MANILA, Philippines - Spitfire guard Jayvee Casio floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee, and the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national squad played rope-a-dope against Al-Jala’a of Syria in a come-from-behind 85-80 win in the quarterfinals of the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

Casio was brilliant throughout the game, providing the only glimmer of light in an otherwise dim opening half that saw the Philippines trailing the Syrians, 34-41.

While Casio scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the first half, the rest of the team shot miserably, making the rim bleed by making just 11 of 32 field goal attempts.

Former NBA first round pick Samaki Walker, meanwhile, dominated his matchup against naturalized SMART-Gilas center Marcus Douthit early in the game, scoring 16 points in the first half for Al-Jala’a. Syrian hotshot Micheal Adanly added 14 points to fuel Syria’s hot start.

But it was a different story after the halftime break, as Casio, Douthit, Chris Lutz, and Japeth Aguilar conspired in a furious 10-4 run to start the third quarter. Aguilar’s three-point play with 1:37 gave SMART-Gilas a 56-55 lead that it would not surrender for the rest of the match.

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.

Veteran coach Yeng Guiao has left the Air 21 Express to join the Rain or Shine Elastopainters. The news was confirmed to GMANews.TV by current Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia, who will slide down to become Guiao’s deputy on the bench.

Continue reading "Yeng Guiao ends tumultuous run with Air 21, takes his talents to Rain or Shine"

I rushed to the Ninoy Aquino Stadium tonight after a long day of work in the field just in time for the tipoff of Smart Gilas versus the Jordan national team. Gilas actually played well in the first half, taking a first quarter lead and keeping in step with the taller Jordanians at halftime.

Continue reading "Smart Gilas struggles against Jordan"

So the rumors are true: Greg Slaughter, the 6’11” star center of the University of Visayas Green Lancers, is now redshirting for the Ateneo Blue Eagles to be eligible for the 2011 UAAP basketball tournament, Quinito Henson reports in his Philippine Star column. While Quinito downplays Slaughter’s transfer to Katipunan, instead playing up the center’s improvement while training with the Smart Gilas program, the story may have far-reaching implications.

Slaughter first flew to Manila to train with Gilas, a team bankrolled by SBP chairman Manny Pangilinan, who’s also the top patron of the Blue Eagles. It couldn’t have been coincidence that Slaughter chooses to transfer to the same school sponsored by his Gilas principal. Pangilinan pours huge money into Ateneo sports – “between P10 million to P12 million” a year, according to one Inquirer report – and it’s not hard to imagine him or his minions exerting influence on the SBP to steer Slaughter into making the “correct” decision.

Continue reading "Holy crap, Greg Slaughter really is transferring to Ateneo"

After a crazy quarterfinal round, the stage is set for the PBA Philippine Cup final four. The cast features 3 teams that belong to the San Miguel Corporation, which again reinforces perceptions by the league’s critics that the PBA is an SMC league. Some even say that the PBA is set up so that SMC teams would always end up on the winning end of most tournaments.

The grand conspiracy argument doesn’t hold much water. If it were true, there’s no way Sta. Lucia would have won the 2008 Philippine Cup over Purefoods in a close seven-game series wherein James Yap was suspended for one game for the same flagrant 2 penalty called on Ranidel de Ocampo last Friday. Imagine David Stern suspending Kobe Bryant on an iffy call in an NBA finals series against a team like the Milwaukee Bucks.

Continue reading "The SMC League"

Like I said a few posts back, I welcome any insight about the Smart Gilas squad, given that a lot of people really care about the promising team. A Smart Gilas insider (I know who he is, but for obvious reasons couldn’t disclose the identity) left a very interesting comment on my last post about the team. I’m republishing the most interesting parts of his comment here for more people to see:

Continue reading "Random thoughts from a Smart Gilas insider"

If you follow Philippine basketball, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that there was a fight in this afternoon’s game between Burger King and Smart Gilas. Yeng Guiao’s teams, after all, have been known to play a physical brand of basketball, and between the Guiao-Toroman issue and the Japeth Aguilar controversy, there’s enough bad blood between the two teams to know that the air would be combustible.

But who figured that the fight would be between Burger King point guard Wynne Arboleda and a heckler later identified as Alain Katigbak, a fan of Smart Gilas and Ateneo and a friend of Chris Tiu? (UPDATED: Chris's brother Charles left a comment clarifying that the Gilas team captain does not know the person involved, contrary to Fidel Mangonon's earlier tweet.)

Continue reading "Fight mars Burger King’s victory over debuting Smart Gilas"

Rain or Shine Elastopainters

Looking back: Rain or Shine had a breakout season in 2008-2009, making it out of the wildcards for the first time in the Philippine Cup and, with import Jai Lewis, going all the way to the semifinals in the Fiesta Conference. After getting a pair of dynamic rookies in Gabe Norwood and Sol Mercado, coach Caloy Garcia installed a new system predicated on spacing the floor and dribble-penetration, similar to the dribble-drive motion offense ran by John Calipari.

Continue reading "Fire Quinito 2009-2010 PBA preview, part 2"

Alaska Aces

Looking back: Alaska started the 2008-2009 PBA season well, as the team came a Willie Thriller layup short of winning the Philippine Cup. The loss, however, seemed to weigh heavily on coach Tim Cone’s wards, and an unhappy Aces team finished second to the last during the Fiesta Conference. Things got even worse in the offseason when star guard Miller asked to be traded, a request Alaska denied.

Continue reading "Fire Quinito 2009-2010 PBA preview, part 1"