Power Failure: Powerade- Team Pilipinas

The recent debacle by the Powerade- Team Pilipinas at the Jones Cup showed that our basketball gurus in the PBA still did not learn from past experiences and conveniently forgot the lessons of the past. The problems that besieged the present team were the same ones that plagued the previous PBA- backed national teams as far back as the 2002 Busan Asian Games. It was déjà vu all over again.

They set aside the lessons learned in Busan and the promise of Tokushima as they once again went back to the old practice of forming an ill-prepared national team for international competitions. They proclaim to high heavens that they have the knowledge and feel of the game and yet their actions showed otherwise.

It’s painful for the Filipino basketball fans to see their National Team become the laughing stock of the tournament as they were massacred time and time again by their opponents. Teams toyed with the hapless Filipino professionals as they came to a rude awakening that their game is not up to par with their Asian neighbors as they were embarrassed and humiliated on the hard court.

It is quite obvious that while our neighbors have improved and adapted to the international brand of basketball to perfection, we Filipinos have been stuck with the delusion that our brand of basketball patterned after the Americans will still be superior against our neighbors.

The Jones Cup is just a microcosm of what ails our basketball system. There is no continuity in the so-called program coupled with the PBA’s half- hearted commitment to put their money where their mouth is, which only spells disaster to any international campaign.

The PBA has been very vocal in the past of forming a pool of players to represent the Philippines in international competitions. They averred that with a core made up of the best players in the league, the Philippines will be on the road of regaining back basketball respectability, if not supremacy, in Asia.

But after Tokushima, whatever happened to that core of players that Chot Reyes assembled?

For whatever reason, they disbanded it, formed a new one with different sets of players who are less talented than their predecessors and appointed a coach with a different philosophy and is not well-versed of how basketball is being played in his neighbors’ backyard. Back to scratch, I dare say.

If the Powerade- Team Pilipinas’ performance in the Jones Cup is a barometer of how they will play in the FIBA World Basketball Qualifiers in Tianjin, China this coming August 6-16, then the Filipino basketball nation is in for another heartbreaker.

Good thing, there’s the young Smart Gilas on the horizon.

The Lord of the Rings

• 3.7 ounces.
• 63 diamonds = 3.61 carats
• The face features six big diamonds, one for each Steelers Super Bowl win
• Seven smaller diamonds at the top represent the Steelers' seven conference championships
• Seven more at the bottom represent the Steelers 14 divisional titles

On one side-

^the player's name is displayed along with his number
^the Steelers logo
^the NFL logo.

On the other side is-

^the Super Bowl XLIII logo
^the score of the Super Bowl
^ Six Lombardi Trophies sitting inside Heinz Field.

Roger, I Heard You Loud and Clear

14 Grand Slam Men's Singles Titles-

3 Australian Open
1 French Open
5 Wimbledon
5 US Open


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Federer Completes Career Grand Slam, Winning Elusive French Title

Amit Finally Hit It Big

Rubilen Amit of the Philippines finally scaled billiards Mt. Olympus as she trashed two-time world 9- ball champion Liu Shin-mei of Chinese Taipei, 10-4 and won the JBET.net World Women’s 10-Ball Championship at the Block at SM North in Quezon City.

The win made her the first Women's 10- Ball World Champion and now join the elite circle of Filipino World Champions that include Efren "Bata" Reyes, Alex Pagulayan and Renato Alcano.

It was a fitting win for Amit who started the tournament on a sad note with a 5-1 thrashing from World Number 1 Kelly Fisher. But she rebounded with wins over Julie Kelly of Ireland 8-4 and Hsiang Ling Tan of Chinese-Taipei 8-3 in the knockout stage.

In the quarterfinals, she took out the sting out of the Black Widow Janette Lee of the US rallying from a 3- rack deficit to eke out a 9-8 win and then easily won her semi-final match against Akimi Kajitami of Japan.

It was smooth sailing from then on as the 2007 Amway World Women’s 9-Ball Championship runner-up gained confidence which she brought into the Finals against Liu Shin-Mei of Chinese- Taipei and coasted to a surprising easy victory.

Her win earns her the $20,000 paycheck, the biggest of her career.

Dennis Orcollo victimizes Ralf Souquet in Predator Finals

Dennis Orcollo of the Philippines smashed Ralf Souquet of Germay 8-3 in the race to 8 finals of the 9th Annual Predator International 10- Ball Championships at the Reviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to record one of the biggest wins of his career.

Earlier, Ralf Souquet, Alex Pagulayan, Warren Kiamco and Orcollo all marched into the semi-finals in different fashion.

