Abarrientos. Cortez. Tenorio. The lineage of Alaska’s point guards is stellar. The championships started pouring in during the Johnny Abarrientos era. “Johnny A” directed Alaska’s Grand Slam run in 1996 en route to winning the Most Valuable Player award. The Aces’ next great point guard was former La Salle playmaker Mike Cortez, the number one overall draft pick in 2003. Although Cortez never reached his potential with Alaska, due to his perceived incompatibility with the triangle offense or his luckless spate of injuries, the “Cool Cat” is always regarded as one of the premiere point guards in the league. Enter Lewis Alfred Tenorio. Read the rest of this entry »

Ten teams started the conference last October 4, 2008, with dreams of hoisting the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup above their heads by the middle of February. As we cross the rubicon heading into the best-of-seven Finals, only two teams remain. Alaska, ranked number one at the end of the elimination round, and Talk ‘N Text, a team which joined Alaska automatically in the Semi-Finals thanks to an amazing turn-around in the elims, meet in a duel peppered with spicy match-ups.

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Surrounded by a stunned mostly-San Miguel-fans crowd, Talk ‘N Text Head Coach Chot Reyes reached out for Mac Cardona on the hard-court and gathered him into a tight embrace. Harvey Carey and Jimmy Alapag, both immersed in euphoric glee, joined the fitting post-game team hug involving the winning coach and his pivotal players for Game 6.

“San Miguel’s depth was unbelievable,” Reyes said referring to San Miguel’s massive manpower advantage in Game 6. “So it was up to us to counter in the ways we know how.”

Already missing 6’9” center Yancy De Ocampo who was serving a one-game suspension for committing a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 late in Game 5, Talk ‘N Text lost its biggest inside threat with 7 minutes remaining in the second period. Ranidel De Ocampo was ejected after he committed a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 for invading the landing area of a shooting Lordy Tugade.  The same violation was called on San Miguel’s Olsen Racela against Ginebra’s Paul Artadi in Game 3 of the quarterfinals.  

No Yancy. No Ranidel. No problem. Under extreme duress, Talk ‘N Text resorted to their primary strengths. Read the rest of this entry »

In more ways than one, Mac Cardona, leading contender for Best Player of The Conference, is a marked man in the ongoing PBA Semifinals. Once Cardona enters the game, the defense of San Miguel goes on full red alert. The minute he touches the ball, San Miguel fans automatically shower him with a chorus of jeers and catcalls.

The two-prong approach might have worked. Cardona only had 8 points and 7 turnovers in a Game 2 loss. He followed it up with a 5 out of 17 shooting performance in Game 3. Nevertheless, Talk N’ Text now leads the best-of-seven series, 3-1, heading into Game 5 on Friday at the Cuneta Astrodome. Why? Well you normally focus your defense on the most dominant player on the other team. Then, your fans should normally jeer the player hurting your team the most. Sadly for San Miguel, the Beermen were harassing the wrong go-to-guy and their fans were booing the wrong superstar. Read the rest of this entry »