Off the track

Still a G
(PBA.Inquirer.net)

Someone please nudge NLEX Road Warriors head coach Boyet Fernandez awake, as he is continuously driving the team bus aimlessly in circles.

How else can you explain the team's current PBA Commissioner's Cup 5 wins - 5 losses predicament, despite the presence of a legitimate NBA offensive talent in import Al Thornton (who is really, a one-legged scoring dynamo), revived play of 6"10 former PBA MVP Asi Taulava and the emerging Sean Anthony? The Philippine Cup was no different, and even last season: NLEX would look like a legitimate powerhouse team with the right balance of veterans and young guns one day, and look like a team that is just trying to make it through another respectable season.

No rings, just some wins to go with some losses.

The long and winding road

How far can Asi take NLEX?
(Photo credit to the owner)

While their elders, Talk'n'Text and Meralco, enjoy having youthful bigs to continue building their foundations around, head coach Boyet Fernandez and his NLEX Road Warriors find themselves stuck in the mud with aging frontliners who are an injury away from retirement.

Sure, Asi Taulava (fresh from another tour of duty with Gilas 3) and Enrico Villanueva are still fearsome names and that Asi has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts the last three seasons, but can a team really pin their hopes on a 40+ year old with limited low post offense? How about Villanueva? He hasn't been the same since suffering an injury after a stint with Barako Bull and has played more like a TV-friendly version of 90s role player Chris Bolado than the "Raging Bull" we once knew.

These proud veterans are backed by Rob Reyes, Eric Camson, Mark Borboran and Jeckster Apinan. They are a solid, role-playing bunch, but not in the same area as TNT's Moala Tautuaa and Troy Rosario, and Meralco's returning Rabeh Al Hussaini.

Definitely nowhere near.

The road less traveled

Asi needs better passing options
(Photo credits to Sports5)

This is not how a "feel good" story such as the NLEX Road Warriors' 42-year-old starting center Asi Taulava's should be going.

Trying his very best to postpone his retirement and prove his worth to Philippine basketball (which he doesn't really have to, being a certified future PBA Hall of Famer), Taulava finds himself trying to lead a hapless team that suffered yet another setback this PBA Governor's Cup just a few hours ago to the GlobalPort Batang Pier squad. Hell, even his coach (Boyet Fernandez) has been quoted to be missing some of his old wards from another team because he says that he just doesn't have the right tools to get the job done.

Let's see here: imports Kwame Alexander (40 mpg 21 ppg 14 rpg 2 apg) and Michael Madanly (30 mpg 19 ppg 3 rpg 3 apg), Taulava (30 mpg 16 ppg 10 rpg 1 apg), Nino Canaleta (20 mpg 8 ppg 4 rpg 1 apg), a revived Enrico Villanueva, healthy Jonas Villanueva (30 mpg 6 ppg 3 rpg 4 apg), a "one more match" Mac Cardona (20 mpg 9 ppg 4 rpg 2 apg) and under-rated shooter/defender John Wilson. Plus two stretch fours in Aldrech Ramos and Mark Borboran.

So what else is missing?

PBA KO Phase Predictions: RoS Bracket

Business is about to pick-up in the on-going PBA Philippine Cup as we bid newcomers Kia Sorento and winless Blackwater Elite adieu until next conference and see who's the cream of the crop. As you may or may not know, the top two seeds: San Miguel Beermen and Rain or Shine Elastopainters, get a bye until the later round. The rest of the field will have to duke it out, with the lower seeded teams needing to win twice over the higher seeded ones if they would like to advance.

The Rock needs to go to TNT. Now.
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

We're dividing the brackets into two, based on who they will eventually face in the Quarters: The RoS and SMB brackets.

3 Alaska Aces (twice-to-beat) vs 10 NLEX Road Warriors 
The Aces missed out on an opportunity of landing in the top two spots by a hairline, but this match-up with the NLEX should be a quick and easy one considering both rosters. The Warriors have a formidable frontline with Asi Taulava and a suddenly revived Enrico Villanueva but they, unfortunately, do not play with the same intensity as that of Calvin Abueva who is leading the league in rebounding despite being the same size as NLEX star scorer Mac Cardona. If Eric Menk continues with his inspired, "tour de force" play and Sonny Thoss comes back 100% healthy, then it's all over for the Warriors who still need to address some holes on the roster.

A fresh start

Captain Hook is back!
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

It's never easy being The Man then having to unlearn everything and play as part of a "big picture" team, only to be asked to be The Man again but not exactly The Man you were, then go back to being part of another rebuilding effort before finally being asked to revisit The Man you used to be because you're the only legitimate option left on the team.

