#BeerYear

Dynasty.
(Photo credit Sports5.ph) 

It has been a very good harvest for the San Miguel Beermen at the close of the PBA's monumental 40th PBA season. We saw two more teams added into the already unpredictable mix of PBA franchises duking it out conference after conference, not to mention us having to bear with the "joke" that is Manny Pacquiao, certified PBA playing-coach, plus the first ever jam-packed opening game held at the jaw-dropping Philippine Arena in Bulacan.

So in a way, it is only fitting that the league's oldest remaining ballclub has finally rid itself of its demons a.k.a. Petronovela and has continued its winning tradition. This year, the Beermen took home both the PBA Philippine and Governor's Cup though in contrasting styles versus the same opponent (Alaska Aces). In the first conference, while you could say that the Beermen looked dominant, they traded for old hand Alex Cabagnot to replace starting point guard Sol Mercado. This didn't have much of an effect, and the Finals dragged on to the whole seven games that took an Arwind Santos ballsy clutch triple to seal the deal.

In the third conference, versus the very same Aces, the Beermen just steamrolled right through with Cabagnot being a huge factor on both ends. Sure, they had the services of super import AZ Reid, but the Aces were armed by Best Import awardee Romeo Travis and we doubt that they would use his shortcomings as an excuse.

PBA GC Finals: (1) Alaska vs (2) San Miguel

Will the Muscle Man
be as effective vs SMB?
(Photo credit: Sports5.Ph)

This is starting to become more than just a rivalry between two stellar Cabalen basketball prodigies.

Welcome to the PBA Governor's Cup Best-of-Seven Finals between the conference's number one ranked Alaska Aces and their Philippine Cup Finals nemesis and champion, second-seeded San Miguel Beermen.

It wasn't a walk in the park then for the Beermen en route to the title, we don't see it being any different now in the season-ending championship series.

This series goes beyond Calvin Abueva and Arwind Santos fighting for the title of Pampanga's Best.

PBA GC SF: (2) San Miguel vs (3) Rain or Shine

JMF and AZ are going to be
tough to handle in the paint for RoS
(Photo credit to Sports5.Ph)

In-season na ba magtanim ng strawberries?

Here's the deal: Rain or Shine lost to San Miguel, 91-104, in the eliminations despite having awesome performances from Wendel McKines (19 points, 10 rebounds), Jericho Cruz (11 p), Gabe Norwood (12 p) JR Quinahan (12 p) AND Paul Lee (17 p 6 r 3 assists). How did the Beermen do it? Arizona Reid (36 p 11), Junemar Fajardo (22 p 18 r) and a little bit of everything from everyone else.

That was in the Eliminations. When Marcio Lassiter was being hounded by trade rumors and wasn't at his very best. Now? We just saw Lassiter mercilessly drill three ball after three ball to bury the Meralco Bolts and lead the team into this very same Semifinals match that we're trying to break down.

Sure, RoS has Jeffrei Chan back. But what and who is a three-point specialist like Chan when compared to a two-way player like Lassiter (IMHO arguably the best today)?

As an RoS fan, please let us speak in a more honest tone for this "analysis."

PBA GC QF: (2) San Miguel vs (7) Meralco

Meralco needs another vintage performance
from El Granada to win
(Photo credits Sports5)

"Oh, so you helped oust your sister team? You better make damn sure you win."

Fantasy monologue from Manny V. Pangilinan to his Meralco Bolts team, which lost to Kia and helped close the door on sister team's Talk'n'Text Tropang Texters chances of making the Playoffs.

Uh-oh.

They won against San Miguel, 106-95 with Andre Emmet exploding for 31 points and 11 rebounds plus the aide of a vintage Gary David performance with 23 markers. That being said, AZ Reid was not at his very best (sick), while Junemar Fajardo was left all by his lonesome by his local brethren.

Now?

