The Mightiest?

#PUSO... wait, what?
 

Before we proceed, let us first congratulate the Mighty Sports – Philippines team that swept the recently concluded 2016 William Jones Cup en route to the gold medal.

We would like to commend Al Thornton, Vernon Macklin, Zach Graham, Migchael Singletary, Hamady N’Diaye,Dewarick Spencer, Troy Gillenwater, Jason Brickman, Jeric Teng, Leo Avenido, Sunday Salvacion, Larry Rodriguez, TY Tang and head coach Bo Perasol for a job well done. They opted to wear the “Philippines” on their jerseys, and they did not embarrass us in any point of the tournament.

They did however, directly or indirectly, send a few wrong messages.

Gary David is no LeBron. And he shouldn't be.

He shoots. They follow.

While this writer strictly adheres to his own "No NBA" policy (because "there are other, more interested men" as said by Thomas Wayne on Batman Begins. And seriously, who needs another NBA blogger when we have friends like Voltaire Lozada who's one of the under-rated yet rising minds out there?), let's just use the high and mighty, 3x NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James to better quantify or argue for/against the perceived reputation among fans/haters of one Gary David.

What uniform he'll be donning by next season is up in the air, but this we all know for sure-- he'll definitely be suiting up for PILIPINAS this coming FIBA Asia tournament. He will also be expected to provide the outside shooting opposite Smart Gilas 2 teammate Jeffrei Chan of the Rain or Shine. Now, the thing that has grown bothersome/ tiresome really is some fans perception of David as being a glorified ballhog. To the point that they've made fun of Mico Halili's "El Granada" moniker and changed it to "El Buwaya."

An MVP without a ring

What a year for Gary David

It's still too early, and Barangay Ginebra's Mark Cagouia could suddenly lead his team all the way to the finals and at the very least salvage 1st runner-up (tying Powerade's Gary David's feat this season) but based on all the statistics, David is in line to win the PBA's coveted Most Valuable Player award at season's end.

Granted, the one factor that trumps even the greatest of points-rebounds-assists/ efficiency averages: the media and players' votes, could overturn such ruling but you cannot make an argument against David. There's just no point in making one. The man averaged 25 to 30 plus points at different times in all three conferences, the Tigers' offense ran through him and he's the only player in recent memory since San Miguel's Nelson Asaytono that has the green light from the coaching staff to keep shooting 'til his arms fall off.

Good Defense > Good Offense

Big Game James' new well-rounded
game trumps David's electric scoring

Yesterday's "semis-positioning" game in Legazpi City between the BMeg Llamados and Powerade Tigers proved not only to be entertaining on all fronts, but the adage that "good defense will always triumph over good offense." The Llamados won in overtime, 110-98, but it was more than just a Wild Wild West shootout.

Granted, both teams scored in amazing fashion with the score locked at 90 a piece at the end of regulation. But once we hit OT, the Llamados buckled down to work defensively and crashed the boards while the Tigers were starting to shoot blanks-- with season Most Valuable Player frontrunner Gary David, the Miracle Man, obviously tiring out.

What to make of Powerade

Yan yung larong Arriba Letran!  

Are they here to stay, buying time or are on they way out?

Those are the questions tacked on the insides of my brain whenever the Powerade Tigers hog the limelight by virtue of the scoring prowess of ace Gary David. It's really hard to measure the value of a PBA superstar specially when you know he's on a team that's probably not going to make deep runs for the foreseeable future.

Not when they opted to trade away David's true successor and the 2nd most important player in their rotation the last two conferences in rookie Marcio Lassiter. Yes, JVee Casio has been gifted with more than the lion's share of Skip Bayless' precious "clutch gene" but you don't build teams around point guards. It's either a wing or a big. That's it.

Act a fool

Coach Bo Perasol is losing his guys one by one

After going on public to dismiss any other and all trade rumors concerning the Powerade Tigers in the PBA after sending Marcio Lassiter to Petron, team executive Ronnie Ascuncion (the guy who replaced the respected JB Baylon) went back on his word and did what should be Phase 2 to the "master plan."

