The Living Legend

June Mar Fajardo. 6x PBA MVP.
Photo: CNN Philippines

Author's note: Isn't it funny how just a week or two ago, most of us were scrambling, racing against time, trying our best to meet deadlines, submit reports, pay bills and so on? Now we find ourselves trying our best to live each day to the fullest, trying our earnest not to cross the line between being safe and paranoid altogether. 

Here is our long overdue take on the greatness of one Philippine Basketball Association player, an individual who, no matter what happens moving forward, has already cemented his legacy and name in just about every Filipino sports annals. 

Happy reading, and please do stay at home if you can. 

Just about every sports writer/ influencer/ fan/ blogger has already written about the PBA's unrivaled 6x Most Valuable Player June mar Fajardo. Of how a quiet 6"10 Cebuano rose to fame from the province, before moving to the ASEAN Basketball League as a sparingly used bench warmer (we can't even call him a role player at the time) and then the PBA. Sure, he still looks lost in the scheme of things whenever he is asked to play for flag and country. But when given the time, the play, the opportunity to show his wares, he has always handled himself pretty well against the best of them.

And not once did we hear any news of him not wanting to play. If he's healthy, he'll suit up. In spite of the fact that whoever's been coaching the national team, tends to run a more perimeter oriented style rather than making full use of Fajardo and the 6"11 import Andray Blatche.

He'll suit up for flag and country. No questions asked.

PBA GovCup SF: Ginebra vs Northport

At this point, I'm just surprised that The Dean
hasn't given him a moniker yet.
(Photo credit: Sports.inquirer.net)

Talk about Never-say-die.

On one hand we've got the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, a powerhouse team on paper that continues to live up (or down, depending on which Kabarangay you're asking) to its glorious reputation. The team finished the PBA Governor's Cup as the 4th seed, starting a bit slow before turning it up in its last few games. On the other, you've got the Northport Batang Pier which was arguably on its way to packing its bags this conference following the injury to prized rookie point guard Robert Bolick before somehow landing national skipper Christian Standhinger (and prior to that, the trade that sent its other star guard-- Stanley Pringle to, well, Ginebra).

So we know what we're going to get with Ginebra. The offense runs through super import Justin Brownlee, and whenever he's around (like Meralco and Allen Durham), every thing just falls into place. Only, it was pretty obvious that they had a bit of a rough patch in trying to balance out the offense between Brownlee and Pringle. After those two guys, there's Japeth Aguilar, L.A. Tenorio, and a bit of Scottie Thompson.



Which brings our attention to the 8th seeded North Port. They recently made waves for that gruelling triple overtime upset of the 1st seed NLEX Road Warriors. Standhardinger is turning a lot of heads and making his case for Best Player of the Conference despite the fact that he was only recently traded to North Port by San Miguel. Their import, Michael Qualls, can do a little bit of everything and has the speed, length and athleticism to cover positions 3-5 in the PBA setting. Then there's the energizer bunny known as Sean Anthony, who, IMHO, is a modern day Rudy Hatfield.

This is going to be fun. The onus will be on who can dictate tempo from the get go. Also, if Ginebra can use its size to the hilt to really put the pressure on North Port with their height in the paint. The problem here is, North Port has the bigs, the bruising, elbows-out kind, that their Ginebra counterparts' are "allergic" to.

L.A. Tenorio vs. Nico Elorde
The pressure will be on Tenorio to once again lead Ginebra to victory. But it won't be easy versus Elorde, who is proving to be quite the tough defender who wears opponents down by simply sticking to them like a shadow.

Stanley Pringle vs Kevin Ferrer
Ferrer will get on Pringle's nerves in one of these games. But Pringle will need to make his presence felt enough for Brownlee and the rest to be able to operate freely and not be doubled. On paper, North Port has a few other big/ long guys like Sol Mercado and Paolo Taha to throw at Pringle just to give him different looks.

Scottie Thompson vs Sean Anthony
As good as Thompson has been for Ginebra as a relentless junkyard dog type, he's going to probably find himself matched-up against a mirror image in Anthony (if Coach Pido doesn't waste Anthony on Brownlee). Anthony can do just about everything Thompson does for Ginebra, only, he's bigger and has better range.