Orcollo easily defeated Warren Kiamco 7-4 but Souquet spoiled an All Filipino Finals when he thumped Pagulayan 7-1 in the other semis encounter.

The 3 Filipino semifinalists in this year's edition was the most by any country in the history of the tournament.

FIBA Asia Champions Cup: Iran outlasts the Philippines 98-87

The young Pilipinas Smart Gilas team gave Mahram Tehran all it could handle at the 20th FIBA Asia Champions Cup. They led Mahram 46-44 at half time but the more experienced and taller Iranians behind import Jackson Vroman's 42 points outlasted the Filipinos 98-87 in an exciting dogfight that showed us a glimpse of the future of Philippine Basketball.

Now, you can only wonder if only the Philippines was able to send the entire developmental team to the tournament. Surely, Japeth Aguilar, Gian Chu and Rabeh Al- Hussaini could have made a big difference in the game.

Nevertheless, the Filipinos gave a valiant effort in its fight against the heavily-favored Iranians, the tournament-favorite to win the crown.


Here's the report from Iran Sports Press--

WABA champions Mahram started off slow, but steadily grew in strength and busted the enthusiastic bubble of Smart Gilas for a 98-87 to open their campaign in the 20th FIBA Asia Champions Cup on a winning note on Wednedsay.

Smart Gilas, who defeated Sangmoo on the opening day, thus suffered their first defeat.

American forward Jackson Vroman, MVP at WABA qualifiers when he donned the Saba Mehr colors, played all the 40 minutes of the game, and deservingly led the game in scoring as well as rebounds.

The 27-year-old former New Orleans Hornets player returned 42 points, with a 69% (16/23) success rate in field attempts, and collected 13 rebounds

Priest Lauderdale, the other NBA alumnus in Mahram ranks, played only the first half of the game, but during his presence proved tall enough for his 16 points and 11 boards.

Samad Nikkah, the captain of the Iran National Team at the Beijing Olympics last year, celebrated his return to the FIBA Asia mould with 19 points – all of them in the second half – and eight assists.

Smart Gilas, on the other hand, had an all-round attack.

Mark Barocca was the leader in scoring with 18 points and American import Chester Giles contributed 14 points as the Filipino developmental team kept their more fancied opponents on their toes for almost the entire first half.

Smart Gilas led the first quarter 24-16 and the first half 46-44, but against the more experienced Mahram the Filipino youngsters fell short in terms of the figures on the scoreboard.

“I’m very proud of the way my boys played,” said Smart Gilas coach Toroman Rajkov, under whose training Iran won the 2007 FIBA Asia championship and subsequently the 2008 Olympics.

“I’m in no way disappointed with our performance. They showed we have the attitude to play big opposition without any fear,” the Serbian said.

“In my opinion, Mahram is the team to beat for championship here. Therefore, keeping them under pressure for almost the entire game is an achievement for us.”

Rajkov’s received compliments from his Mahram counterpart, Mostafa Hashemi.

“They really scared us. Full marks to Toroman,” Hashemi said.

“We were caught completely off guard by their speed. We had to make a couple of changes in our thinking,” Hashemi said about resting Lauderdale for the second half.

“We are yet getting used to the condition. And their speed unsettled us. I hope we can learn from this and improve as the tournament progresses,” Hashemi said.

Scores:

Mahram 98 (Jackson Vroman 42, Samad Nikkah 19, Priest Lauderdale 16) bt Smart Gilas 87 (Mark Barocca 18, Chester Giles 14, Dylan Ababou 11, Marnel Baracel 11). Quarterwise Scores: 16-24, 44-46, 72-63.

FIBA Asia Champions Cup: Philippines downs Korea

“This game was more or less a knock-out for us as far as entering the quarterfinals is concerned,” said Rajko Toroman of the RP- Korea tussle.

The Philippines' Smart Gilas outclassed Sangmoo of Korea 90- 76 to jumpstart its campaign in Group A's opening game of the 20th FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Mark Barroca had the hot hands on 10 of 12 shooting finishing with 20 points as he combined with American CJ Giles who had 19 points and 12 rebounds in ensuring the victory for the Filipinos and gain a step in its modest objective of advancing to the quarterfinals.

Ateneo's Chris Tiu had 11 points on his international debut while UAAP rival JV Casio of La Salle chipped in 11 points for the young Philippine National Team.

FEU's Marnel Baracael also finished with 14 points.



Smart Gilas will next face Iran's Mahram Tehran tomorrow in a highly anticipated match that will feature Toroman's past and present players.