Ball Points (10-12-2009)

• On the last day of a very long elimination round in the NCAA, the SBC Red Lions have secured the 2nd twice-to-beat advantage in the F4 as they defeated the SSC-R Golden Stags 71-67. The win by SBC means they will now have a playoff with the Stags (Yup, another game with the same both teams) on Wednesday to decide who will be the no. 1 seed. The winner of the game in Wednesday will face the depleted Letran Knights while the loser will square off with a very talented JRU Heavy Bombers in the F4. Whoever the Stags will face in the F4, they will have a twice-to-beat advantage like the Lions. It was the Lion's defense that ultimately gave them the win. The Stags held the lead from late 1st quarter up to the 3 minute mark of the 4th. After the Lions were able to finally grab the lead, a seesaw battle ensured between the 2 heavyweights as a couple of lead changes and ties occurred in the latter parts of the game. With less than a minute remaining in the game, SBC sent a double team to Jimbo Aquino in midcourt that resulted to a turnover. The costly TO by Jimbo eventually resulted to a breakaway layup by Bam-Bam Gamalinda that gave SBC a 69-67 lead. In SSC-R's last chance to tie or win the game, Pamboy Raymundo attempted to hand the ball to Jimbo but Jimbo was well covered by the Lions. Pamboy was left w/o any other option and fell on the hardcourt and turned the ball over to SBC. Calvin Abueva stepped up big time as Gilbert Bulawan was suspended for this game. Abueva was all over the court driving hard to the basket, blocking shots by Caram and Dela Rosa and boxing out and defending RP's own version of Superman, Sudan Daniels. I can't figure out why SBC is having a hard time getting Daniels the ball while Rabeh Al-Hussaini had the time of his life jacking up countless shots over smaller guys in the UAAP. Is Ateneo spacing the floor better because they've got better shooters? Lanete and Tecson are pretty good outside shooters while Jake Pascual and Bam-Bam Gamalinda have reliable midrange shots. Or are teams from NCAA just doing a better job of denying the big man his touches?
• The PF Tender Juicy Giants beat the BK Whoppers in convincing fashion 93-80. BK looked like a collection of barely-got-into-the-league players and some all-stars from LP and PBL. What makes things worst is 2 out of their 3 most talented players in Ronjay Buenafe and Gary David play the same position and their highly touted rookie Japeth Aguilar is expected to be traded to TNT after a couple of games. Do you expect a starting 5 of Beau Belga, JR Quinahan, Mark Yee, Gary David and Wynne Arboleda to compete with SMB or TNT? This team actually looks like they're not that far in terms of talent from Red Bull. I don't know how this team is going to compete in the PBA this season.
  
• Norman Black has announced a couple of prospect players for the Ateneo Blue Eagles next year. Sweet shooting Blue Eaglet Ael Banal and a couple of big men from their Team B in Jason Escueta and JP Erram are being eyed by Norman to fill in the void left by his veterans Rabeh, Nonoy and Jai. Man, when will Ateneo's reign in the UAAP stop? I hope those big guys will need some time to develop to give way to some of the other UAAP schools like FEU, DLSU and Adamson. Also mentioned in the article is Rabeh Al-Hussaini keeping his options open. Negotiations have already stared between Gilas and Rabeh's camp but it seems like Rabeh in a Gilas unifrom is not yet a done deal based on Rabeh's comments in the Inquirer article. The smart thing to do to for Rabeh is to join Smart-Gilas. I'm sure he won't enjoy the same amount of success in the PBA as he's going to bang against bigger guys in the pros. I'm a little skeptical if Rabeh can be succesful in Toraman's system but maybe Toroman has something up his sleeve because he's been clamoring for the UAAP Finals MVP to join the squad for some time already. Like the 6'9 giant from Cebu Junmar Fajardo and UE guard Paul Lee, Rabeh has been included in the Gilas lineup in the PBA despite not having a contract with the national team yet.

Masarap Nga Maging Atenista Ngayon (Pero Next Year Asa na Kayo)