Big man Doug Kramer, who enjoyed a prolific Philippine Cup before struggling to find minutes in the big import-flavored PBA CC, was sent to the Barako Bull for undersized veteran power forward Jondan Salvador. Now, by all accounts, there was a time that Salvador could be argued as the better and more polished post player of the two. But as far as their PBA careers go, Kramer is on his way up the ranks of solid bigs in the mold of Dorian Pena and Sonny Ali Peek, while Salvador is being shipped from one team to another as an end-of-the-bench rotation player ala  now new Tigers teammate Alex Crisano.

Lassiter, David ambush Petron in Legazpi

Pinoy Jordan, Pippen and a pocket-sized Toni Kukoc

The way things are going, the Chicago Bu, erm, Powerade Tigers are on their way to another impressive run this Commissioner's Cup behind the torrid shooting of KKS Bataan Bomber and super rookie Marcio Lassiter. In last night's game, the Tigers pretty much caught the Petron Boosters with their pants down and just slaughtered them from one end of the Legazpi City basketball court to the other.

With Tigers' import Dwayne Jones proving to be too much for counterpart finesse big man Nick Fazekas, David and Lassiter pretty much cherry-picked their way to open and uncontested jumpers finishing with 25 and 23, with Lassiter adding 11 boards on plenty of weak-side rebounding.

If at first you don't succeed...

Rabeh: big man who could
balance the Tigers' attack

After PBA Commissioner Chito Salud vetoed the initial trade that would've sent the Powerade Tigers' super rookie Marcio Lassiter to the Petron Blaze Boosters for little used sophomores Noy Baclao and Rey Guevarra, a new deal is reportedly in the works.

Clearly, both teams are in connivance to somehow make sure that Lassiter ends up with the Boosters regardless of the names that they have to send over to the Tigers. As of this writing, rumors have it that temperamental power forward Rabeh Al Hussaini will take Baclao's spot in the revised offer.

Personally, this would be a better deal since it gives the Tigers a reliable, scoring big man and a back-up guard rather than a player whose best (defensive) years were spent in college (the added weight obviously hasn't helped Baclao one bit-- it has only slowed him down and made him even more of a liability since his offensive skills are quite limited inside the shaded lane as a drop-pass/ offensive rebound/ putback option).

In God's Time for Gary

Best Player of the Conference. Hands of fire and yet no rings.

Already a late bloomer by PBA Draft standards, Gary David made his way into the pros via the Coca Cola Tigers who took him 10th overall at the ripe old age of 26. Chot Reyes, then Tigers' head coach, took the Bataan native after an impressive PBL showing in which he was named MVP while playing for the Montana Pawnshop Jewelers.

Some of his draftmates include Top 5 picks Rich Alvarez (Shell), James Yap (Purefoods), Marc Pingris (FedEx), Ranidel de Ocampo (FedEx) and Sonny Thoss (Alaska). This writer shudders to think what would've happened had then Aces' coach Tim Cone opted to build his triangle offense around David instead of Thoss. He'd have the Michael Jordan-type scorer ideal for his Tex Winter-orchestrated system which, paired with David's loyalty and low-key demeanor, would've been flat out awesome to behold.

Enough of the what if's then and back to David's chances of ever winning a PBA title as a prime contributor. Zandro Limpot, Jr. suffered the same fate as David, going through several years posting what would be deemed today as LeBron James-like numbers for Santa Lucia. There was nothing the 6"6 Surigao del Sur native couldn't do on the hard court. He could score from all angles, post-up, play defense, block shots and even handle the ball from end to end.

What he didn't have to show for from being drafted in 1993, traded to Ginebra for Marlou Aquino in 2000, and again in 2004 to Purefoods until 2005 was a PBA championship. He came close a couple of times, but was never smiled upon by the heavens.

