Break out!

Much improved.
(Photo credit to PBA.Inquirer.net)

We have always paid more attention to the PBA's first and opening conference, the Philippine (All Filipino) Cup more than the other two if only because it is the true showcase of Filipino basketball talent and skill on the professional level. Once the imports come into play in the next two conferences, a lot of our guys are pushed aside in favor of those admittedly amazing athletic specimens most of whom have played the sport on an entirely different level from our homegrown guys.

Now that the PBA Philippine Cup is nearing its conclusion, please allow us to praise some of the guys who outdid themselves this conference. It would be quite easy to talk about the Junemar Fajardos, Greg Slaughters and Jayson Castros, so let us turn the spotlight to the unheralded players who put up (near) superstar numbers shall we? The jury is out if the guys that we will mention below will be able to carry over their success once the foreign reinforcements arrive so this shout out piece is probably the best that we could do for them at the moment.

1. Sean Anthony, SF/PF, NLEX
20ppg 12rpg 3apg
What a conference has it been for the returning Road Warrior. Anthony enjoyed a career conference through sheer hard-work and tenacity. The offense wasn't exactly built around him but rather, he was just outworking everyone for rebounds, possessions and what not. You could say that in a way, he looked like what Meralco hopes Cliff Hodge would be-- a nicer, TV friendly Calvin Abueva (minus the guard skills of course, but who knows, if Anthony puts his head into it anything is possible right?).

PBAPC SF: 2 San Miguel vs 3 Rain or Shine

On the path to greatness
(Photo credit to PBA.Inquirer.net)

This semifinals encounter my friends, will not be for the weak of heart. While the other series between the Alaska Aces and GlobalPort Batang Pier will probably be high octane and flashy, this one will be for the grown-ups. Think of that series as John Cena, and this one as Brock Lesnar. Spice Girls and Mocha Girls. Ana Roces and Rosanna Roces.

You get the picture right?

Okay, from our perspective the only way for RoS to win versus SMB is for a repeat of their gameplan in the Elimination round which was to have their bigs play outside, their smalls, inside. It didn't matter to RoS head coach Yeng Guiao if Beau Belga, Raymond Almazan and JayR Quinahan were missing from deep. All that matters was that Junemar Fajardo kept over extending himself all the way to the outside leaving Arwind Santos all by his lonesome in protecting the paint versus RoS' big-bodied guards Jericho Cruz and Maverick Ahanmisi.

Salamat po!

Maraming salamat po sa lahat ng kaibigan natin na nagbabasa ng kilikilishot.blogspot.com ! Sa mga nagtiwala sa opinyon natin, hindi naman basta basta sulat lang ginagawa natin. Oo, hobby natin to, pero bago tayo magsulat, naghahanap muna tayo ng stats. Inaaral natin yung laro. Nanonood ng replays. Highlights. Nakikinig sa sinasabi ng iba, tapos mula doon, nagsusulat sa blog.

Sa Twitter, dahil 140 characters lang doon at mabilisan ang banatan, madalas marami tayong nasasabing mali. Pero tanggap ko naman pag mali. Pagnadala lang ng bugso ng damdamin din. Biased siguro minsan. O madalas, depende sa nagbabasa. Pero pag andito na sa blog, sinusubukan ko na ayusin muna lahat, isulat sa papel, research, pag isipan, bago i publish ng tuluyan.

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 SF: 1 Alaska vs 5 GlobalPort

The Muscle Man
(Photo credit to PBA.Inquirer.net)

Contrary to popular belief, this is about as evenly matched on paper as you could get as far as a semifinals pairing is concerned.

Sure, the Alaska Aces have been playing great since Alex Compton took over and specially this conference now that Calvin Abueva and Vic Manuel have taken starring roles within their "we not me" system, but that does not necessarily mean that they will just walk through the GlobalPort Batang Pier squad in a seven-game series. For one, the Batang Pier have the same nice mix of hungry youth and veteran savvy as the Aces.

On one side, the Aces’ strength lies in their deep guard rotation wherein everyone is a threat to score 20 a game be it JVee Casio, Cyrus Baguio and or Dondon Hontiveros. They also have solid back-ups in Chris Banchero, RJ Jazul and Ping Exciminiano, with Abueva also able to help in the ball-handling department. For the Batang Pier, while Stanley Pringle and Terrence Romeo are the stars, it is their frontline which got them this far: Jay Washington, Doug Kramer, Dorian Pena, Billy Mamaril and Rico Maierhofer. That’s a first-class collection of veteran bigs if we say so ourselves, with the Aces having only Manuel, an aging Sonny Thoss, what remains of Eric Menk, Noy Baclao and Samigue Eman.

PBAPC QF2: 3 Rain or Shine vs 6 Talk n Text

Baptism of Fire for Troy and Mo
(Photo credit to PBA.Inquirer.net)

Here we go again.

The Rain or Shine Elastopainters, perennial contenders ever since Yeng Guiao took over the coaching reins, are headed for a collision course with forever tormentors Talk’n’Text Tropang Texters in the 2nd phase of the PBA Philippine Cup Quarterfinals . We say that, because even before these two teams met in last season’s seven-game PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals thriller (which the Texters won at the expense , they have already been running right smack at one another with  the Elastopainters always on the losing end.

We are RoS fans, so we know the history. For as long as Guiao has made RoS “perennial contenders,” the door is almost always closed on them if TnT happens to be in their way—be it in the Finals, Semis or Quarters. In LOTR parlance, think of Tnt as Gandalf saying “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!”

Over and over and over and over again.

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).