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"

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"

Before tonight's game 4, the PBA will have its annual awards (rechristened the Leo Awards in honor of former PBA commissioner Leo Prieto), where it'll announce selections for the season's Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, and a host of other awards.

Continue reading "PBA annual awards, Game 4 up tonight"

With Bert Lina back in control of the franchise, Burger King is back making lopsided trades, trading all-star Cyrus Baguio and Celino Cruz to Ginebra and Purefoods, respectively, on Friday in exchange for a bag of Ei-AJi potato chips little-used swingman Aaron Aban and future draft picks. From the story, team governor Lito Alvarez indicated that Baguio had been unhappy with his role with the team, but if you believe that, then I have a Burger King branch to sell you.

Continue reading "Burger King now selling players again"