Limpot's only title came in 2006, where he was sparingly used by coach Ryan Gregorio at Purefoods in favor of young Marc Pingris, Kerby Raymundo, James Yap, Roger Yap and PJ Simon who were all on the verge of superstardom. He was 35 at the time, much like David is 34 now.

The biggest difference of course, is that Limpot was already at the tail end of his career while David seems to be defying all odds in an effort to capture that which eludes him most. David shouldn't be scoring 30 points a game anymore, with young teammates such as JVee Casio and Marcio Lassiter all but ready to take over. He shouldn't be playing close to 40 minutes a game (considering his age) and yet his head coach Bo Perasol has no qualms about keeping him on the floor over his younger peers (who are proving to be rather injury prone this early in their careers).

You'd think that he shot his team out of the Finals much like Nelson Asaytono did a decade ago with San Miguel and Allen Iverson in 2001 with the Philadelphia 76ers to get his 30 points clip but no. David did it with great efficiency, averaging 34% from deep and 40% from two. Numbers that don't really jump out at you, but still high considering the pressure placed on him to carry the brunt of the Tigers' "all or nothing" offense.

At one point during the conference, David admitted that he even questioned himself-- being the only guy from that FedEx/Air21 team a few years back that couldn't get over the hump. Arwind Santos was traded and won big with Petron. Ranidel de Ocampo was traded and likewise found success with Talk 'n' Text. But how come no one has ever asked for David? How is it that teams seem to be uninterested with arguably the league's best scorer up to this very day? We live in 2011, and if certain powerhouse teams want a player, they usually get him no matter what (welcome to the PBA).

But the one thing that you'd have to give David credit for, is even though people call him out for his defensive deficiencies, and how other SGs in the PBA have made the big leap to stardom (something that didn't come as soon for the 34 year old), he stuck to his guns-literally- and played/ plays the way he knows how.

Will David ever win a title in the PBA? Is it the validation his career needs?

A great shooter/ scorer named Reggie Miller retired without a ring, and no one faults him for that. He is loved for it, respected and admired.

For now, it's all in God's time for Gary.

Keep shooting!

Welcome idol! Bataan Bomber > El Granada. Pumayag ka na boss
(Please ignore the picture above. Pero pwedeng i-add sa Twitter kung naisin)

Bo's to blame

Can Coach Bo get the Bataan Bomber a ring before its all over?

Much has been said about the Powerade Tigers’ unbelievable, nay, magical run to the PBA Philippine Cup Finals. Hurdling powerhouse and top seed B-Meg Llamados in two games before prevailing over the gritty, well-balanced yet youthful Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the semifinals.

Alas, the magical ride has to stop somewhere much like it did for Cinderella when the clock struck 12.

The Tigers’ stayed true to form, sticking to what brought them to the big dance—enticing opponents to play their style in a good, old fashion shootout where their advantage in top notch scorers are highlighted and failures at the defensive end are, at the very least, minimized.

Problem is, they are doing it against a team that has no qualms about playing any style of basketball—the defending champions, Talk ‘n’ Text Tropang Texters.

Perasol has his Tigers believing in themselves and having each other’s backs on the floor—an admirable trait and commendable act for a coach. His words to the media are fixated on positives such as “believing,” “fighting” and “winnable.” But we all know the truth.

In game 3’s most crucial moments, Perasol failed to call time-outs TWICE. One right after Jimmy Alapag’s lead-getting three pointer in the dying seconds—forgotten/ forgiven only because of JVee Casio’s heroics. And the other, in overtime when the Texters were starting to pull away and his Tigers were bent on just throwing up shots and not running plays for each other.

Another mistake was Perasol entrusting Sean Anthony, who was playing out of his mind on offense (and, well, on the defensive end but to a negative slant) to try and guard a rampaging Ranidel de Ocampo (Dr. de Ocampo) in the 4^th. Yes, they had the luxury of having the lead at the time, but the Texters were slowly chipping away and drawing fouls which is the biggest reason why TNT almost won in regulation.