Fajardo is playing like he always does. Reid is back to being Mr. A to Z. The rest of the crew are delivering, namely Marcio Lassiter and Alex Cabagnot. This Beermen, which finished 2nd overall, look like the same Beermen squad that won the PBA Philippine Cup (only with Reid cast in the Arwind Santos role).

Can the Bolts beat the Beermen?

Believe in the Reid

AZ be like "so many stars to pass to!"
(Photo credits to Sports5)

Two (and a half) conferences previously played. Two PBA Best Import Awards. Zero titles.

This is what drives the San Miguel Beermen's 6"5 import, Arizona Reid, in the ongoing PBA Governor's Cup wherein his team is tied with the Alaska Aces on top with a 7 wins and 2 losses record.

This is why he came back, wearing different threads but still sporting the same "attack first" mentality.

A new day for the Beermen

Infectious energy and hustle from Mr. A to Z
(Photo credits to Sports5.ph)

We will be the first ones to admit it.

We were unfair, unjust and downright mean.

Mean, in expecting the San Miguel Beermen to just steamroll through the opposition the rest of this season after their PBA Philippine Cup title romp which appeared to have put all of their fans' frustrations of the last few years re: on and off-court chemistry to rest. Unfair and unjust, in writing and tweeting so many things about how the Beermen perhaps needed a shake-up, or that guys were "coasting" rather than just buying into the whole "they are tired/ exhausted/ injured" excuse.

So after spending much of the PBA Commissioner's Cup looking and playing like an expansion team, the Beermen are now back in the PBA Governor's Cup with a much more respectable 4-2 win-loss record. Now THIS, is what we expected last conference. A team that's just loaded with superstars, even if they unloaded some guys during the start of the season and since then, should always be in contention atop the standings and nowhere near the cellar.

We are sorry for the hate in the 2nd conference, but in some ways, we were also right.

The Disease of More

Anyare?
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

The great Miami Heat team president and former head coach Pat Riley is known for many things on the basketball court, but his greatness and wisdom traverses the constricting 94 x 50 feet measurement of paint and Maple wood.

Somewhere during our adolescence, we stumbled upon one of his leadership lectures' handout which preached about "The Disease of Me"-- now we can't recall the manuscript as it was written, but do remember something about "how much easier it is to be selfish, instead of being part of a team and learning to sacrifice."

And that brings us back to the continued struggles of the San Miguel Beermen.

Because seriously, this team needs some hour(s)-long counselling.

Denied, Eliminated

Giants in the PBA
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

It's tough playing in the PBA-- with the demand and expectation of management, family, friends and fans. To try and play at a very high level, and once there, to maintain it all throughout a grueling season of limited respite and recluse.

While eight teams will carry on into the Playoff rounds of the ongoing PBA Commissioner's Cup, four will be denied entry. Three of which have already been made clear to the masses: newcomers Kia Carnival and Blackwater, and newly-minted PBA All Filipino Cup titlist San Miguel Beer. The fourth one will be decided later on today, if it's going to be the AFC 2nd placers Alaska, or Global Port (depending on how Alaska's match versus Barangay Ginebra turns out).

Silver lining of course is that the four eliminated teams of this conference (plus performance in the 1st conference, so there's some math to be done) will be allowed to bring in imports of unlimited height (compared to the Top 8's 6"5 ceiling) plus an Asian reinforcement of their choosing (6"4 ceiling).

Here we take a look at what went right and wrong for the three teams that have been eliminated, and how their chances are going into the next conference.

Uphill climb for the Beermen

From A to Z, Reid does it all for SMB
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

The good: the San Miguel Beermen are starting to actually resemble the PBA Philippine Cup champion version of themselves. The bad: they need to win their remaining games to get proper Playoff positioning, and teams to not win so much. The ugly: one of their two remaining games will be against old rivals, Talk'n'Text Tropang Texters which is currently seated atop the standings with a 6-2 win-loss record.

