Monday, July 23, 2012

1-0 lead by Painters

Rain or Shine played like a champion team in its first-ever finals game, hardly showing jitters as the Elasto Painters walloped the B-Meg Llamados, 91-80, in the opener of their PBA Governors Cup best-of-seven title playoff at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
The Elasto Painters displayed character that produces championships, fighting the Llamados toe-to-toe in the first half before pressing their bid and finishing with a flurry for the emphatic win that could well give them positive vibes for Game Two.
A crowd of nearly 12,000 braved the stormy night and witnessed the finals debutants frustrate the reigning Commissioner’s Cup champs.
To his frustration and disappointment, coach Tim Cone committed a flagrant misconduct in throwing a monobloc chair on the court for an outright ejection with 7:23 left in the game.
Jamelle Cornley, Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood and Ronjay Buenafe fired at least 10 points each and the whole RoS team hit at an impressive 51.5-percent clip to win the game convincingly.
It also helped that they played well on the defensive end, holding down Marcus Blakely to just 12 points and seven rebounds.
"I'm really proud of the way the boys handled the pressure and the way we played our defense in the second half," said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
"We had problem with our rebounding in the first half. Once we got settled down and able to soak up the atmosphere, we played our regular game and we’re okay from then on," Guiao added.
The RoS mentor thought they enjoyed the advantage of being fresher in setting out for this game.
His B-Meg counterpart, however, said it’s not about tiredness but the over physicality of the game.
"We're not tired. It's more of we got frustrated with all the stuffs that’s going on out there. We'll break down the video and present our case to the commissioner," said Cone.
"That's their style of play. You have to respond to it, but I'm afraid people might get hurt when you do that," Cone added.
The physicality of the match was evident right in the first half where three technical fouls were called. JR Quinahan committed a technical infraction versus Marc Pingris while Jamelle Cornley and Yancy de Ocampo incurred a double "T."
The Elasto Painters did handle themselves well in the battle, establishing control in the third quarter and going on to dominate the final period.
Norwood scored on a jam and rifled in a trey in a 10-1 run as the Elasto Painters broke the back of the Llamados, 80-65.
Cone did his stunt after the Elasto Painters made it a double-digit spread at 74-64 on back-to-back baskets by Norwood and Cornley.
Picking his shots, Cornley went 11-of-14 from the field and led all scorers with 25 points that went with 11 rebounds, four assists and one steal.
Lee, Norwood and Buenafe bombed away two triples each and finished with a combined total output of 34 points. James Yap paced the losing team with 19.
Jonas Villanueva sank a buzzer-beating three-pointer as B-Meg took the half at 39-35.
The battle was as tight as it was rugged with neither team leading by more than five in the first 24 minutes of play.
The opening quarter, 18-16, belonged to the Elasto Painters as they drew eight points from Lee on perfect 3-of-3 field shooting coming off the bench.
NOTES: Gary David, Mark Caguioa, Marc Pingris, James Yap and Paul Lee are the official candidates for the Best Player of the Conference award to be handed out before Game Two Wednesday. The BPC winner in the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup, Caguioa is a strong bet for the same award in the season-ending tourney with a total of 449 SPs as against Yap's 392 and David's 363. In terms of average SPs, David is No. 1 with 33.00 a game, followed by Caguioa (29.93), Pingris (27.69), Yap (26.1) and Lee (26.08)…..Air21 beat Alaska Milk in the lottery for the first pick in the coming PBA Rookie Draft. The coveted draft rights, however, will go to Petron by virtue of the previous trade deal between the Boosters and the Express.
The scores:
RAIN OR SHINE 91 – Cornley 25, Lee 14, Norwood 10, Buenafe 10, Belga 8, Ibanes 8, Chan 7, Arana 4, Quinahan 4, Cruz 1.
B-MEG 80 – Yap 19, Blakely 12, Pingris 12, Simon 9, Gaco 8, Barroca 6, Villanueva 5, Reavis 4, Urbiztondo 3, De Ocampo 2.
Quarterscores: 18-16, 35-39, 66-59, 91-80

All bark, no bite?

