BEERMEN WINS FIRST ABL PHILIPPINE DERBY

The San Miguel Beermen won the battle of Philippine franchise in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) after defeating the Air-Asia Philippine Patriots, 78-70 last Saturday. It was the first win for the Beermen, which dropped its opening assignment against the Westports Malaysia Dragons. On the other hand, the Patriots tasted its first loss after scoring an impressive 86-58 rout of the Bangkok Cobras on opening day. It was a tight game in the opening half but the Beermen started to control the game in the third canto, according to the league’s official website.

“The final buzzer saw the San Miguel Beermen retaining their lead and winning the game at 78 to the AirAsia Philippine Patriots’ 70 points. San Miguel Beermen’s Dalron Lamar Johnson had a brilliant game and ended with a double double at 23 points and 11 rebounds. It was Anthony Gene Johnson of the AirAsia Philippine Patriots that was the highest scorer for this match-up however, with 25 points.”

EIGHT TEAMS IN ABL’S THIRD SEASON

(ABL Photo)

Things has become more interesting in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) as another new franchise is set to see action in the third season which reels off on January 14, 2012. Exactly a month after the entry of Philippines San Miguel, an eight team and the second franchise out of Thailand, Bangkok Basketball Holdings became the newest franchise of the fledgling regional pro league. The BBH is owned by business partners Tom Griffin and Jeffrey Premer. ABL league officials and team owners warmly welcomed the newest member with open-arms, according to the league’s official website.

Kuhan Foo (ABL Chief Executive Officer): “Bangkok Basketball Holdings is a welcome addition to the ABL. This reinforces the growth of the ABL in the past 2 seasons. With them on board it also shows that the basketball playing talent in the region is now increasing and with the inclusion of the new teams and with our foundation members now throwing out a larger net to seek talented players, it is going to be a bright future for basketball in the ASEAN region.”

Dr. Mike Romero (Philippine Patriots): “I salute the whole ABL organization for another prized team recruit, after San Miguel Philippines, Bangkok Basketball.  The ABL is truly becoming the biggest premiere basketball league in the whole ASEAN region.  ABL is truly growing in leaps and bounds.  The excitement between teams and countries is likewise growing.  The ABL is truly the future of ASEAN basketball.”

Ruben Gnanalingam (Westports KL Dragons): “It’s great that there has been two new teams joining the league, it is a big step forward for the expansion of the ABL and basketball in South East Asia as a growing sport. I am very sure that this is just the beginning and there will be more teams from other countries as well in time to come. The Westports KL Dragons would like to extend a warm welcome to the new ownership group in Bangkok on being part of the league. I am sure the level of competition is going to be higher in the league as we’ve seen how strong basketball in Thailand has become.”

Michael Johnson (Singapore Slingers): “The announcement of the Bangkok Basketball Holdings joining San Miguel as confirmed new teams for the 2012 ABL season is another huge boost to the league. Thailand will now have its own local rivalry with them joining the current ABL champion Thailand Slammers in the league. Fans of the ABL can look forward to a bigger and better ABL season starting January 2012.”

SMC INVADES ABL

When the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) opens its third season on January 14, 2012, the Philippines will be represented by two franchises namely, the 2009-10 ABL champions, the Philippine Patriots and the new kids on the block, the San Miguel Beermen-Philippines. The giant food and beverage company has finally thrown its hat on the fledgling Southeast Asian regional pro league. Named as head coach of the Beermen is seven-time PBA best import Bobby Parks. The ABL now will have seven competing teams for the 2011-12 season, which includes the five league pioneers, defending champions Thailand Slammers, Kuala Lumpur Dragons, Singapore Slingers, Satria Muda Britama of Indonesia, and Brunei Barracudas. The Beermen will play its home games at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig City. Ex-pro players including some reserve cagers from the San Miguel umbrella teams in the PBA (Petron Blaze Boosters, Ginebra Gin Kings and B-MEG Derby Ace Llamados) are expected to make up the SMC roster. Parks says he will try his best to uphold the rich basketball tradition of the San Miguel organization in the ABL, according to the Philippine Star.

“We’ll live up to San Miguel’s reputation as a hard-working organization. I’d rather have less talented players but hardworking rather than talented players who don’t want to work hard.”

ENTER THE DRAGONS

(ABL Photo).

Internal conflicts within its country's basketball organization cost the Chang Thailand Slammers, the recently-crowned ASEAN Basketball League champions, to represent the ABL in the forthcoming 22nd FIBA Asia Champions Challenge Cup in Manila on May 28 to June 5. Due to said conflicts, FIBA, the World’s governing body for basketball, has temporarily suspended Thailand from participating in FIBA-recognized events. With the Slammers out of the picture, the ABL will now be represented by the Westports Kuala Lumpur Dragons. The Philippines as host country will be bannered by its National team, Smart Gilas, and that prevented the participation of ABL runner-ups, the Philippine Patriots, as only one team per nation is allowed in the tournament, according to ABL’s official website.