So that's the Beermen's current predicament: an uphill climb to stay relevant in what was supposed to be "phase 2" of their Grand Slam quest this season. If they can't win against the Texters (and Global Port), then they'll have to pray the best they can and maybe go on a tour de force of church visits from Manila to Pampanga to Cebu to hope that they can make the playoffs (re: other teams start losing, scoring margin computations, etc.).

But can they do it?

2015 PBA All Star Game: Thoughts on the North Squad

The PBA Commissioner's Cup will be taking a brief respite from all the high-octane action and "Joke-gate" as they take the PBA All Star Weekend to Palawan as a fitting way of thanking their fans (that's you and me) while also recognizing some of the best players today.

Now while we don't want to rain on any one's parade here, we wish that the PBA would actually go back into bringing in the "best of the best" to play in the ASG instead of merely making it a "wide open, who's got more fans to vote you in even if you're a bit player" race. Looking at both starting line-ups for the North and South teams, there are quite a number of guys who honestly shouldn't even be starting based on stats and overall impact for their mother teams.

"E sikat e."

Let's take a look at the North Squad:

The Hangover

Where to, Captain?
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

What's going on with the San Miguel Beermen?

The newly-minted PBA Philippine Cup champions find themselves winless in three games so far in the PBA Commissioner's Cup, despite the superhuman efforts of 6"9 reinforcement Ronald Roberts and the supposed "powerhouse" frontline pairing of him and reigning PBA MVP Junemar Fajardo.

To make things worse, their most recent defeat came at the hands of newcomers, then-winless, BlackWater Elite which are more and more looking like their rivals, Team MVP's, farm team.

Head coach Leo Austria was reported to have said something like being "embarrassed" about his team's display so far.

As he should.

Instant classic

Pampanga's, no, the PBA's BEST.
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Kindly excuse us for this rather late reaction to what has turned out to be an amazing, "instant classic" PBA Philippine Cup Finals between the eventual champs San Miguel Beermen and hard-fighting Alaska Aces.

To be quite frank, we were simply left in awe about how the Best-of-Seven series (which went the full distance) captured the magic of true Filipino basketball. Nothing fancy, no shootouts or one team trying to showboat over the other, but just quality, grind-it-out, matira matibay basketball. What was first being sold as a "vintage" match-up between two of the most dominant teams in the mid 1990s, quickly became a series of its own with the Aces' inspiring run to the top behind a battlecry that preaches #wenotme and the Beermen's quest to quash any #larongmayaman tags and to exorcise whatever demons and drama it has had to deal with the last two or three years.

For the champions, the Beermen, Arwind Santos stood tall when his young fellow PBA MVP Junemar Fajardo was under attack. He set the tone early in the series by not letting the Aces' and its star Calvin Abueva get into any of his teammates' heads by way of physicality. Santos let his game do the talking, even when he wasn't exactly taking the lead role on offense. He battled like the Arwind Santos of old. He was probably pushed into going back to his old self by the challenge that is the young Abueva. We were all reminded, in a span of seven games, why every one thought of Santos as a one of a kind talent in the whole Philippine basketball world. At the same breath, we were also left to rue what could have been, had this Santos showed up the previous years, and maybe joined Gilas Pilipinas as arguably the best and most versatile wing/high post defender in the land.

The 2015 PBA Philippine Cup Finals so far

Win or lose, the Aces' loyal fans
are starting to grow in number with each day
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

If only we could extend this 2015 PBA Philippine Cup series from a Best-of-Seven to maybe a Best-of-Eleven or Thirteen or Fifteen or... then we'd be constantly be treated to hard-fought, instant classics akin to the same competitive fire of yesteryears (when players weren't multi-millionaire franchises scared of being called out on social media and played all out if only to make a name for themselves). Oh yes, the PBA Finals that has the San Miguel Beermen ahead 3-2 against the Alaska Aces have drawn in so much interest that even fans of other basketball teams have gone on to either 1) watch the games on television or live or 2) wish that their own teams played with the same intensity and desire.