Some of the other “what ifs” that can be taken against Perasol is his opting for trigger happy point guard Celino Cruz (who made some timely baskets in the series, to his credit, but still shoots too much and does a lot of “heat checks”) over rookie free agent Rudy Lingganay (who, just months ago, was arguably the ASEAN Basketball League’s best PG and almost got his team into the Finals).

Another one is Ricky Calimag. A sturdy power forward who has a knack for drilling in top of the key jumpers, this guy has the muscle to make things difficult for Dr. De Ocampo and more discipline than Alex Crisano (who has been sparingly used in the Finals, thank God). For Perasol’s sake, we pray that Calimag’s injured or hurt otherwise, he could’ve been a big contributor for the Tigers’ weak frontline.

When the Tigers escaped the Elasto Painters in seven games, Perasol admitted that he was coaching for his job together with his staff. That team manager JB Baylon has put them all on notice (probably because they had the best line-up possible since the Chot Reyes-Jeff Cariaso years). Right now, we don’t see Perasol receiving the boot just yet. Not with this impressive showing and system (more or less) that has been bought into by the Tigers’ and its growing number of fans.

We do pray however, the Gary David (now 34) wins a title at some point while he’s still in his prime and not a la Jun Limpot (who won it at the end of his career with Purefoods).

Big Doug's House

Big Doug's got the Bataan Bomber's back

Doug Kramer, the Powerade Tigers' anchor in the paint, took time to develop in the pros after being drafted 5th overall by the Air21 Express. Little did everyone know back then that the burly forward/ center would mature and become a key contributor to a struggling franchise's title hopes.

It's not that we haven't seen Kramer play this role before (as he did with the JC Intal-led Eagles), it's just that we had doubts if he was too "pogi" for the PBA's rugged style of play that will have him literally trading elbow shots to the face with the Dorian Penas, Ali Peeks, Beau Belgas, JayR Quinahans and the like.

Then he got his tooth knocked out during a rebound skirmish a few months back.

That's where his approach to the league changed from KKS' view. He fought for rebounds before, but never really bothered to dish out cheap shots and use his frame to the hilt. Not anymore. This year, he was released by the same team they just eliminated, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, to the Tigers. He no longer had to play   in a rotation heavy system. He was going to get a chance to shine. He also had veteran bangers to learn from- Rommel Adducul and Alex Crisano.

From the start, Kramer's role was clear: rebound, intimidate and set bruising screens for his superstar guards Bataan Bomber Gary David, Marcio Lassiter and JVee Casio. He played freely under coach Bo Perasol, allowed to take (and make) his pet 15-17 ft jumpers which made the Tigers' even more of a threat if they continue to develop their Pick and Roll play (when that happens, they'd be near impossible to guard because the P&R sucks in a lot of defenders and would open up the floor for the other two knockdown shooters on the court).

During the RoS-Powerade series, Kramer averaged 10 points and 11 rebounds in only 30 minutes of burn. Those are numbers that don't really jump at you from the get go (when compared to elite bigs in the PBA- but then again, who else is left? JayR Reyes?), but considering his place in the Tigers' offensive hierarchy- those are damn near solid.

Heading into the PBA Philippine Cup Finals, Kramer will have his work cut-out for him non-stop. The newly-unleashed Ranidel De Ocampo is wreaking havoc as the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters' new main man in their re-modeled offense, Kelly Williams is athletic and quick, Japeth Aguilar will have his day jumping all over the place and lastly, Ali Peek is Ali Peek.

But make no mistake about it, while all the attention will rightfully go to the Tigers' high scoring trio of Lassiter, Casio and the Bataan Bomber, Kramer is just as invaluable if they are to win their first championship under the Bo Perasol era.

PS

We're still waiting for that Kenneth Duremdes comeback. One more game. One more game.