• Congratulations to the Ateneo Blue Eagles for winning back-to-back UAAP Men's Basketball Championship as they defeated the UE Red Warrios 71-58 last Thursday.
• I think Lawrence Chongson lost the coaching battle. Norman Black was able to adjust to UE's zone defense and he was well prepared for UE's offense. I'm also wondering why Lawrence did not use the same rotation patterns he used in Game 2. As they say, if ain't broke, don't fix it. Who the hell is Flores? Where's Tagarda? Why is he leaving his starters for so long on the court? He already knew that minutes played by his starters was big issue in Game 1 and he did good in adjusting in Game 2. Then he lets Elmer play N minutes again just like in Game 1. Why is that? He wasn't able to trust his bench much in the finals because he did a poor job developing his bench in the eliminations. I know it's frustrating to see your bench players give up the lead but you need to expose them for them to get better. It's what we call investment in your bench players. Also, I think UE played one-on-one too much and it resulted to them taking difficult contested shots. I know I'm sounding like a broken record calling out coaches on doing a better job in getting their star players easier looks but it works. Plus, it actually gives you a better shot at winning a championship. UE (don't blame only the coach on this one, blame the players too) should have done a better job not to settle for bad shots. Jai Reyes hardly takes a bad shot in the game. He might take a contested shot once in a while but he'll only take the shot if he knows that he has enough daylight to knock down the shot. On the other hand, Val was taking shots off the dribble with a defender closely guarding him. A simple pick-and-roll might have done the trick. Val doesn't need much space to convert on a shot but he still needs some space. I don't care if you Kobe Bryant or Val Acuna or Ferdinand, you will miss a shot most of the time if you've got a defender on your face. I'll have to agree with Norman Black that UE has system. It's just the his system lets his players create their own shot. I don't mind having Paul Lee on a isolation most of the time but Elmer and Val aren't really as good as Paul in creating their own shot. Maybe I few isolation plays for those guys is alright but you can already count their shots as automatic if they're open. I liked how they set up Elmer for open jump shot in their 1st possession in game 2. So why not call the same play or something similar to that play instead of dribbling for 23 seconds and taking bad shot?
• This is a well deserved Finals MVP for Rabeh. He's the main reason why ADMU has been a contender in the last 2 years. I know I said Eric was the ADMU's season MVP but I said that for his consistency on both ends of the floor and his focus on the game but that all disappeared in the finals. I think Ateneo would have won lesser games if Rabeh was gone compared to when Eric leaves. Not like most people, I wasn't really worried about Ateneo if Eric wouldn't show up again because the Eagles have proven that they can win w/o Eric when they won game 1. Their real barometer is Rabeh. He was distracted a little bit in game 2 and it cost them a sweep. Together with Nonoy, they are Ateneo's pillar of strength down low.
• Let me give some love to the other guys. Basketball is a team game and you can't win only one player. Jainamite was a key part in Ateneo's 2nd straigth championship. I know I hate the guy but he can really light it up if you give him an easy look. He's been their floor leader as well. I was little bit worried about ADMU with Tiu's departure not because of Tiu's points or outside shooting but because of his leadership. DLSU looked very good to win it again in season 71 but they sorely missed the leadership brought by TY Tang and Cholo Villianueva. Fortunately for Ateneo, Jai stepped right in to lead this team on and off the court. Don't get me wrong, I still hate the guy. Let's not forget last year's Finals MVP, Nonoy. He's not going to get a lot of attention because he's not a great on offense but his defense is probably as important as Rabeh's offense. Salamat and Buenafe also showed up in time to win Ateneo's 2nd straight championship. Guys like Kirk and Bacon was also key to Norman's system because he needs guy who will do their roles w/o hurting their team's chances of winning. (Let's leave missing or making bad shots to Buenafe.)
  
• Sid Ventura picked the UE Red Warriors because it seemed the stars were aligned for them just like how it was for UST in 2006. Rookie Coach(Pido and Lawrence). Typhoon (Milenyo and Ondoy). 3rd seed beating a 2nd seed (UST beats UE and now UE beats FEU). Controversy within the 2nd seeded team(Custodio and Barroca). Ateneo being the no. 1 seed. It looked like he was right except for one thing, the composition of this 2009 team. In 2006, his best offensive player was a perimeter player(JC Intal). In 2006, his best big man was much known to score on offensive rebounds and open inside or outside looks (Doug Kramer). In 2006, he his PG was more of a slasher than a shooter (Macky Escalona). This year, Norman had low post threat offensively (Rabeh Al-Hussaini). He had defensive presence inside (Nonoy Baclao). He had a PG who could knock down open shots when his big man gets doubled team (Jai Reyes). In short, the 2009 ADMU Blue Eagles were more of a traditional half-court team. A team perfect for Norman Black's system.
  Black has always been blessed with talented players like Tenorio, Intal and Bugia in the past but it was only when he had Rabeh that he was able to lead this team to a championship.
• I believed ADMU's opponent was only themselves. If they play tough defense and execute Black's game plan like how they did most of the season, they will win it all and true enough they played like how they did all season long and won the crown. If UE was able to somehow get Ateneo to play out of character in game 3, they might have already ended their long championship drought (Has it been 24 or 23 years?).
  

