August 9, 2009Before I share my 2 cents regarding yesterday's much anticipated Ateneo-La Salle match, a few thank yous are necessary.
Miss GJ (ACIL bacth '99) --- Met her Saturday, contacted me early morning of Sunday and was selling me an Upper A ticket for P150.00. Goodness.. thank you.
Yan Serafico (seatmate) --- Astig ka! Cheer all out..yes, facing the court is much better.
Blue not Yellow.So there, I got extra lucky yesterday, and found myself one of the 15,707 attendees that included politicians, TV and film personalities and of course, Cory enthusiasts.
Wait....Cory enthusiasts? Really?
A few seats away from where I sat, there was this lola (around 70+), wearing all yellow, head to toe. She never stood up, kept going to the washroom and never cheered. There were lots of elders there too. Non-Atenean nor LaSallian, but Corynians. And this is what makes the "tribute" game seem more like a media extravaganza. And to say that it was also done to promote unity and peace between the two rival universities seemed a bit too idealistic as obviously seen throughout the game.
It was no sea of yellow. The two sides looked like N.U and F.E.U. Kudos to those who kept the "Blue" streak alive. If Ateneo lost, I would have blamed it to the yellow, just like the loss to U.P. The yellow shirts also did not help in distinguishing the losers from the winners, they got lucky, hindi nahalata na
dugong ipis sila.
Gang Green. Eeeew.Whoever said that this was to be an easy win for Ateneo had it coming. It was a battle.Overtime 76-72.
Game 1 is ours. Actually, if you count the wins even from last season, we're at a 5-0 win streak against the greens. But yesterday's game was much more exciting than the other Admu-Dlsu games in the recent past.
The game began with La Salle putting up an intense scoring run led by their young guns. Arvie Bringas who was supposed to play for Ateneo but decided to go to La Salle instead (for academic standards reasons, or lack of it), showed that he was no longer just the power player of old, and that he can play with Ateneo's big men any day. But the thing was like Ryan Buenafe, he kept on trash-talking with the Patron-seated hecklers of Ateneo each time he scored (is this a Baste thing?). Of course this made him an easy target for more tongue lashing from the Ateneo stands.
Another guy that proved so much yesterday was Joshua Webb. (side note: saw him Saturday at the Laser tag arena in Market-Market, sayang di namin nakasabay maglaro... *naughty grin* I thought after Rico Meirhoffer left La Salle and LA Revilla couldn't play any longer that the greens would no longer have assholes on the floor. But Joshua Webb is such an ass damn it. The whole game he kept taunting the crowd (at least Ferdinand learned his lesson from last year) and trash-talking everyone who guarded him. Some would say that he has the right to do so as he scorched Ateneo for 26 points. He jumps over players and drives hard each time which makes him such a threat. But again, he's such an ass. I'm sure everyone saw the rib-kick he game Bacon. If Rico was taken out of the game for 2 technical fouls (arguing with the ref and the infamous "bad" sign) why is a kick on the rib, even without the ball in hand not given a stiffer penalty? It was supposed to be a flagrant foul 2 and merited a throw-out. Is it because he has ADHD? Does that make him any less responsible for his actions? When Nonoy took him on nearing the end of the game, he showed him who's boss; who's president (hehe). First Cardona then Ryan Arana then Rico Meirhoffer and now Joshua Webb?
What sacred me though was that La Salle played with so much skill. Their defense was insane, and they just kept on going all throughout the 45-minute game. They had the ability to score at will, whether it was running the floor or setting-up plays half court. They had their rokies stepping up. Some played like monsters and one looked like a monster in the process. Andrada, the JarjarBinx looking lanky center had 3 blocks, 2 coming from defensive jobs on Mr. MVP himself. If they keep this up for the rest of the season, they'll definitely give us a run for our money. That's if the Ateneo heart won't get in their way.
Blue Streak.Is it just me, or is Ateneo still lacking the firepower and steadiness that they had last year. The team does not look like a true powerhouse, especially on defense. They allow too many points in the paint, mostly due to getting caught with LaSallian ball fakes. And did you notice the height difference between our guards and theirs? And their big men can shoot, but we forget to rotate when necessary, small men guarding big men who can shoot over our guards even without jumping! We need to fix that, seriously.Rabbeh isn't MVP yet, so stop chanting "MVP" when he's been playing bad. He doesn't seem to be working on his game. All the teams already know tat Rabbeh is either getting the ball in the paint or popping out to the key for the jumper. Same play each time which causes lots of turnovers. And when the ball gets tapped from his hands, he doesn't even go after the ball. That goes for most of Ateneo's players. Only the Baste-Boys dive for the ball along with Nonoy.