Powerade continues Cinderella story, enters finals

In a semifinals match-up that the young Rain or Shine Elasto Painters never fully understood, the Powerade Tigers led by the Bataan Bomber Gary David and his Hitmen won in seven games to march onto the Philippine Cup Finals.

Balik PBA Finals na ako! 

Just when observers thought that the Elasto Painters have finally solved the Tigers' high-octane attack, they fall back into their old habits and allowed the Tigers to shoot freely-- believing in their own coach's philosophy that "shooters are bound to run out of bullets."

Apparently not.

Time and again the Elasto Painters failed to close out on several of the Tigers who survived a rare off night from  star Gary David but had plenty of help from battle-tested rookies JVee Casio and Marcio Lassiter.

And since we're on the subject, Mico Halili, you are starting to become the new Quinito Henson. No one finds "The Smurfinator" cute. Seriously man. We're all basketball geeks/ fanboys here, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.

Was drafting JVee Casio the answer to the Tigers' Cinderella run to the Finals?

Possibly.

Because when David started drawing blanks, Casio was there to pick up the slack and shoot the team back into the fight.

But the real credit should go to Marcio Lassiter.

The hard-working small forward is the sole reason why the Tigers' have made it this far, with his rare combination of lockdown, hard-nosed defense and solid offensive game. Without him, the Tigers' would've been just another trigger happy team with has-been bigs and back-up point guards at the helm.

But the Tigers isn't just about the Big 3 alone. They have solid role players, and arguably another unheralded Atenean alum in big man Doug Kramer.

The beefy center/forward is one of the biggest reasons why the Elasto Painters' guards were unable to slash into the basket at will. He also set up some Grade A sturdy screens for his guards on the other end of the floor.

Congratulations to Tigers' head coach Bo Perasol. He'll probably never be given credit for his coaching exploits, but the man has led two different teams to the Finals and stuck through thick and thin despite hellish, D-League worthy line-ups (Air21) and mish-mash rosters (Powerade).

For Rain or Shine, there's nothing but positives to be gained from this conference. The immaturity is undeniable but with that comes potential. Paul Lee may not be the best rookie in the 2011 PBA Draft, but he is the best fit for this once soul-less team. Jeffrei Chan continues to become one of the league's deadliest snipers while JayR Quinahan and Beau Belga are bound to become top-tier power forwards in the PBA (had they been taller, they'd be beastly as centers subbing for the other).

As for Gabe Norwood, well, he's like the poor man's Lamar Odom. He puts up the numbers, but not when they count. For all the talent that he has, he shies from pressure situation and settles for the easy way out.

There's no point in going around with this, Yeng Guiao was pretty much out oached the entire series except Game 6 when RoS buckled down to work and finally slowed the game down.

Can the Tigers continue their magical run and bag the Philippine Cup title?

We'll touch on that later.

Tigers' Trap

Teams be warned: Do not engage
the Bataan Bomber and his Hitmen in a shootfest

For teams wanting to imitate the Powerade Tigers' run and gun attack which has paid dividends (so far): be warned. Not all run and gun teams blitz their way to the Championship. They usually either face a disciplined team with a strong willed coach and system in place OR run themselves to the ground and shoot blanks due to fatigue.

Credit goes to the Tigers' coaching staff for minimizing their weaknesses (absence of Class A floor generals) and maximizing their strengths (shooters). JVee Casio, a point guard only by size and position but not by game, is more scorer than facilitator. And while die-hard fans would quickly point out his assists numbers from time to time, it's more of having deadeye shooters to play with instead of creating scoring opportunities.

Gary David, Kili-Kili Shot's resident Bataan Bomber, is also another player whose negatives are being taken off the spotlight in favor of the positives. We've seen games wherein he'd try to shoot his team back into the fight by putting up back to back to back three balls even when it's not going in.

Do we hear his team complaining or commentators calling him out? No.