Justin Brownlee vs Michael Qualls
The thing about Brownlee that we've always found impressive is that, and maybe it's because he's been wearing the red, white and yellow for so long, he's no longer just a "scorer."

Japeth Aguilar vs Christian Standhardinger
We love Aguilar like the next guy, and have grown to appreciate what he brings to the Ginebra cause. But Standhardinger is cut from an old school, no excuses, no b.s. kind of cloth that every single Ginebra fan has been wanting to see from their own collection of bigs (everyone from Aguilar to Joe DeVance to Greg Slaughter). The kind of player who, as we say in Filipino, "nakikipagpalitan ng mukha" just to score a basket/ grab a rebound/ make a play. Sure, CSH flops and flails, but he also plays with a lot of passion and purpose. This isn't as simple as when Ginebra guards the 5x PBA MVP Junemar Fajardo with Slaughter (bigger) or Aguilar (longer) as he tries to back them up. CSH forces the issue and often gets those guarding him in foul trouble by simply bulldozing his way inside. Major problem.

Prediction: Ginebra is going to be in a lot of trouble. A team that doesn't always appear to be playing at 100%, going up against a team that is hungry and has a lot of burning desire to prove their critics wrong. Should Ginebra go big? They have the tools for it, but chances are North Port steps on the gas and leaves Slaughter et. al. behind. Also, it takes away Thompson who does a lot of things for Ginebra.

X-factor: Pick any one of the ex-Ginebra guys who are all going into this match-up with huge chips on their shoulders. Kevin Ferrer might sink a few treys. Jervy Cruz is going to throw some elbows.

Gut feel? North Port. But my brain says Ginebra.

Your thoughts? @kilikilishot on Twitter

Ganado pa din

Just a little bit more
(Photo credit: interaksyon.com)

Congratulations, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel!

You may not have won the PBA Philippine Cup title, but as far as Coach Tim Cone and the "Cone Era" goes, you guys are still on the right path. One championship, two finals conference appearances in only four conferences. With those two appearances being played minus your cornerstone, 7"0 Greg Slaughter. That says a lot about the team, where it is right now, and where it is headed.

So don't fret. Us "haters" will try our best to milk the whole "kang kong" rib, because once Slaughter comes back and Coach Tim makes a few more adjustments, it might as well be our very last time to make a laughing stock out of you guys.

Give us a break, you already outnumber us non-Ginebra fans a million to one, so anytime we can get a rib in we will.

1st runner-up.

That's not so bad.

Rocky Road

The Rock is on The Road to..
(Photo credit to the owner)

Well, the writing was indeed on the freaking wall.

The NLEX Road Warriors' 6"10 slotman Asi Taulava has officially requested team management for a trade after seeing his minutes and contribution to the team cut down by new head coach Yeng Guiao. This is not him being "selfish," but rather him coming to grips that Guiao's run and gun, spread-out offense is not suited for a low post banger such as himself. Specially not a 43-year-old one whose illustrious PBA career is already on borrowed time.

If you chanced upon our column on FoxSportsAsia.com; you would know that system-wise it was simply a bad fit for the Fil-Tonggan. Sure, he was averaging an "ageless" 14 points and 10 rebounds last season while also playing a lot as one of the team's anchors on both ends, but Guiao has never built his offense around one single player. He may give guys a few touches here and there (Paul Lee at Rain or Shine, Davonn Harp/ Enrico Villanueva at Red Bull), but he will never call successive plays for any one.

It's official

The Beast
(Photo credit: FIBA.com)

Better than nothing.

The Philippine Basketball Association has finally agreed (and put into writing) to lend at least one active player to the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas' Gilas men's pool. This pretty much assures us that we will no longer have to bear witness to this ugly Team MVP vs Team SMC "Silent War" which has robbed the national cause for (at least) the last four to five years.

Obviously, we opened this entry on a bit of a negative light because some teams (from the SMC fold) have more than one player who could be of use to Gilas. But hey, it truly is better than nothing, right?

Assured to be on loan are the Gilas cadets:

F8 rewarded

It's been a long day...
(Photo credit: inq.net)

It took eight years and what now seems like a platoon of coaches before Barangay Ginebra San Miguel won another PBA championship, but last night everything just fell into place.

