Powerade Team Pilipinas stalwarts Jared Dillinger, Gabe Norwood, Asi Taulava, Jayjay Helterbrand, Japeth Aguilar, and Ryan Reyes hit the streets of Beijing shortly after the Fiba-Asia Championships and sampled some of the exotic local food. Dillinger and Norwood are both providing updates on Twitter, along with other PBA players Kelly Williams and his brother-in-law Lamont Waters.

The late, great David Halberstam had an awesome quote from Hall of Fame forward Julius Erving about professionalism: “Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don't feel like doing them.”

Continue reading "Fiba-Asia Championships: Jordan knocks Team Pilipinas out in their quarterfinal matchup"

Defending Fiba-Asia champions leaned on Memphis Grizzlies center Hamed Haddadi and superstar swingman Samad Nikkah Bahrami who combined for 46 points to turn back a game Team Pilipinas in a matchup between two countries with unpopular presidents and citizens who have taken to the microblogging platform Twitter. It can be recalled that protesters in Iran used Twitter earlier this year to protest the electoral victory of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while Twitter trends have been affected by various Filipino memes, most notably former President Corazon Aquino’s death, but also various other crap like the last SONA, the UP-Ateneo upset, and the book blockade.

Continue reading "Fiba-Asia Championships: Iran beats Team Pilipinas in the Battle of Twitter"

South Korea made the Team Pilipinas snipers look like the Wonder Girls (*point-clap-clap-point-clap*) tonight as they held the Philippines to miserable shooting all game long. Willie Miller, Jayjay Helterbrand, James Yap, and Gabe Norwood threw up enough bricks to build a full house (heh), while Korea capitalized on missed rotations by the Philippine defense down the stretch en route to winning their third straight game in the competition.

Continue reading "Fiba-Asia Championships: Korea wants nobody, nobody but chu, hands Team Pilipinas its first loss"

Ok, before going on with my report on Powerade Team Pilipinas-Korea game in the 31st William Jones Cup, which ended with a 83-80 loss for the Nationals, here’s a message to all Filipino basketball fans:

CHILL THE FUCK OUT.

SERIOUSLY.

Continue reading "Jones Cup day 6: Korean shooters make it rain in the clutch, down Powerade Team Pilipinas"

It’s back to the drawing board for Yeng Guiao and his troops, after perennial Asian powerhouse Lebanon handed Powerade Team Pilipinas their fourth loss in 5 games in the 31st William Jones Cup in Taipei, 95-83. NBA journeyman Jackson Vroman and veteran center Brian Beshara flustered the Philippines, scoring 24 and 29 points, respectively, including 38 of the team’s 50 points in the first half.

The twin tower combination came out firing in the first quarter, which ended with a 30-19 lead for Lebanon. The Nationals were kept at bay for most of the second quarter before James Yap strung together 7 quick points to end the half to cut the lead down to 8, 50-42.

Continue reading "Jones Cup day 5: Lebanon’s twin towers frustrate Powerade Team Pilipinas"

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"

There's so much to be said for the classic finals match-up between Ginebra and San Miguel, and we'll get to that in a bit, but first, I wanted to write about the semifinal victims: Rain or Shine, which finally ran out of gas against Ginebra, and Burger King, which got beaten from pillar to post by a rampaging Beermen squad, who were probably inspired by their hilarious new commercial.

Continue reading "PBA Semis: Curtains draw for Rain or Shine, Burger King"

I am a huge fan of Slate's series of How To Fake Your Way Cocktail Chatter series. I am expressly acknowledging that I am ripping them off in this post. Enjoy.

So your buddies are all agog over the PBA Semifinals, but you don't know Arwind Santos from Vilma Santos? Here's a handy guide for everyone who wants to be instant basketball experts.

Continue reading "PBA Fiesta Conference Semifinals cheat sheet: Ginebra-Rain or Shine, San Miguel-Burger King"

Well, at least give him points for trying.

Lacking the explosiveness of fellow local contestants Gabe Norwood and KG Canaleta, Talk N Text forward Jared Dillinger went all out with a gimmick worthy of Dwight Howard. For his first attempt, he made a running start towards the basket for an alley-oop care of teammate Jimmy Alapag, but Alapag waved him off. Dillinger ran to mid-court and stripped his Talk N Text jersey to reveal his Manny Pacquiao outfit, complete with boxing gloves.

Continue reading "Jared Dillinger almost steals the show in PBA slam dunk contest with Pacquiao jam"