“Discussions between Kuhan Foo, CEO of the ABL and FIBA Asia led to the election of the Westports KL Dragons as the new representatives for the region in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup. The Dragons ended the regular season ranked 3rd in the ABL having fielded one of the strongest squads in the league. 

 

“The 2nd placed AirAsia Philippine Patriots were excluded from the selection as only 1 team is allowed per country. The Philippines will already be represented by the Smart Gilas, who would be representing the host nation for the tournament.”

THE PHILIPPINE PATRIOTS: "DON’T EVER UNDERESTIMATE THE HEART OF A CHAMPION!"

To borrow Rudy Tomjanovich’s legendary phrase, “Don’t Ever Underestimate The Heart Of A Champion!” is just appropriate for the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) defending champions, the Air Asia Philippine Patriots. The Patriots, which struggled to a 9-6 win-loss mark in the eliminations, completed a sweep of the third-seeded Westports Kuala Lumpur Dragons as they blasted the host squad, 95-92 in a pulsating game two of their best-of-three semi-final series. The Mikee Romero-owned Patriots now awaits the winner in the other semis match-up between top-seed Chang Thailand Slammers and the Singapore Slingers. The Patriots survived the physical game of the Dragons despite the three fouls of import Gabe Freeman in the first half. Guard Benedict Fernandez buried a crucial howitzer in the last 16 seconds that sealed the game for the visitors. Patriots head coach Louie Alas was elated with the win but he also take note of some defensive lapses of his charges, which kept the Dragons in the game.

“That was the biggest shot of the night (Fernandez 3-point shot). We had some lapses defensively but Benedict bailed us out of trouble.”

UNUSUAL WEDNESDAY

I got off the bed a little bit under the weather and decided to take a sick leave of absence from work. Then I spent the day resting and watching hoops on TV all-day and all-night long. I kicked off the day watching the New York Knicks surprised the visiting NBA leaders San Antonio Spurs, 128-115 on NBA Premium TV then witnessed two PBA semis double-headers on Solar TV which both went down the wire as Derby Aces Llamados and San Miguel Beermen pulled-off nerve-wracking wins, 88-87 and 86-84 over the Talk N Text Tropang Texters and Ginebra San Miguel Gin Kings, respectively. And finally, I caught live on ESPN, an exciting win by the Singapore Slingers over the Kuala Lumpur Dragons, 93-90 in the Asean Basketball League.

(AP Photo)

“Wilson Chandler, Amare Stoudemire and Raymond Felton combined for 86 points and then took charge as the Knicks scored a major upset over the Spurs before a sellout crowd at the Madison Square Garden. The win was the Knicks third victory in the last five games.”

“After a great save by Ryan Reyes, Talk N Text star guard Jimmy Alapag decided to give a pass back to Reyes which went wayward with a second left which cost the game for coach Chot Reyes’ charges and let Derby Ace tie their series at one-game apiece in the best-of-seven semis.”

“Rudy Hatfield made a crucial turn-over as Ginebra prepares to attack for the game’s last offensive play with an errant pass to Mark Caguioa. That set-up SMB for the final shot at the game and Alex Cabagnot for the third time this season, scored on a last-second drive off Hatfield for the dramatic win. Cabagnot is fast living up to his billing as the best closer in the league. SMB now leads their series, 1-0”

“Filipino veteran Leo Avenido waxed hot in the final quarter with three howitzers as the Singapore Slingers silenced the boisterous crowd at the MABA Stadium and likewise spoiled the debut of Kuala Lumpur Dragons prolific import Justin Leith, who finished with 29 points including 25 alone in the opening half.”

Video: THE 2010-11 ASEAN BASKETBALL LEAGUE (ABL) SEASON 2

SLINGSHOT KILLINGS

Heated action during the Slingers-Bolts
tune-up game in Singapore.

The Singapore Slingers of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is making a killing of Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) clubs in recent tune-up games at Singapore Stadium. First to fall were the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters, losing out a lopsided 97-72 rout. Then came PBA’s newest kids on the block, the MERALCO Bolts, who went down by the score of 77-64. A bright note for Rain Or Shine is rookie Josh Vanlandingham, who erupted for 28 points in just 21 minutes of action. Slingers coach Neo Beng Siang said they started tentatively against the Bolts but were able to picked up the pieces in the second half despite the physical play of the Filipinos, according to RedHoops.com.

