Of pride and chemistry

Another season of woes for SMB
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

With yesterday's PBA Governor's Cup Quarterfinals loss, the San Miguel Beermen's 2013-2014 campaign has finally come to a merciful end.

At the start of the season, penciling the Beermen in as one of the title favorites for any conference was as acceptable as dipping fishball in Mang Jose's secret recipe sarsa. It was that much of a no brainer.

They had the reigning PBA Most Valuable Player Arwind Santos in tow, freed from the redundancy that is Jay Washington. Bigger things were on the horizon for 6"9 Junemar Fajardo. Gilas standouts Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter were at the brink of legitimate PBA superstardom. Alex Cabagnot, point guard extraordinaire, would have so many weapons at his disposal for the easy, text book passes (and even the fancy ones that he breaks out from time to time).

And yet they finished the PBA Philippine Cup third.

THIRD.

Let it go

Photo courtesy of Sports5

No one saw this happening.

Air21 Express, the lowly PBA Commissioner's Cup 7th seed (and unheralded, unpublicised "sister" team), beat the San Miguel Beermen not once, but twice. For two straight games, a team of PBA discards and some collegiate fraternity boys looking to relive the good old days beat one of the recognised powerhouses of the PBA.

Ouch.

On the bright side, the Beermen made it to the Playoffs as the 2nd seed while going through a MAJOR off-season retooling by way of acquiring Sol Mercado and making Chris Ross (who was acquired just a conference or two back) the lead guard. They still have the reigning PBA Most Valuable Player (which keeps on feeling more and more like a joke these days) in Arwind Santos and the league's potentially most dominant player in the young Junemar Fajardo so the pieces are still there.

Cabagnot Conundrum

The Crunchman Saveth?
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

A few weeks ago, we felt that it was rather unfair for Global Port Batang Pier's neophyte head coach Pido Jarencio to single out his starting point guard Alex Cabagnot amid their losing ongoing losing streak.

If you walked up to us and said that the Batang Pier lost their first eight games because Cabagnot was averaging 10.38 points to go with 5.88 assists per game, we'd have laughed at your great and admirable grasp of the sport. Looking back at Cabagnot's career since 2005, the man's averaged 11 points and 5 assists.

Yes, he's had incredible, clutch games here and there, but overall, Cabagnot is an 11 points and 5 assists man-- which isn't bad on the PBA level mind you, given the years of consistent play.

The Leading Men of Petronovela

After a fiery start in the PBA Philippine Cup, the Petron Blaze Boosters find themselves looking for religion as they are now down 1-3 to the Rain or Shine Elastopainters in their semifinals duel.

As much as Petron fans would like to believe that this series is still salvageable, and that if there's any PBA team that can come back from the ashes it would be their guys, it's hard to imagine the Elastopainters losing three straight after maybe a ten game stretch wherein they only lost one (Game 3 to the Boosters). To win, the Boosters will need to work as a cohesive unit immune from individual forays and exploits. There was a time in basketball when all you needed was maybe two to three monster players supported by a couple of bums and presto: instant championship parade.

Well, the Elastopainters are made of mostly "bums" save for maybe two or three 1st round picks the last few years, so what's the Boosters' excuse?

Life after Petron

Different jersey, same game.
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

When Anthony “Jay” Washington first came into the local basketball scene, people noticed him more for him being LeBron James’ “kalokalike” in more ways than one. Not only did he resemble the Basketball Hall of Fame bound NBA superstar, but he also played the game in an almost similar way (with James’ playing it inter-galactic, across the universe, notches higher of course).

So when the Talk’n’Text Tropang Texters (2006-2008) and later on San Miguel Beermen now Petron Blaze Boosters (2008-2013) took him to the fold, you just knew that this guy was special—special in the sense that he could decide the outcome of any game in whatever capacity or role is given him.

A Gargantuan Task

Beat Petron? Tall task for RoS
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

The Rain or Shine Elastopainters and their fiery mentor Yeng Guiao are in a bind.

Down 0-2 in their PBA Governor’s Cup Semifinals matchup against powerhouse Petron Blaze Boosters, the Elastopainters are finding it difficult to defend the crown they won a season ago behind a roster of no-names and journeymen. Forget that the games have been surprisingly close until maybe a late 4th quarter breakaway (Boosters’ Elijah Milsap going HAM in Game 1), the Elastopainters are one win away from being eliminated.

And it seems that there’s just nothing they can do about it.

PBA GovCup Semis: Petron vs Rain or Shine

Which Gilas player will shine
brightest this series?
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

With all the PBA Governor's Cup 2013 title favorites able to make short-work of their playoff assignments (save for San Mig Coffee), let's move on to the semifinals and take a look at how the match-ups will unfold. First up are the league-leading Petron Blaze Boosters versus the defending champs, the Rain or Shine Elastopainters:

PG: Alex Cabagnot/ Chico Lanete vs Paul Lee/ Chris Tiu/ Jonathan Uyloan/ TY Tang

Perhaps the only chink in this rejuvenated and re-fueled Petron Blaze attack in this semifinals match-up is the guard position, wherein Rain or Shine's knack of playing about four (even five) guys at the point guard spot can easily disrupt the opposing team's scouting report. Cabagnot will put up the stats given the minutes, but this match-up will depend on what we'll see from reigning PBA Rookie of the Year Paul Lee.  If Lee comes in with the mindset to attack, Cabagnot will be on the defensive and Petron might need to dust off little-used defensive hound Denok Miranda. Tiu, Uyloan and Tang can all stay in front of Lanete and put up points.