But for NLEX Road Warriors guard Mac Cardona, he probably wouldn't have it any other way.

Sure, Cardona would probably be a lot happier if he had played and stayed with only one team to further his legacy as one of the PBA's best scorers (along with one-time peers/rivals James Yap and Mark Caguioa), but you know how they say that "in life, you simply need to roll with the cards that you've been dealt." Based on the numbers and history, there's no denying that "Captain Hook" is at his very best when he is allowed to play to his strengths instead of to someone else's. A return to his old, nonchalant on-court demeanor after flirting with a "Rated PG, TV-friendly Mark Cardona" version of himself also doesn't seem to hurt either.

Up for sale

Here's a question that the media and those in the know seem to keep skirting around on: which PBA team will Manny V. Pangilinan buy for his NLEX Road Warriors?

We already know that NLEX wants in. Bad. We've heard Alaska rumors. Now we've been hearing a lot of Air21 rumors. Of the "Joseph Yeo Gentleman's Agreement" (didn't know that there was honor among thieves) getting in the way. Of how there are two teams (Air21 and, since their name was thrown out there earlier, Alaska) that are up for sale.

TWO.

Is it too late for either Blackwater or Kia to step in and buy the other one? Or maybe it's just a ploy being used by NLEX to help speed things up. As a bargaining chip against the team that they really want to purchase. Would make a lot of sense really-- say that there's this other team that's also up for sale but cheaper, but you're still taking to the concerned party out of delicadeza and so on.

Point Blank

Asi is a lot of things for Air21,
but playing point guard is not one of them
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Four games into the PBA Philippine Cup and the somewhat retooled Air21 Express find themselves in familiar territory: 0-4, bottom of the 10-team race.

Despite the key addition/ renewed commitment of "immortal" Asi Taulava and spitfire guard Joseph Yeo (prized off-season recruit Mac Cardona is coming off injury), the Express are struggling to put together solid games (even the "moral victory" ones) and have lost no less than 11 points per outing.

Hooked

From superstar to reserve

The lights are at its brightest, men frolic to the stage as the music hits with the volume at its highest. The star steps into the light drowned by deafening silence. This is what we’ve been waiting for. This is what we’ve come to see.

Somewhere backstage a not so old yet not entirely youthful hand cradles spirits enclosed within a bottle. Cigarette smoke fills the air as her mascara runs down her cheeks with tears. She had her time on the stage. They used to cherish her.

Worshipped her. Loved her.

Strike First: David to Meralco, Cardona to Air21

Finally, a star that
#BansangMeralco can cheer for
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Just when we all thought that we'd be able to enjoy a reprieve from the highly addictive madness that is the Philippine Basketball Association once the PBA Governor's Cup Finals duel between Petron Blaze and San Mig Coffee is through, we are greeted with a barrage of pre off-season, marquee trades.

We've already touched on the recent trade that saw GlobalPort hotshot Gary David moving over to Meralco, now we breakdown the rest of the wheeling and dealing that went down the last few days. For argument's sake and our readers' reference, we've added their 2012-2013 season averages (minutes, points, rebounds and assists). Props to the folks behind www.pba-online.net 

Trade 1

Meralco
Gary David, SG (28.49 mpg 17.10 ppg 2.98 rpg 1.7 apg)
Go-to-scorer that fits Meralco's Dribble Drive Motion Offense owing to his range, up there in years (35) and mileage but is as proven as you can get.

El Granada looks to detonate anew

Gary David to Meralco 

After a year of frustrations and injuries, PBA scoring champion Gary David has been sent by GlobalPort to Meralco in a trade that also includes rookie A.J. Mandani for point guards and former PBL rivals Chris Ross and Chris Timberlake.

From the outside looking in, we love the trade solely for two reasons: it reunites David with a more "shooter-friendly" offense with Meralco's Dribble Drive and two, it gives him a new lease on life after "regressing" this 38th PBA Season. By that we mean, his scoring clip was going up the last five seasons-- scoring average of 15, 17, 18, 21 and 25 before going "down" to 18 again.

PBA GovCup Semis: Meralco - Designed to Fail?

Nag mukhang unggoy yung Meralco
sa pangit ng rotation
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Before anything else, we would like to give a shoutout to the Meralco Bolts for their gutsy stand despite the huge disparity in personnel and firepower in their series against the San Mig Coffee Mixers. Import Mario West put in an impressive and valiant effort despite clearly being hobbled by a shoulder injury he suffered the game before. 