“We played well though we started off shitty. We were not too sure during the first half and we missed our first four shots. We were not running enough offense, but we did have a solid defense. It was well fought and they gave us a hard time.

“A couple of our boys were really under a lot a pressure. Especially (Wong) Wei Long and Steven (Khoo) who played well for the previous match. There was a lot of pressure on them and a lot was expected from them. There was just too much pressure on them and that affected their confidence level. (Ng) Han Bin really stepped up, though.”

BACK ON PHILIPPINE SHORES

Anthony Johnson (right) in PBA
action file photo.

With the disbandment of Sta. Lucia Realty franchise in the PBA, many thought that Philippine basketball had seen the last of prolific import Anthony Johnson. Well, AJ will be back very soon and not in the PBA anymore, but to reinforce the Philippine Patriots in its drive for a back-to-back title finish in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). The 6-6 forward averaged 29.2 ppg and 13.4 rpg in 19 games for the Realtors in the recently concluded Fiesta Conference. Johnson will be teaming up with 6-11 Donald Little for the Patriots. Little played college ball for the University of Cincinnati and is reported to be a veteran of various international leagues in Russia, France, Turkey, Korea and Mexico. During the inaugural season of the ABL last year, two-time PBA Best Import Gabe Freeman of San Miguel Beer and former Coca Cola Tigers import Jason Dixon powered the Patriots to the Championship. The new ABL season is set to start on October 2. Patriots team owner Mikee Romero knows he has a gem of a player in Johnson and hopes that Little will be the big man that would help the team in its quest for a second straight title.

“We have seen how good Johnson is, but we hope Little will live up to his resume. We need a tall and agile center, hopefully Little will be up to the task ahead.”

RESPECT

San Miguel Beer plays B-MEG Derby Ace tomorrow for the second semi-finals berth in the PBA Fiesta Conference and Siot Tanquincen will continue to call the shots for the Beermen.

A few weeks ago ,animosity rocked the SMB camp due to a sudden coaching change. Assistant coach Renato “Ato” Agustin was inserted as head coach with Tanquincen sliding down to deputy chores. With Agustin at the helm, the Beermen suffered back-to-back defeats and temporarily put in peril the team’s chances of barging automatically into the semis. The SMB management dismissed the allegations of many that Agustin from thereon will be the new head coach. They said that it is only a part of the on-the-job training for all their assistant coaches to call the shots for the team in a game or two. But news spread like wildfire that Agustin is on his way to becoming the new SMB coach next season.

Agustin maybe a good college tactician but Tanquincen has already proven his worth in the pros by winning championships with SMB and Ginebra, respetively. There is a big difference between coaching in the pro league and the collegiate league and many feels SMB will be more competitive with Tanquincen as the top mentor.

With all that he has contributed and done to the San Miguel franchise, Tanquincen definitely deserves more respect.

*****

Everything has been quiet on the Philippine Patriots camp since winning the inaugural season of the regional ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). With ABL’s second season set to begin in three months time, nothing has been heard on the team composition of the Mikee Romero-owned franchise.

Most of the Patriot’s stalwarts from last season are either playing in the PBA or the PBL-Liga tourneys. Rob Wainwright, Jerwin Gaco and Christian Coronel are currently with the Barako Bull squad while Elmer Espiritu and Val Acuna are presently strutting their wares in the PBL-Liga Tournament of the Philippines (TOP). Even their import Gabe Freeman is busy playing for the San Miguel Beermen. There are talks that Romero is exploring the possibility of joining the PBA next season either by buying an existing PBA franchise or making it through via the backdoor as an expansion club. Now, where does that leave the Patriots in the ABL? Actually, Mikee Romero co-owned the Patriots franchise with former ABC-5 (now TV-5) owner Tonyboy Cojuangco. If Romero eventually leaves the Patriots then Cojuangco can start looking for a new co-owner.

Last season, there were talks that PLDT bigwig Manny Pangilinan is interested in joining the ABL with a second Philippine franchise and if MVP pushes through with his plans then maybe the most viable thing to do is join forces with Cojuangco in the Patriots camp. Pangilinan now owns TV-5 (where the Patriots games are covered) and that would be an added plus in negotiations with Cojuangco.

*****

I received this morning an interesting text message from one of the most-respected original NBA authorities in the country, Alberto “Bert” Ramirez.

Ramirez, one of the co-founders of our Celtics Philippines E-Group, says:

“Doc Rivers is staying to coach at least one more year with the Celtics. The Celtics are also expected to re-sign Pierce to a multi-year deal, probably at a lower price despite his agent’s posturing, with Doc’s return.

Ray Allen’s re-signing could take longer though as the length of the deal has to be determined to both sides’ satisfaction. Allen has reportedly been contacted by LeBron James for a possible team-up in Miami with Wade.”