Coach Tim Cone was outsmarting his counterpart on every turn; the team held a 3-2 series lead; the other team’s (Meralco) most defiant soldier—Jimmy Alapag, was hurting; Ginebra’s aging duo of Mark Caguioa and Jayjay Helterbrand were rallying the "kids";  and no less than the Ginebra beloved Robert Jaworski, Sr. was in attendance. 

The near buzzer-beating triple by import Justin Brownlee, to break an 88-all lock, was icing on the cake.

41st Leo Awards Fallout

He's got the whole world, in his hands
(Photo credit to the owner)

What a season it has been for the Philippine Basketball Association-- controversial commissioner, ugly gossips, banned media man, terminated marketing head and all.

We will let certain people worry about it, as we only truly care about the sport of basketball and the players (and coaches) involved. Like we previously said and will forever maintain, we will laugh at all the gossips and rumors (through Twitter), but we will not write about it on this blog as we prefer to keep this one all about basketball.

No backdoors involved.

Yesterday was Game 4 of the 2016 PBA Governor's Cup Finals AND also the 41st Leo Awards which recognized and celebrated this season's best individuals. Here we try to offer our two cents' worth on the winners:

Samboy Lim Sportsmanship Award - Junemar Fajardo
Where did this come from? Fajardo's one of the nicest guys on the court and all, but uh... okay, he gets fouled a lot and hardly retaliates so that's well and good. It also sets a good example and puts a nice spotlight to an otherwise "blah" award that people don't really care about. Here's a high-usage rate player, the PBA MVP, playing the game the right way and not at all concerned with theatrics, show-boating or even the hard fouls.

2016 PBA GC Finals: 3 Ginebra vs 4 Meralco

"Yo, you take on LA okay?"
(Photo credit: PBA.Inquirer.net)

When was the last time that both the lower seeded teams in the Semifinals faced off in the PBA Finals?

Usually, a higher seed (or two) are almost, always locks for a spot(s) in the title series. However, in the 2016 PBA Governor’s Cup, we saw both the 1st ranked TNT Katropa and 2nd San Miguel Beermen fall at the hands of this entry’s protagonists who are ranked lower and should technically be “weaker.”

Right?

Wrong. They just beat the top seeds, so their being supposedly “weak” is moot.

First to make it into the PBA Finals are the Meralco Bolts of Coach Norman Black. After an embarrassing campaign to open the season, the Bolts’ true form started to surface once they were able to work with a dominant center as reinforcement. We saw flashes of how good the team could be in the Commissioner’s Cup when they had mammoth import Arinze Onuaku and now we are seeing even more with Allen Durnham.

On the other side of the fence are the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel; already destined and penciled in for greatness after acquiring the services of 2x PBA Grand Slam coach Tim Cone earlier this year. While they are missing the services of 7”0 slotman Greg Slaughter, everyone has appeared to step up and rally around import Justin Brownlee who was not even their original choice to start the conference.

Two grand slam coaches, two team-oriented philosophies: who wins?

Will you still love me tomorrow

#WhatIf
(Photo credit: spin.ph)

Twenty-four names forming the Gilas Pilipinas pool were given to FIBA by head coach Tab Baldwin early this year. By now, we all know that he has trimmed it to 14 and will most likely cut two more names (or put them on the FIBA OQT reserve list). And, while we do not want to throw shade at any of the 14 men who made the cut, we just wanted to take this opportunity to see where those who did not make it stand.

The Replacement : Moala Tautuaa
Tautuaa has always been considered as “Naturalized Player Plan B” should Andray Blatche not return in game shape for Gilas. Some have reported that Tautuaa was supposed to reinforce the Cadet squad in the a FIBA-sanctioned tournament recently held in Thailand, but opted to go on break instead. As a basketball fan and patriot, that is kind of off-setting. But Tautuaa probably had his reasons, and in his place Troy Rosario basically killed it as the Cadets’ senior, local, reinforcement.

Para sa bayan ?

(Photo credit: Rappler.com)

This was bound to happen.

Outgoing Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Manny V. Pangilinan recently confirmed that steps have already been taken to form a new Gilas Cadet squad akin to the SMART Gilas group of 2009. This is primarily due to the recent adjustments made by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to its basketball calendar.