But what we want to touch on this entry is to openly question just what the hell happened with the Bolts. Did they push and ride the “underdog” tag too much? Were players being withheld from being fielded in? What the hell kind of rotation and game plan was Bolts head coach Ryan Gregorio trying to play the entire series?

The way the series unraveled, the Bolts played small ball most of the time with veteran Reynel Hugnatan duking it out with San Mig Coffee’s Marc Pingris, Marqus Blakely and Rafi Reavis underneath. Spelling him was JayR Reyes, a 6”8 warm body with six handy fouls to give out at best.

PBA Trade Rumor: The Ninja to Air21

Ritualo. Atkins. Sharma. Yeo. #ibalikangbigote
(Photo courtesy of PBA InterAKTV)

If reports are correct, then arguably one of the most prolific collegiate scorers in history is going to get a chance to resuscitate his PBA career in the next few days. Joseph Yeo, the now de facto 11th to 12th man of the Petron Blaze Boosters, is part of a looming semi-blockbuster trade that also indirectly involves long time PBA All Star and national team player Kerby Raymundo of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.

Next is our attempt at breaking down this possible trade, naming winners and losers, and even looking at what's in store in the near future.

The Dream Match to end it all

Dream Match III: if only to see
Kiefer vs Mac/Yeo/Cortez

There you have it.

The PBA Green Archers were able to repeat versus rivals PBA Blue Eagles in this afternoon's ho-hum battle at the SM MoA Arena dubbed "Dream Match II: The Revenge." Well, if the script were to be followed, the Eagles were supposed to win this one to force a nail-biter of a third and deciding match (ala celebrated promoter Don King's brand of boxing).

But the Archers wouldn't have any of it. Mac Cardona, free from the burden of having to play a passive role with his mother team Meralco's three-ball happy Dribble Drive Offense, played like he had a score to settle with everyone from the Eagles' side of things. He dropped in threes, made his patented tear drop hook shots and even threw in some mean mug swag "anong height mo" theatrics here and there for good measure.

So should a third match be played, with the Archers now up 2-0 in this mini cash cow of a side event by the PBA? Yes. But IF and WHEN current amateur superstar known to most as "The Phenom" Keifer Ravena turns pro (or is eligible to do so).

Into the PBA Commish Cup Playoffs (Part 2.2)

Ibalik ang bangis!

San Mig Coffee Mixers (4) vs Meralco Bolts (5)
No other playoff match-up could be as 50-50 as this one not only because of their "too close to call" rankings but also because one team is rising steadily while the other is suffering from a malady of injuries and off-court issues. As a basketball fan, we're quite pleased that the Mixers are back in the hunt to defend their title after a slow star and that the Bolts, dismissed as a team that's clearly tanking to get a better seeding at next year's PBA draft after the lopsided Sol Mercado trade, are back in the Playoffs.

PG Mark Barocca vs Chris Ross
It's going to be speed versus speed, with a slight edge to Ross for his defensive tenacity and rebounding. Barocca's not too shabby either and for the Mixers to win they'll need the former FEU stalwart to deliver offensively and defensively. It's going to be interesting on how these two will guard each other. Ross can't give Barocca too much daylight as the latter has shown an improvement from the outside. Barocca can't stick too closely to Ross because the Fil-Am will just blitz his way to the rim for the finish or a kickout to his shooters. Ross can guard Barocca straight up, but Barocca will have to watch out for Ross' outside passes so the entire Mixers will have to chip in to play safety at all times.

Adv. Meralco

Date with destiny for Texters

Texters: blue-collar
and no-frills basketball

As the mighty Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters set their sights on winning the PBA Philippine Cup for the third straight year and earning for themselves the beautiful Jun Bernardino Perpetual Trophy, let's not forget when this "commitment to winning" all began to take shape.

Granted, no one forms a PBA team to simply be part of Asia's first, premier basketball league (okay, with the exception of any and all Lina franchises)-- they're all here to win titles and contend for years. That's how teams are built, with dreams of confetti raining down the high ceilings of the glorious and historic SMART Araneta Coliseum and fans and supporters of the winning team lost in jubilation. The Texters enjoyed some degree of success during their formative years, they built it around one Asi Taulava-- a 6"9 Fil-Tonggan who is a legit behemoth compared to his peers at the center position.