Because the Tigers' frenetic pace allows the action to quicken therefor making you forget that just a play ago, David air balled a shot or was responsible for the violent murder of a hapless tailed wall-crawler. Ditto with Casio and even Marcio Lassiter.

Another Tigers' weakness that is being covered for by their high octane offense is their lack of overall defensive discipline.

Undisciplined teams (or those given too much free rein by coaches) often fall into the Tigers' trap of trying to outpoint the opposition and pushing the pace at an insane, Mike D'Antoni level. The Tigers of course, enjoy the upper hand in such scenarios because while the other team would settle for a quick two, they have guys who have enough credibility to hoist quick threes and live to tell about it.

This is the very same tactic used by NBA coaches such as Greg Popovich and Phil Jackson when their teams face wildcards such as the Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns of years passed and in some ways, the pre-2011 Dallas Mavericks.

Their teams are not caught into the allure of a high scoring game and they send out their guards to control the tempo at all times. Emphasis is placed in their post players to further grind away on the shotclock and keep possessions at a minimum.

This isn't rocket science or anything new, Jackson and Popovich didn't create this coaching scheme. So it's quite surprising that old reliables such as B-Meg's Tim Cone and now, Rain or Shine's Yeng Guiao, allows this to continue.

Had Cone been with the Llamados long enough, he'd surely have more control of his team (who probably felt that they had enough firepower to outgun the Tigers, not realizing that they had scorers instead of shooters).

Guiao? We'd be silly to think that he hasn't thought of this (RoS displayed the ball control we've been looking for the whole series in Game 6), but the way he coaches his players- by letting them loose on the floor and making themselves accountable that's the only reason why the Tigers are still in the fight and could very well be looking at their first Finals appearance under the Perasol-led RUN David-Marcio-Casio era.

Bataan Bomber needs a sidekick

Panginoon, pakibalik po ung laro ni Lassiter para sa Game 2

Last night's PBA Pinoy Cup Semis Game 1 Powerade Tigers loss to the Rain or Shine Elastopainters further cemented what many already know: teams need more than a superstar (no matter how great) to win.

Gary David displayed yet again just how good a scorer he is (and lately, consistently as opposed to the previous years, 20 points one game, 10 the next) and just how better he is offensively than some of the overhyped, flashy guards in the league. Problem was, despite his 30 points (17 in the first half), there was nothing the Bataan Bomber (KKS will keep using this monicker until it sticks) could do to stop the balanced RoS avalanche.

This is not a knock on David, but he is and will always be a scorer. Already in his 30s, don't count on him to add a post up game or develop a drive-and-kick 5 assists per night mentality. That's not who he is, and that's not something he should bother with.

The real problem here is Marcio Lassiter's abysmal 1 for 7 shooting. The usually reliable, do-it-all Scottie Pippen to David's Michael Jordan failed to live up to the hype and probably had a case of rookie semis jitters.

Was he saving up his energy for defense? That's doubtful. Not with RoS rookie counterpart Paul Lee exploding for 25 and marksman Jeffrei Chan for 27. Jayvee Casio tried to put up a fight with 12 markers, but his lack of creativity goes beyond the 9 assists that he norms per outing (that's what playing beside sharpshooters would do for your stats, ask the Boston Celtics' Rajon Rondo who is a great player in his own right, but you'd be joking to rank him over Chris Paul and Deron Williams).

RoS' gameplan was run to perfection: let the Bataan Bomber run amock, but keep everyone else in check. On the flipside, the Tigers couldn't figure out which player they wanted to really stop to disrupt the RoS offense because of the latter's spread out, "call your own number if you're open" philosophy. Yesterday it was Larry Rodriguez. Don't be surprised if Ronnie Matias, Jervy Cruz or even Ryan Arana break free in the coming games.

Against the BMeg Llamados, they went up against a team that was a bit too overconfident and loose and enjoyed an insane shooting clip from David, Casio and Lassiter. With RoS, the Tigers will need more than just the Bataan Bomber to advance to the Pinoy Cup Finals.