See, the FIBA will no longer hold qualifying continental tournaments beginning 2017 and will instead hold a series of home-and-away matches in a year. This will basically make it difficult for the SBP and the Philippine Basketball Association (and any other professional league such as the NBA) to simply gather an All Star cast pre/mid/post season, send them to boot camp, and expect a medal finish.

They could, or we could, but just imagine how “empty” the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) would look if in a span of a three-conference season, the best players keep being pulled in and out of their mother teams who are not at all interested in a FIBA Gold Medal but more so on the TV-brand exposure that they can get whenever their team goes deep into the Playoffs.

PBA CC Playoffs: 4 Ginebra vs 5 Rain or Shine

RISE
(Photo credit: PBA.inquirer.net)

This is going to be a slobber-knocker.

Rain or Shine, Yeng Guiao, Beau Belga-- they are all ghosts of Ginebra's colorful past. Their physical, bully-ball style, the psy-war that almost, always unnerves Ginebra's towering futures Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar, the way RoS just doesn't really give a rat's ass on how dirty you think they are playing, for as long as they get the victory.

That is how Ginebra basketball was played during Robert Jaworski, Sr.'s reign. That was how Pinoy basketball was played by all back in the day: down and dirty. Nothing fancy, just ugly and brutal.

"Kung ayaw mo masaktan, mag chess ka na lang."

Blik N U, D N Q Pgod

(Photo credit: Interaksyon.com

Mahirap maging isang Lewis Alfred Tenorio.

Andyan na yung kinukutya ka ng buong Barangay, tuwing masama ang laro mo, dahil nauna mo ng nasabi na "tao ka lang" at "pagod ka na din." Nasa hulog naman yung sinasabi mo e, ikaw kaya ang magensayo at malaro di lang para sa Barangay Ginebra kung hindi para na din sa Gilas Pilipinas ng ilang sunod na taon?

Kahit lumaklak ka pa ng lifetime supply ng Gatorade at anong promo pa ng "ganado" ang ibenta ng marketing department ninyo, sempre ang tao, napapagod.

Checking on Gilas

We are officially just four months away until we welcome the men's national basketball teams of France, New Zealand, Senegal, Canada and Turkey for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament set to open on the 5th of July.

Which means, if our very own Gilas is even entertaining thoughts of salvaging at least a victory, then the practices need to be increased; and attendance, a must. Unfortunately for head coach Tab Baldwin, that is not the case.

So here is where we are right now:

Paul Lee is still out nursing whatever. Ian Sangalang is most likely going to be taken out of the pool owing to his subpar PBA season play and non-attendance of practices. Jayson Castro's old achilles injury is acting up again. And the Gilas pool, the original one asked for by Coach Tab, have yet to all suit up together for a single, full-on contact practice.

Yikes.

Kalma lang

Photo credit to PBA.Inquirer.net

Dear Ginebra fans,

Kamusta kayo? Matapos maabot ang alapaap nung kapaskuhan at pauwiing luhaan ang napakarami ding Star Hotshots fans, eto kayo ngayon at sinusubukan bumawi sa mapait na pagkatalo kagabi sa Global Port.

May dahilan ba kayo para magalit?

Oo. Kahit sabihin pa ng iba na hater niyo ako (na hindi naman, dahil kung Ginebra die-hard talaga kayo e dapat alam niyo kung saan ko nakuha itong pangalan ng blog ko, bilang dati akong kasapi), may punto naman talaga. Lagpas limang segundo naman talaga kung bibilangin maigi. Kaso hindi binilang. At hindi ni-review. Pinaubos na lang ang oras, at tapos na ang basketball.

PBAPC QF2: 4 Ginebra vs 5 GlobalPort

All eyes are on Romeo, but they should
really be on this man
(Photo credit to PBA.Inquirer.net)

Well that didn't take too long, now did it?

After getting through their respective Quarterfinals Phase 1 assignments, the PBA Philippine Cup's 4th (Barangay Ginebra) and 5th (Global Port) seeds are set to meet in a knockout Phase 2 match-up to decide who will face the Alaska Aces in one side of the conference semifinals.

Pretty safe to throw away the stats now, since by now everyone should be familiar with who can be counted on for both sides. For Ginebra, the offense will always start with Greg Slaughter, followed by Japeth Aguilar, Mark Caguioa and L.A. Tenorio. Usually in that same order. For Global Port, it is Stanley Pringle (because he logs close to 40 minutes a game!), Terrence Romeo (hot or cold) and whoever wishes to contribute on offense (lately, Jay Washington has been putting together a bunch of solid, double-double games).