Dribble drive fails Meralco

Sol Train elevated his game this Pinoy Cup

There's something to be said about betting all your chips on one racehorse. For the Meralco Bolts, who were eliminated by budding rival Alaska Aces (because of the magnetic Clifford Hodge vs Calvin Abueva dynamic), it's their over-reliance on the Dribble Drive Offense anchored solely on star guard Sol Mercado.

Yes the numbers are there for Mercado, and he's our top guy when it comes to the Best Player of the Conference plum (outside of Talk 'n' Text's Jayson Castro and Rain or Shine's Jervy Cruz), but it just took so much out of the whole Bolts' offense at times that it made them look predictable. Predictable enough for a sophomore coach like Luigi Trillo, who hasn't really won anything meaningful anywhere, to solve what our Philippine National team SMART Gilas carried all the way to the Jones Cup title months back.

Cool Cat and Coach Franz: Reunited and it feels...

Nilabasan ako
nung napanood ko to sa TV.
Orgasmic.
(Credit to Sir Vic Icasas) 

... so good. Right? Time heals all wounds, even the undisclosed ones it seems. Okay in case you've been living under a rock or is still a young/developing basketball mind, the relationship between Mike Cortez and Air21 Express head coach Franz Pumaren has been plutonic at best.

The year was 2002, and (my beloved kinder-grade-high school Alma Mater) De La Salle University Green Archers were on a tear of the hapless UAAP. Leading the charge was Coach Franz, Cortez, Willie Wilson, Mac Cardona and a wide-eyed Joseph Yeo. They were running right through the competition, Cortez was looking like the best point guard in all of Philippine basketball (yes, including his NCAA, PBL and PBA counterparts). He wasn't scoring as much, but he was big, strong, smart beyond his years and had swag all day (say what you want, but Cortez put the back-arm tattoo on the Philippine map). The guy was a walking triple-double, and with him leading the way the Archers' were looking pretty solid to win a rare-five peat.

The Takeover: Mercado Rising

Big things poppin' for the Sol Train

This writer has admittedly been a harsh critique of one Solomon Mercado-- drawing the Fil-American basketball player's ire/ attention for a quick 45 seconds or so via Twitter, but that's only because while others are lost on the tattoos, bad boy image and cat-quick crossover, we see a potential for greatness. The potential to dominate the PBA and also be mentioned in the same breath of elite combo guards this side of the globe.

Not to jump on the, well, Sol Train band wagon, but the man has been doing work so far in the Philippine Cup. His Meralco Bolts is at a cool 3-2 in the win-loss column, playing at a quicker pace after head coach Ryan Gregorio suddenly had the brilliant idea of adopting SMART Gilas' "dribble drive motion offense."

Has Captain Hook Relinquished His Alpha Status

Saludo si Captain Hook sa inyo

Following last night's 105-104 defeat at the hands of Willie Miller and the rest of the GlobalPort Batang Pier, there was one standout statistic featured on the Meralco Bolts' box score. It featured no less than "franchise player" Mac Cardona and under the label "Points" where it would usually read 18 to 24, it read 2.

TWO points.

We're not talking about on and off guys like Miller or Barako Bull Energy Cola's Danny Seigle or even  San Mig Coffee Mixers' PJ Simon here. We're talking about Cardona-- a guy who would take (and has taken) over 30 shots if he could to break the double digit scoring barrier. Of course, had the Bolts won we wouldn't even be talking about it since we could easily dismiss it as an "off night" for Cardona. Fortunately for the Bolts, there were guards Sol Mercado and recently acquired Ronjay Buenafe dropping 30-points EACH to make it a game.

But now that Mercado looks more and more like the lead guy, the "Alpha Dog" so to speak, is it finally safe to say that Cardona has willingly ceded his lofty standing in the Bolts' pecking order?

Real season starts for Alaska

Business is about to pick up for Alaska

Though we mourn the death of what could've been another classic and entertaining grudge match between the San Beda Red Lions and the San Sebastian Recoletos Golden Stags for the NCAA championship, the painful reprieve allows us the chance to finally see this year's most magnetic draft pick strut his wares in the PBA.

We're talking about no one else but the Stags' Calvin "The Beast" Abueva.

The obvious vital cog to the Alaska Aces' rebuilding and re-imaging approach to this season is finally done with his collegiate commitments and, as posted earlier by Ms CK Kanapi, has signed on the dotted line for the Aces. How badly does Aces Head Coach Luigi Trillo want Abueva to suit up? Think this Friday versus Petron. That's how much Coach Luigi and just about any Filipino basketball fan, casual or hardcore, want to see Abueva wearing a jersey with the letters PBA emblazoned on it.