Alaska is perhaps the most Internet-savvy organization in the PBA. Its coach, Tim Cone, has been holding court on Twitter for several months now, sharing invaluable basketball knowledge to fans. We had this initial exchange a few months ago.

Me: “I hope you do continue with your candid tweets, coach. I’m sure everyone appreciates it. You’re almost turning me into an Alaska fan. Too bad I’m dyed in the wool for Purefoods. Heck, I’m still bitter about the ’96 All-Filipino.”

Tim Cone: “At least you’re different. You could be like everybody else and be a Ginebra fan! Chot is still bitter too, by the way.”

Even their team owner, Fred Uytengsu, is known to browse certain blogs and give fans a piece of his mind. So it should come as no surprise that Alaska, long the choice of egghead Pinoy basketball fans, enjoys quite a following online, with a lot of meaningful blog posts dedicated to the team.

On top of the list, of course, is my idol and Alaska fan no. 1 Rafe Bartholomew (author of Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin' in Flip-Flops and the Philippines' Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball, available for pre-order now!), who wrote a must-read entry about the team on his blog a couple of days ago. Rafe enjoys a unique perspective, joining the team for the better part of the 2006-2007 season as part of his research for his book. He focused on Alaska’s up-and-down record the past few years, and tried to figure out why this happens:

For players, it's much easier to buy into the team ethic during good times. When Alaska's on a roll, the team really does feel like a family. Willie Miller's pranks will have the entire team and coaching staff in stitches, players will show up unannounced at JoLas's summertime clinics for kids and step in as coaches, and you'll find half the team sitting around a bank of Monoblock tables at Metrowalk, drinking San Mig Lights and making kuwento. Players who came to Alaska from other teams or left the Aces to play elsewhere said that while locker rooms are always tight-knit, nothing compares to Alaska.

In bad times, however, everyone seems more aware of the business side of basketball. The coaches, feeling like their jobs may be endangered if they don't produce wins, get short-tempered with the players. Fewer won-game bonuses come in, and players gripe more often and more vehemently about their salaries. They start to question the coaches' judgment: Does a younger player deserve my minutes? Why should I lead the team if there are older guys to take that role? Why do we have to spend so much practice time on the triangle?

The excerpt doesn’t do it justice, really. Go read the whole thing.

Also, if you haven’t read it yet, make sure to check out Rafe’s piece about Rosell Ellis and Alaska’s 2007 Fiesta Conference championship run. It’s some of the best writing about the PBA ever printed.

Elsewhere, great Alaska writing can also be found at Maverick’s blog. It’s from the perspective of an Alaska fan who is still bitter that Ginebra’s Chris King thoroughly dominated Alaska’s Kevin Holland back in the 1997 Commissioner’s Cup. His masterpiece is a walkthrough of the team’s 1996 grand slam, a must-read for Alaska fans.

Anyway, I saw Alaska in action during the first round of eliminations, last November 22, in a win over Purefoods, a blowout so awful that I had a Twitter rant when I wasn’t even drunk. Anyway, here are some thoughts about the Aces, in bullets:

• Before anything else, let me revive my campaign for Willie Miller’s nickname to simply be Willie Thriller. Not Willie ‘The Thriller’ Miller, not ‘Thriller’ Miller, but just plain Willie Thriller. It’s cool, and it rolls off the tongue. On the off chance that anyone from the PBA broadcast crew reads this, please take note. It’s Willie Thriller.


• Alaska tried out a different approach in guarding James Yap, starting LA Tenorio out on the Purefoods gunner and sending a double-team. It’s a common enough technique that San Miguel also employed in the semifinals. I also remember former Talk N Text coach Derrick Pumaren going with the same tactic a couple of years ago in the playoffs. Larry Fonacier and Jeffrey Cariaso also took turns manning Yap. Alaska stopper Tony dela Cruz never got the assignment, which is curious because he’d had some success against Yap before. Then again, putting dela Cruz on Yap would leave Alaska’s shooting guard on Purefoods’ small forward, which is usually either Marc Pingris or Rico Maierhofer. That’s no fun.


• The thing I was most impressed by Tenorio was not his court generalship, which was superb, or his shooting, which has become a truly dangerous weapon for him. It was his defense. He now plays defense like Paul Artadi (and if you’ve seen Artadi put pressure on the ball, you’d know that’s a great thing). What makes it so remarkable is that, unlike the much more skilled Tenorio, Artadi has to play defense like that to stay in the league. It’s that feistiness on defense that’s making Tenorio special. A team just gets so much more energy when its lead guard puts pressure on the ball.


• Also, all that annoying extracurricular crap that Tenorio used to pull back with Ateneo and San Miguel? He doesn’t do it anymore. That’s a good thing, because it’s the kind of crap that gets him punched. In fact, Roger Yap already punched him.


• Not enough has been made about Willie Thriller’s role in Tenorio’s development. Miller has been superb all conference long, picking his spots while handing most of the playmaking chores to his backcourt mate. There’s also his amazing transformation into the true leader of the team. He keeps everyone in line, and when he’s on the bench, he rabidly barks out instructions and paces the sidelines like an assistant coach. It’s like he has designs on Luigi Trillo’s job. At this point, it’s possible that Trillo just remains on the Alaska bench to look cute.


• I had a good joke about some other coach possibly being insecure about Luigi Trillo’s good looks on the other bench, but I remembered I can’t crack those jokes anymore.


• Everyone’s focused on the Alaska backcourt this conference, but Sonny Thoss might be the most important player in the Alaska lineup, anchoring the team’s halfcourt defense while finishing cheap layups off the guards’ dimes on the other end. Getting him in foul trouble is sound strategy, but Alaska’s wingmen do such a great job at preventing penetration so Thoss is rarely out of position on the rotation.


• There are a lot of great matchups in the series, but here’s a matchup I’m excited about that no one’s talking about: Reynel Hugnatan and Marc Pingris. Hugnatan does for Alaska what Pingris does for Purefoods. Hugnatan has less hops, but he has a buntot in his hair, so it’s a push. Dapat, magpustahan silang dalawa ng ice tubig.