Ball Points (10-5-09)

• A lot of basketball today and it started with a battle between the two best guest teams this year in the NCAA, EAC and AU. I'm really wondering why they didn't make this game as the main event for today. The other game for today was UPHSD against the AUF. Who's going to watch that game? I know those 2 teams have pretty courtside reporters but it's a meaningless game between two cellar dweller teams. Anyway, back to AU VS EAC. It was great game as expected with both teams trading punches courtesy of their star players, Gio Ciriacruz(28 points) and Argel Mendoza(29 points). I know it's not an ADMU-DLSU game but a diehard basketball fan would surely enjoy this one. EAC eventually won the game 86-81 with Argel coming up big in the clutch. Guys like Argel and Gio will definitely benefit from their squad's guest appearance in the NCAA. Aside from getting more attention from scouts, they also got a chance to test their skills with some of the best players in the collegiate ranks like RJ Jazul and John Wilson. It's too bad Gio has played his last game in the NCAA as his team will not take part in the F4 but I hope we'll see more of his spunk in the coming PCCL. I'm not sure if he can make it the pros as he reminds me of a Yousif Aljamal. An undersized big man who works hard, plays smart, can drive and can shoot the ball from the outside. He's not the biggest guy. He's not the fastest guy. He's not highest leaper. He still produces for his team despite those physical limitations but those limitations might hinder him from going to the PBA but who knows. Maybe he can work harder on his game and can show the scouts that he has what it takes to play with the big boys. Right now, I can see him succeed in the PBL with his abilities. Building his name in the PBL will surely help him reach the PBA. For Argel, his ability to score even against contact might be enough to get him in the PBA. I'm not sure if he is graduating this year. I'd like to see him in a better team either in the NCAA or the PBL. I want to see if his success is solely because on the fact that he's on a bad team. (By the way, AUF won a meaningless game 73-66. )
• In the first game of "Pinoy Basketbol Kakampi nyo", PBL-LP was too much for the pretty boys from NCAA and UAAP. The first half saw the UAAP-NCAA volunteers (Yes they are not stars.) dominate the game with fluidity and shooting. The second half was a different story as the men from LP-PBL took the game to the boys. They just played with much more aggressiveness and hunger. Guys like Melegrito and Leynes were playing hard-nose defense on the UAAP-NCAA guards which disrupted the offense of the collegiate players. Revenge for Gerilla? This guy dominated the guy inside and out. Maybe he wanted this game to make a statement against the school that threw him out of their basketball team. How about Joshua David Spider Webb? This kid took the game seriously and was finding loopholes to get to the rim. His ability to get to the paint is phenomenal. How about Gerwin Gaco wearing a vintage Harbour Centre jersey? It certainly brought a lot of good memories back. Go Oracle! Go for no. 8! Well, they just answered our question, j_myxx. Mangahas and Mirza were on the other team which I don't get. Those 2 guys did nothing for LP-PBL. They should've been on the UAAP-NCAA team. Gelo Montecastro made me eat my words. He was fantastic in the 1st half but Jan Tan? WTH is Tanuan doing in the LP-PBL team? Still it is a game for a good cause so we can't thank these players enough.
• Smart -Gilas destroys Powerade 98-69. Excellent display of teamwork by the Gilas boys. More on game tomorrow. Can someone tell me how I can get those T-Shirts Gilas wore in their warm-ups. How about Lia Cruz? It's been a while since we last saw her. She was hot. Damn.
  
• More on UE-ADMU finals. I'm sorry. I know I said we won't see any double digit lead wins in this series but we did. I think it was just human tendecy to relax knowing your up one game. I just did not think this ADMU team was capable of getting into a mental lapse as they did in game 2. This team was so flawless going into the finals that I believed that this team would always give themselves a chance to win with their fantastic system. Boom has been mentioning how James Martinez really feels bad about not being part of this UE team. So I was wondering how this guy could have changed this UE team if he was healthy. He would surely give UE a lot more depth which was big concern after Game 1 but his absence has led to emergence of guys like Reyes and Lingganay. Only God knows what would've happened if James played this year.