NATIONAL University (NU) was brought back down to reality by a defending champion Ateneo side that was all but itching to recover from an ugly loss three days ago.
The Bulldogs were nowhere near the form that gave them a 35-point demolition of University of the East as they absorbed an 89-65 drubbing from the Blue Eagles in the main game of the 75th University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament on a rainy Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Ateneo’s win left Far Eastern University (FEU) as the only unbeaten team in Season 75 as the Tamaraws pulled off another escape, this time against De La Salle, 48-46, also on Sunday to claim their second-straight win for the solo lead.
The Blue Eagles and the Green Archers are now tied with 2-1 records heading into their much-anticipated encounter on Saturday.
Nico Salva led Ateneo with 21 points, while Kiefer Ravena and Greg Slaughter added 17 and 14, respectively for the Blue Eagles, who bounced back from a 71-70 loss to University of Santo Tomas (UST) on Thursday.
“The [concentration] is to focus playing for 40 minutes. Against UST, we played good in the first 20 minutes but we relaxed in the second half,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black.
“We reminded the players that there’ll be ups and downs in our offense but our defense must be consistent in case our offense is not clicking,” he added.
Both worked as the Blue Eagles took a 55-34 half-time advantage and never allowed NU to mount a serious rally.
Bobby Ray Parks had a team-high 22 markers to lead the Bulldogs before fouling out in the fourth. Emmanuel Mbe and Dennice Villamor netted 14 and 10 points for coach Eric Altamirano.
Ateneo led by as many as 27 points, 87-60, in notching the victory, the ninth straight by the Blue Eagles over the Bulldogs. In those Ateneo wins, seven were by 20 points or more and the two also in double figures.
In the FEU-De La Salle duel, Michael Tolomia hit the marginal step-back jumper over rookie Green Archer Jeron Teng with 47.6 ticks left. De La Salle tried to steal the win but Almon Vosotros’s three-point heave bounced off the rim.
FEU’s Terrence Romeo was the only player in the game to hit double figures with 10 points.
“Maganda depensa ng De La Salle. Nata-trap sila Terrence at RR [Garcia] kaya kay Tolomia ko na lang binigay kasi ’yun ang weakest defender nila,” said Tamaraws head coach Bert Flores.
“Naka-tsamba rin kami kasi wala si LA [Revilla]. Last two games nila, si LA ang nagdadala. Kaya nag-adjust na lang ulit kami.”
Revilla sat out the game because of tendonitis.
Posted: SUNDAY, 22 JULY 2012
REPORTER: joel orellana
source: http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/sports/30262-all-bark-no-bite

Saturday, July 21, 2012

RAIN OR SHINE vs. B-MEG: WHICH IS THE REAL UNDERDOG?

HAVING made it to the Finals for the very first time since joining the PBA in 2006, Rain or Shine
hope to take its dream a step further and go all the way to clinch a championship as well.


B-Meg head coach Tim Cone, on the other hand, has his sights trained not only on leading the
Llamados to a second straight title but, on a personal note, he is bidding to tie a league record.

These are the scenarios present as Rain or Shine and B-Meg clash for the championship of the season
ending PBA Governors Cup. Game One is set Sunday night at 6 pm at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Elasto Painters enter the series opener a bit fresh after coach Joseller “Yeng” Guiao
decided to give his wards a two-day break. On the other hand, B-Meg had to go through the wringer
and beat Barangay Ginebra, 74-72 in a sudden-death playoff Friday night for the second finals berth.

“Alam kong magiging bugbugan itong Finals so I gave my boys the chance to rest,” said Guiao.
“Doon man lang ay magkaroon kami ng kaunting advantage.”

Rain or Shine made it to the Finals for the very first time since joining the PBA back in 2006 by
routing the Llamados, 92-82 last Wednesday. The Elasto Painters are hoping to go all the way to the
top and win a championship.

“We’re the underdogs kahit nauna kami sa Finals. Pero malay natin makatsamba kami,” added
Guiao.

But Cone thinks otherwise. After all, the Llamados have not beaten the Elasto Painters in two
meetings this conference. Prior to losing last Wednesday, the Llamados were also waylaid by the
Elasto Painters in overtime, 100-94 in the elimination round last May 27.

Cone is actually bidding to tie Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan as the winningest coach in PBA history.
Dalupan has 15 titles under his belt while Cone won his 14th when he led the Llamados to the
championship of the recent Commissioner's Cup.

“We really have a problem matching up with Rain or Shine especially in the backcourt. Our guards
are smaller,” admitted Cone. “We have to get good performances from Josh Urbiztondo, Mark
Barroca and Jonas Villanueva if we are to put up a good fight.”

The three guards are pitted against bigger guys like Gabe Norwood, Ryan Arana and prized rookie Paul
Lee.

Additionally, Cone said, “Rain Or Shine has a strong import in Jamelle Cornley. Marc Pingris gives
away 40 pounds against him. Rafi Reavis gives up more. It’s hard to stop Cornley.”

Other Elasto Painters to check are Jeff Chan, Ronjay Buenafe and big men Beau Belga and JR Quinahan.

Cone is hoping that two-time Most Valuable Player James Yap would erupt consistently. With B-Meg
making it to the Finals for the second straight conference, Yap now has a big chance of winning his
third MVP award.

Yap will be working with tireless import Marcus Blakely along with Peter June Simon and Yancy de
Ocampo.

B-Meg will continue to miss the services of Joe Calvin deVance and JC Intal due to injuries. (BP)

source: http://www.pba.ph/news/entry/1729

Share

Total Visitors