UE Forces Rubber Match

• UE started with the five that gave them a 19-1 run last game. Elmer, Acuna, Lee, Reyes and Lingganay. All 5 guys were patrolling around the perimeter and Rabeh had his difficulties guarding the quicker Elmer Espiritu. It was a close game in the 1st quarter so you can't say that this lineup was able to destroy ADMU. It did however gave UE a scoring punch off the bench with Pari Llagas.
• Chongson finally trusted his bench in this game. I was little scared for UE since Coach Lawrence made his 1st substitution with only a minute left in the 1st quarter but he used his bench for more than a half of the second quarter. He played with a lineup of Reyes, Zamar, Tagarda, Duran and Llagas for around 6 minutes and it gave his starters a lot of rest. Tagarda and Duran looks like pretty solid role players as both guys provided a lot of energy. TJ Manotoc provided a great point about playing young big men like Duran. The worse thing those guys can do is give up a hard foul on Rabeh which isn't really a bad thing at all. Tagarda as Boom would put it is UE's energizer bunny. The guy was all over the court huslting. He did take an ill-advised jumper in the 2nd quarter but he got 2 straight offensive rebounds that was crucial in UE's run in the 2nd half. UE's bench was pivotal as they gave the starters a lot of rest while still keeping the scoreboard close.
• A lot more attention was paid to Jai and Rabeh but ADMU continued to do the right thing and moved that ball around against that zone defense (Did UE play zone defense the whole game? I never noticed them play man to man at all) and that paved the way for the other guys like Chua and Austria to get open looks. UE improved their defensive rotation in the 2nd half to lessen ADMU's open shots as they were making their run.
• ADMU played out of character in the 2nd half. Poor defense and jacking up shots early in the shot clock cost them the game. They lost their focus especially Rabeh. Pari was getting under the skin of the former MVP with his physical play. Rabeh tends to just stand around when he gets frustrated and that's not something Norman Black wants. I'm sure he's going to get an earful from Norman tonight. Even the usually composed Kirk Long got on the wrong side of Norman when he rushed to their front court and was charged an offensive foul. (He just entered the game when that play occurred and he was quickly replaced by Austria)
• Val Acuna disappeared in the 1st half. Nonoy scared the hell out of him with an amazing block in the 1st half. Coach Lawrence called him out for being too cautious and for not attacking Nonoy's defense and he responded well in the 2nd half. He was back torching the Eagles with 3 pointers and nifty moves in the 3rd quarter. This guy is so damn talented for his size. Too bad we won't see much from him as he will be graduating this year. (I'm not sure about this but Boom did say Val is a graduating player.) He'll have to cut down on his forced 3 pointers if he wants to end the heartbreak for UE this Thursday.
  
• Elmer Espiritu was on fire today. He was consistently checking if his feet was set behind the 3 point arc and firing long ranged bombs all game long. He was also knocking down tough fadeaway Js against the Ateneo big men and lets not forget his spectacular alley-opp play in the 4th quarter. This was the Elmer that UE needed. He needs to be factor not only defensively but also offensively if UE wants to win against the Eagles. The commentators were asking Coach Lawrence to give Elmer some rest all game long. He gave that to them and it worked wonders for the Red Warriors.
• I think I saw Joseph Yeo in that game. Ow, sorry. That was actually Raphy Reyes. He looks like a very good player. I think he'll still be around next year to help Paul Lee around. He's very athletic and energetic but he needs to be smarter on the court. A dependable jumper will also help I guess.
• Paul lee kept on barreling over everyone in the 1st quarter. He was actually able to fish 2 fouls from Kirk because of that but Jai also drew Paul's second foul because of that. Chongson used a nice simple play that gave Lee a new way to score. Llagas would the ball in the perimeter and would pass the ball to the cutting Lee. Llagas' jumper kept Rabeh honest on defense so it gives Lee more space to operate. ADMU was able to check the play a couple of times in the 2nd half so Chongson can't expect this play would still work come Thursday. Lee never stopped driving even though he was blocked a ton of times in this game. That's what we call focus. It was all business for the Mythical 5 member and he was well under control for most parts of the game. Chongson does need to utilize a couple more plays to free Wowwow-Lee to score. Don't expect Norman to fall for the same tricks in Game 3.
• Where the hell is Eric Salamat? 4 points? He was very aggressive when the game started but he vanished as the game went along. He's seems to be a happy go lucky guy and he has showed in the past that he's a very clutch player so it really makes me wonder why he's disappearing on the grandest stage of the UAAP. Is he just too friendly with Raphy? Maybe a little bromance among the two is keeping Eric's mind out of the ball game.
• WTH is with those hidden punches? I first saw it in the UST-DLSU game with Camus and Mendoza trading punches. The UAAP should do a better job at controlling this kind of behaviour. Monfort was caught with this but I also saw Rabeh do it as well. Llagas also got away with a similar move but no suspensions please for crying out loud.
• It will be difficult for UE to win because they were very hot from outside today especially their big men. I'm sure ADMU will make the right adjustments and will be able to check UE's offense. The Eagles' opponent is themselves. If they play the right way once again they are almost unbeatable. UE has better one-on-one players but ADMU has the better system and they still have Rabeh. Eric will be the key as he has the ability to destroy UE's zone defense to open things up for their shooters. The role players for ADMU should also knock down the open shots. So much attention will be given to their main men so it is up to them to punish UE. For UE, they have to be creative once again with their adjustments and force ADMU to play out of character once again.
• It's a good thing I'm not rooting for Ateneo anymore. Remember 2006? A 3rd seed coached by a rookie coach up against a no. 1 seeded Blue Eagles team? Seeing JC Intal, Doug Kramer, Macky Escalona and the gang unable to win the crown against an underdog UST team led by Jojo Duncil, Allan Evangelista and Jervy Cruz still kills me up to this day. You can only imagine how much pressure ADMU is under right now. It's going to be interesting to see how these Eagles led by Jainamite and Rabeh react.
  
• Great quote by Coach Lawrence as reported by Tiff, "Hindi pwede puro puso lang dapat may utak din!" or something like that.