Here's what we know: the Beermen are an invincible unit when their "Fab 5" are on the court: that's reigning PBA MVP Junemar Fajardo, former PBA MVP Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot, Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter. These five guys are absolute beasts and could easily be the starting core for Gilas 3.0 (barring any politicking and drama).

Resbak

There is a wise old saying that goes something like: "you will never know who your true friends are, not until you are in the face of adversity."

If you have been paying attention to the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup Best-of-Seven Finals between the Alaska Aces and San Miguel Beermen, "adversity" would be putting what the Beermen are going through a bit too kindly.

See, this is a team whose core has been together for maybe a good two or three years now but has always fallen short-- be it to injuries, drama or personal agendas by certain players. This season however, they have bought into a more "team oriented" philosophy and are actually going out of their own way in standing up and stepping up for a fallen comrade. Now you can see them laughing at one another, with one another. Now they just keep playing when someone takes a bad shot or, like Chris Lutz in Game 1, makes a giant booboo. They are there for one another, there is an obvious bond nowadays that was not always as transparent in recent memory.

PBA Philippine Cup Finals: San Miguel vs Alaska

Pampanga's Best
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Welcome to the PBA Philippine Cup Best-of-Seven Finals wherein arguably the two most complete basketball teams, San Miguel and Alaska, square off to decide which proud franchise brings home the coveted Jun Bernardino Trophy.

On one side is powerhouse San Miguel Beer, now seemingly exorcised of all its demons and drama, which is looking to win its first All-Filipino championship since the glory days of the now exiled Danny Ildefonso and Danny Seigle in 2001. On the other side are the Alaska Aces, a team that has slowly rebuilt its basketball program to fit the modern era and its new core of mostly blue collar talent.

Here we try to look at the match-ups, where the strengths lie for each team and who can turn the tides when need be. Based on the names on the roster, it's easy to give San Miguel the advantage but then you realize that the Aces feature guys who are just as good yet have managed to fly under the radar owing to their #wenotme battlecry.

Back in the shadows

Back to basics
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Since it's the holidays and most families are agog over the ongoing Metro Manila Film Festival, we would like to ask you one question: what makes for a great movie hero?

Is it the actor? Or is it the people who allow him to shine brightest? Sometimes it is the female lead who adds depth to the hero, others, it is the villain-- sometimes, it is the sidekick or supporting actor who helps establish the hero and hides his flaws.

Arwind Santos, former PBA Most Valuable Player, is not fit to take the lead. He posts eye-popping, stat-stuffing numbers, but as history would suggest it does not always end up with wins or titles. Hell, he's not even the guy his own fans, San Miguel Beermen fans, would want taking the last shot (do not even try to contest this now known fact).

He is however, an awesome Best Supporting Actor: working in the shadows, doing what is necessary to help make the hero even more heroic, and the film, even better. Dennis Padilla to Robin Padilla. Bayani Agbayani to Cesar Montano. Sorry for having named comedians, as we are not big on serious local drama flicks. Oh, there's one more-- yung bespren ni Popoy sa One More Chance.

PBA Semifinals Predictions: San Miguel Beer vs Talk'n'Text

The wild, wild west
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

It's funny how the last four teams and how they are paired in the PBA Philippine Cup Semifinals can be compared to that of the NBA's two conferences. The Eastern Conference is known for its slow, low-scoring and almost ugly grind-it-out basketball while the Western Conference is appreciated more for its gun-slinging, fast-paced action.

You could say that the "uglier, NBA Eastern Conference-style" basketball will be played by the other PBA Philippine Cup pair: Rain or Shine versus Alaska, while the "prettier, NBA Western Conference style" will be captured in the Best-of-Seven series that we are about to tackle, that of San Miguel Beer versus Talk'n'Text.

