1-3 record, before losing to Lebanon’s powerhouse Al-Riyadi team. The national team won its final game to finish seventh in the competition.

Continue reading "Foreign teams’ coaches wary of Smart Gilas ahead of 2011 FIBA-Asia Champions Cup"

Since the end of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, the Internet has been abuzz with blind items and rumors about trades that were being discussed by teams around the league. The first domino fell last night, as Waylon Galvez of the Manila Bulletin reports that the Alaska Aces have sent do-everything forward Joe Devance to the Air 21 Express in exchange for the talented if underachieving Jay-R Reyes, pending approval from Commissioner Chito Salud.

Continue reading "Alaska trades Joe Devance for Jay-R Reyes"

I’ve been a fan of SLAM since high school, and up until a few years ago I still bought the magazine every month, until the hefty price tag (~P500-P600 a pop) made me reassess its place in my life’s list of priorities.

Continue reading "SLAM Philippines out now!"

Got a text message earlier this afternoon from Pacific Rims author and occasional Fire Quinito contributor Rafe Bartholomew. He’s been back in town for a few weeks now, and he has some great news to announce about his book:

Great news! The paperback of Pacific Rim will be released tomorrow. This is two weeks before the U.S. release, and I would be honored if you could join me at the book launch. It’s tomorrow, Saturday, May 21 6:30 PM at National Bookstore Bestsellers, 4th Floor Robinsons Galleria. Hope to see you there!

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to swing by tomorrow because I’m in Caramoan for the weekend. But show Rafe your love and head on over to Galleria tomorrow. He’s got all the details in his blog, and he made it clear he’s willing to sign chests – male or female.

The PBA hasn’t had a particularly interesting All-Star Game since 1989, the year when the midseason matchup became an annual event. For most fans going into the game, the big storyline was the reunion of Ramon Fernandez and Robert Jaworski, stalwarts of the old Toyota powerhouse team who had since been estranged.

As a diehard 7-year-old Purefoods fan, however, I couldn’t care less about the Veterans; my heart was for the Rookies-Sophomores team through and through. The youngsters included five players from my favorite team: sophomores Jojo Lastimosa, Alvin Patrimonio, and Jerry Codiñera, and rookies Nelson Asaytono and Dindo Pumaren. Conversely, the Veterans were comprised mainly of stars from my team’s hated rivals San Miguel, then in the middle of its Grand Slam season, featuring Fernandez, Samboy Lim, Elmer Reyes, Yves Dignadice, and Hector Calma.

Continue reading "The 1989 PBA All-Star Game"