PBAPC16 QF: 4 Ginebra vs 9 Star

Photo credit to PBA.Inquirer.net

Call this a rallying point.

When Coach Tim Cone left Star for Ginebra (taking Joe DeVance with him in the process), the team was left in shell-shocked and in shambles. Guys were not responding to head coach Jason Webb, no matter how fun his free-flowing offense appears to be and you could just see the lack of intensity on the defensive end.

Well, you know what they say about champions and their pride right?

Jordan Pippen

Jordan Pippen
(Photo credit to the owner)

“I’ll be Jordan on offense and Scottie on defense.”

You know what they say about sleeping in the bed that you made; good or bad, you are stuck with it and will always be responsible and accountable for your words and actions. For Barangay Ginebra San Miguel's Chris Ellis, the above quote was taken from a Spin.Ph piece written by Snow Badua when asked how he sees himself fitting in head coach Tim Cone's Triangle Offense moving forward.

24 minutes 5 points 5 rebounds 1 assist 1 turnover 34% from 2 and 13% from 3/ per game

There is hardly anything Jordan-esque, hell even Pippen-esque with those numbers in nine games played so far.

But making fun of Ellis, jocosely dubbed "Jordan Pippen," would be too easy and is not why we are here. We are here to help.

But being born and raised from the old school cement courts of Pasay, this is not for the weak of heart.

Blood on the water

Unstoppable
(Photo credit to the owner)

There is blood on the water yet they do not fear. A harbinger of undeniable destruction to all things. They make water spinach jokes when they should be at unrest. They do not see the greatness that is blossoming right before their very eyes.

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, still incomplete and sloppy in games, has reached the 0.500 mark in the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup. Their head coach, Tim Cone, has dismissed any notion of his team being favorites or Finals shoo-ins. Their play suggests that much-- that there is still much to do and learn before they could entertain such glorious thoughts. He is right.  But then again, it does not take much prodding for a lackadaisical beast to go on rampage. It does not take that big a hole to destroy an already filled to the brim dam.

In the clutch

Nobody said it was easy.
(Photo credit to the owner)

Thirty-four minutes played, 4 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers all while looking lost in the scheme of things.

Life is not going to be easy this season for Barangay Ginebra San Miguel star guard and former PBA MVP Mark Caguioa- not under coach Tim Cone, the Triangle Offense and his (Caguioa's) brittle 35-year-old knees. But if he truly intends to see his beloved red and white back in the PBA Finals or at least get them by its doorstep, it is a challenge, a sacrifice, that he needs to embrace.

Call it a hot take on yesterday's Manila Classico wherein Ginebra lost to STAR 78-86. Call it a small sample that should not be taken with much ado and fervor. Call it what you like, but we will still call it as we saw it.

The Suicide Squad

ChampionshipSSSSS or bust.
(Photo credit to the owner)

When it is all said and done, Earl Timothy Cone will most likely be lauded as the greatest PBA coaching mind to ever grace this side of the sporting world. His 18 PBA championships has launched him above his very own local idol, the late great Baby Dalupan, if his impressive feat of winning two Grand Slams in different eras with different teams hasn't already.

But just when you thought that there was no challenge left for Coach Tim to overcome, here comes what is arguably the most Herculean of tasks bestowed upon him: to reward the millions of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel fans by turning the once underdogs turned under-achievers into a legitimate, PBA champion team.

See, Ginebra isn't the Los Angeles Lakers of the PBA. They are the New York Knicks. Loved. Popular. But hardly any rings to show for. Who is the PBA's Lakers? That's their sister team Purefoods. The Boston Celtics? That's San Miguel Beer. It is all about the championships, always.

When San Miguel brass opted to extract Cone from STAR where he was comfortably gearing up for multiple title runs, they knew that they were already sacrificing the identity of Ginebra. With Cone, they will no longer be underdogs. They haven't been underdogs in a long time, really. Never say die? What's that? The title drought was more due to poor coaching, the support of fans going into their players' heads turning them into basketball divas and overall just subpar play.