PG Alex Cabagnot/ Chris Ross vs Jayson Castro/ Ryan Reyes/ Jimmy Alapag 
Nice to have you back on the team Mr. Cabagnot, now let's see you try to exorcise your hero ball demons and try to lead the Beermen into the PBA Finals without disrupting team chemistry both on and off the court. While Sol Mercado would've been a much better match-up against the power point men of the Texters, Cabagnot theoretically will be able to cancel out his counterparts in terms of point production. For every bucket Castro scores on Cabagnot (which he will), Cabagnot can return the favor ten-fold owing to his steady outside sniping and one-on-one ball-handling skills. Ross is going to be his usual, hard-working defensive self but will be overmatched in this series owing to his "average" frame. Ross won't be a threat offensively, which is not something you'd want versus the Texters' guards (you'd want to make them work on both ends as much as possible). We'd love to say that Jeric Fortuna would be a big help for the Beermen's cause, but then you'll have to realize that the Texters' THIRD string point guard nowadays is a guy named JIMMY ALAPAG.

Iba ang may pinagsamahan

Larong mayaman?
Basta laro lang.
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Iba talaga yung kasama mo yung mga tropa mo, mga kuya at bunso, mga kakosang alam mo na lalaban kasama ka pagnagkagipitan o kaya pag gumawa ka ng kalokohan at nagkahulihan, e magsisinungaling para sayo kahit hindi mo senyasan. Alam ng mga manginginom yan. Ng tropa. Yun ung mga oras na nahuli ka ni misis gabi umuwi tapos tatanungin niya sempre si kumpareng kasing pulang kamatis at amoy chico mo pero susubukan kang ipagtanggol at ilusot para sa isa pang bagong umaga.

Ganyan ang takbo ng San Miguel Beermen ngayon. Noon, nananalo sila (sa simula) dahil sa likas na galing at talento lang ng mga manlalaro nila. Ngayon, iba na. Hindi na sila nag kakanya kanya, hindi nagdadamutan o nagtatampuhan sa loob ng court. Kung sino lamang, diskarte. Kung sino ang mainit, doon tayo. Walang pa-MVP. Kung gusto mo magpaka star, magpaka star ka sa loob lang ng sistemang tinatakbo ng Coach. Yun nga pala isa pang malaki, iisa lang ung nasusunod ngayon sa bench, si Coach Leo Austria.

A new day

#ThankYouGilas

A runner-up finish in the 2012 FIBA Asia championships, a Jones Cup title, a lonesome yet historic victory in the 2014 FIBA World Cup and finally, a seventh-place finish in the SouthEast Asian Games...

... and with that, Gilas Pilipinas-- from head coach Chot Reyes to the defiant and valiant captain Jimmy Alapag, is no more. Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas' (SBP) President Manny V. Pangilinan announced it just recently, that we will no longer see this version of the Philippines' Men's Basketball Team lovingly called "Gilas." Others have gone on to social media to express their thoughts. Some call it a travesty, an over-reaction to the Asiad debacle. Others say that it's been a long time coming and perhaps, another camp (Team San Miguel Corporation) should take charge.

Whatever it may be, know that this is not a dark day in Philippine basketball but rather a bright one.

Moving Forward: The Gilas Program

While the current batch of Gilas Pilipinas stalwarts try their best to salvage whatever is left of their 2014 Asian Games campaign, we deem it necessary for the program not to be hastily aborted but rather to be reevaluated.  While it's always easy to pin the losses and off court drama on Gilas head coach Chot Reyes (the "shoot at our own rim because we didn't do our jobs in regulation to reach quotient versus Kazakstan" ploy is unforgivable though), we feel that he's still the man for the job.

Tim Cone, the country's winningest PBA coach, is not going to coach the national team any time soon as long as he's under the San Miguel corporate banner and the Gilas program under rivals, Manny V. Pangilinan's. So there goes that option. Yeng Guiao, the other winningest coach in recent years next to Cone and Reyes, has already gone on record to decline any future invite.

We can keep throwing names around such as Norman Black or Jong Uichico, but Chot Reyes has delivered in what he had initially designed/ planned for Gilas: to put Philippine basketball back on the world map.