Adv. Rain or Shine
Just confirmed news that Paul Lee is out for 3 weeks with a muscle tear. Shit just got harder for Rain or Shine. Petron with obvious advantage now at PG spot.

Washington Reinvented

Introducing... Batang Pier CENTER #18
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

If you were under the misguided impression that one Anthony "Jay" Washington wasn't PBA material because of the string of subpar performances he had with his former team, well, we can't blame you.

He was tagged as a "go-to-player" because of his impressive skill set and natural gifts. He can shoot, pass, dribble the length of the floor and play positions one through five. He can lock guys down, he can pretty much do it all when needed.

Only, just don't ask him to carry an entire team.

No more drama (?)

Uh-oh. They're bringing the "back hand slap" back!
(Photo courtesy of PBA InterAKTV)

Picking up where they left off pre-choke gate, the Petron Blaze Boosters are humming like a well-oiled machine (sorry, couldn't help it) in the on-going PBA Governor's Cup with an impressive 4-1 win-loss slate.

Newly-installed head coach Gee Abanilla and co. have done a tremendous job in evening out the minutes and assigning roles in their solid nine-man rotation which features import Elijah Millsap, Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos as their steady 30+ minutes guys to end-guy Chico Lanete playing for about 12. This, after former coach Olsen Racela would constantly introduce change looking for a "winning line-up" once they were without NBAer Renaldo Balkman (Millsap is good, but there's a reason he has yet to make an NBA season roster).

J-Wash's New Groove

No longer No. 23
(Photo courtesy of PBA InterAKTV)

Displaying the all-around game expected of him since being selected 1st overall in the 2005 PBA Draft, Jay Washington is off to a good start with new team Global Port Batang Pier after last night's 101-94 drubbing of the Air21 Express.

The 31-year-old backstopped high-scoring import Markeith Cummings (who scored a crazy 37 points in just 41 minutes), finishing with a superb stat line of 15 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists in 36 minutes which is arguably the most he's played in recent memory. While we've maintained that Washington isn't a go-to-guy, he is a great complimentary piece when paired with an elite scorer. In this shooting guard-type import-laden conference, Washington will be able to be just that.

Don’t cry for Olsen

And then... there was none.

It’s official.

After weeks of speculation, the Petron Blaze Boosters have decided to drop rookie head coach Olsen Racela in favor of the more seasoned Gee Abanilla. This, after Racela’s failed Philippine Cup campaign and the huge “what if” that clouded the Boosters’ Commissioner’s Cup stint.

From what we’ve gathered, Racela has been moved to sister team San Mig Coffee Mixers and “demoted” to assistant coach under Hall of Famer Tim Cone and alongside his peers Johnny Abarrientos, Jeffrey Cariaso among others.

Is Olsen safe?

Life was probably simpler for Coach O
back when he was playing

In case you haven't already heard, there's a "coaching re-organization" reportedly in the works within the San Miguel Corporation ranks. This, after the abrupt dismissal of Gee Abanilla as head coach of the De La Salle Green Archers in the collegiate ranks (which is banked by Danding Cojuangco of Team SMC).

Some circles say that Abanilla is on his way to playing a role for one of Team SMC's PBA ballclubs, another  have him being given the boot because of a lackluster coaching job in a recently concluded pocket tournament.  How this affects Racela is simple: either Abanilla (or someone flying under the radar) is out to get his spot or as shown with Cojuangco's patience for the former DLSU coach, Racela is next to go given his so-so performance as head coach of the Petron Blaze Boosters in the PBA.

But what did they really expect when they handed Racela the head coaching gig?

Petron proves there's life after Balkman

Sonny Thoss can kiss his default
"Best Center in the Philippines" title goodbye

In their first outing after the whole Renaldo Balkman episode that has reached global proportions, the Petron Blaze Boosters finally looked like the team that they were supposed to be considering their elite local starpower.

Playing in front of a sold out Panabo City crowd (controversy, as the years will tell you, creates monetary opportunities for all), the Boosters were able to take solo 2nd in the ongoing PBA Commissioner's Cup by beating the Rain or Shine Elastopainters, 87-79. At the forefront of the victory were rookie Junemar Fajardo who finished with a stellar 20 points and 13 rebounds output and sophomore Marcio Lassiter who chipped in 14 points (12 in the deciding 4th quarter to finally breakaway from the E-Painters).

Why can't we be friends

"Una siya naging akin!"
(Photo courtesy of Spin.Ph)

And just when we thought that at least for a conference, we've seen the end (or stoppage) of the dreaded (slightly over-rated) Petronovela starring the Petron Blaze Boosters, we are treated to a meltdown of epic proportions that have even PBA legends barking and back on some Internet headline.

We're talking about what transpired between the Boosters' team captain Arwind Santos and import Renaldo Balkman in the dying seconds of a loss to the Alaska Aces. In case you have yet to see it, the Aces were up by seven with under a minute to go with no signs of a miracle comeback courtesy of the Boosters. Balkman proceeded to give up a duty foul on Aces counterpart Rob Dozier, then went storming off to the nearest zebra (re: referee) he could find and unload on.

And boy oh boy did he ever.