Mashadong pa-sossy. Rabbeh and Salva need to learn how to dribble-penetrate and dish-out to the shooters. Jai's game is picking up and Salamat and Montfort are steady beyond the arc as well. Bacon is bringing it home, hope he'll be more consistent.
I would like to see the bench players being trained to shoot as well. If Ateneo can turn Vince Burke to a Mick Penisi type of big man, then he'll definitely be crucial. Tiongson needs to take some Cherifer. Sumalinog hit a three, maybe because he's wearing no.17 now.. but I liked how he moved, he's much more confident now. The only problem that bench players need to face is that when hey are put in the game, there seems to be this mentality of the referees to call fouls or dribbling infractions against them. It's like they already assume that these bench warmers do not know how to defend well or move with the ball.
Oh and I can't not comment on Ryan Buenafe's end-game kayabangan that almost cost us the win. He was already getting the crowd pumped-up after being fouled with a few more seconds to go. He was swaggering, which is alright, but as he stepped on the line and missed the two shots, I shouted a whole set of foul language directed at him for being arrogant. What if the lead was not at 4 points, La Salle could have easily gotten the ball and hit a shot as they did in regulation.
End-game Booboo.Less than a minute left in regulation period Ateneo led by 4. La Salle ran a play that would end up at the hands of an able shooter. Oh, did I mention that on the floor was Webb, Birngas, Bagatsing, Mangahas and Malabes; all were very much capable of draining the, as Boom would say, "trifecta" ( jologs). All Ateneo had to do was make sure LS would either take a long 3, or a hard fought 2. Bringas got the ball, his feet were set (mind you, he's a slow shooter, just like buenafe) and he seemed to have all the time in the world because the one guarding him did not think he'd take it. He made it of course and with 20 sec. left (24 sec clock off), Salamat was fouled and made his two shots.
So yeah, by this time the Blue (and yellow) side was feeling a bit confident. All they had to do was to a.) not foul a heave shot b.) make sure no threes are allowed (foul a 3-point shooter when the feet are already set, but make sure it's before he launches the shot to avoid a lucky 4-point play) c.) if they're going to let La Salle score, then it should be with no more than 5 seconds left, and for a 2-point shot. That's it, that's easy. If they did this, either La Salle can tie it on the free throw line, or would need an extra defensive play to get the ball back.
Of all the players on the floor for La Sale, Bagatsing was the last person I felt would take the shot because the others were more consistent in shooting. But I guess with him having the smallest man on him at that moment in Bacon, maybe he indeed was the best option since there were no defensive rotations from the Ateneo defense. He dribbled towards the three-line and squared off (wrong move no.1--- the feet of the person you are guarding should not be planted, and he should not be able to square-off towards the basket), took a pump fake which caught Bacon flying (wrong move no.2---Bagatsing wouldn't just throw a heave with the defense focused on him, and when you jump, it should not be a diagonal jump) and passed him (wrong move no.3 ---always stay in front of your man, if you're late with your jump then just move in because he'll need to focus on where he will land, it is not a cheat move promise).Even if some say that it was a lucky shot, I say it's a good shot. Bagatsing had his feet planted, squared towards the basket, the mid-air double-pump was necessary to give him power to launch a straight shot since he had to do a kontra-tiempo shot (a shot wherein you have to move a few seconds earlier than your normal shot momentum) so that Bacon couldn't get back on his feet after his first jump, and block him from behind. (Only Nonoy can do that!)
It was like a Derek Fisher shot, no one expected Bagatsing to take it, Bacon gave him the space to avoid fouling too early, and Bagatsing made him pay. Game 1 ATENEOYes, we did win, but this is definitely a sign that La Salle's basketball future is again on the rise. Only a few die-hard remember how weak La Salle was in Ty Tang's rookie year. But Pumaren kept playing him which eventually turned him into a premier guard. I think Black should do the same for the rookies and bench players. Give them playing time. As in regular playing time. But not play them together like when we lost to U.P. Play them a player or two at a time. Then give them extra training for specialties like three-point shooting, defense, hustle work etc. They can't all be all-around, the team needs role players.
The next Ateneo-La Salle match will surely be more exciting and the anticipation rate will be crazy. Businessmen and Media will again try to penetrate what is more than just a basketball game; hopefully it won't ruin the spirit of the sport. To the Ateneo "fans" , please, leave the watching of the games to those who really want to. Scalpers prey on people like you who only care about the hype and not the game. I'd rather watch with a small group of hard-core cheerers rather than a coliseum of posers.
Go Ateneo!
