Classic Dunk Contest

This year's edition of the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest reminded me of the year Vince Carter, Tracy Mcgrady and Steve Francis battled it out for the crown. The hype. The flare. and of course, the dunks. Well now that props are more accessible, I guess the dunk contest really is back! But then again, we need to give a lot of credit to contestants back then who showed the same hype, flare and waaay better dunks without the need of props.

Check this. Vince Carter will forever be remembered for his performance back in 2000.

Sadly, Timofey Mosgov will forever be remembered as the guy Blake Griffin dunked on.

Photo credits: http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2011/02/blake-griffins-dunk-over-a-car-2011-slam-dunk-contest-winner.html

Next King Eagle

Ateneans are definitely in a giddy whenever they think about the chances they have in winning a four peat in the UAAP next season. I wouldn't be surprised. I've been gone from the school for around 5 years now - as I've studied in UP for college then even ended up teaching in a rival school - but my support for the blue side has never ceased. And yes, I get all excited about the prospects of a 4-peat next year.

If you guys don't know, only two players will graduate from last year's line up - Eric Salamat and Jumbo Escueta. Malaking kawalan ba sila? Yeah, definitely. But look out, we have 6 new players coming in. Greg Slaughter (a 7-foot beast transferee from Cebu), Mark Tallo (a star point guard from the high school ranks in Cebu), Gwynne Capacio (a star forward from DLSZ now joining the blue side), Ael Banal and Von Pessumal (Ateneo high school standouts who played as great complements to the next player) and of course, Kiefer Ravena.

These days, Kiefer is a household name amongst Ateneans. Never have I seen much attention on a high school prospect perhaps since Mr. BJ Manalo. Not to exaggerate but he's like our modern day LeBron. Take note, he's not even a league MVP. That's because he keeps on winning the important one: the finals MVP.

Check on this. A lot has been said about Kiefer's beginnings in basketball but I guess this video of him playing back when he was 11 or 12 year old would give you a good picture.

And here he is now:

Playing point guard, shooting guard or even small forward at 5'11. Dunking the ball during fastbreaks, shooting the three (contested!), finding the open man and slashing through defenders for an easy lay-in. All that with a very high basketball IQ.

Watch out guys, Ateneo may just rule UAAP basketball for at least, 5 more years. OBF.

Lebron MJ Commercial Mash up

"Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a God-given gift and not something I worked for...every single day of my life."

To tell you guys honestly, I never liked Lebron. If it wasn't for his monster stats, monster games and definitely his monster talent, I wouldn't even care to notice him whenever I follow the NBA. Here is Lebron James, trying to make a story out of his escape from the Cavs, where he couldn't win. And even using it as a ploy to promote his Nike brand. Brilliant in a marketing sense. But come on, everything he's doing doesn't help his image at all.

I've read a lot of stories about how Lebron is as a teammate, a player in the locker room, an endorser, an NBA player, and even an Olympian! All of them are of not-so-nice nature. But I'm not bringing that out here. I'm not even sure if those things are true.

But what I'm trying to point at now is that this video could mean something. This video makes me think that Lebron may be the new epitome of play-for-pay. Truly, most young players today play well because they want a contract, or an extension, and on the first year of their contract, don't really perform according to their assessed potential.

I know Lebron left so much money on the table by playing for the Heat. But that doesn't mean his marketability decreased. His endorsements will definitely be there. He's got all the attention in the whole basketball world. All eyes are on his Heat team and they're barely above .500!!!

This video just shows us how different basketball is today and we have his Airness testifying how he became the greatest player to play basketball.

"Maybe I destroyed the game... or maybe, you're just making excuses."

2k11 shiznit

Funny video! :)) Just find it weird that Derrick Rose ended up as the "chef". He would have been doing something else in the video. Nevertheless, this is just one of the few promotional videos 2k released for NBA 2k11 - the best game ever made. Heck, I can play 2k11 until I get sleepy.

PS. Really cool how these NBA players seem like real fans of their own league. Just shows how playing in the pro league definitely means a lot to these guys.

Cleveland coping without Lebron who?

ang sarap ulit ulitin

a statement

Watched my first uaap game this season. Luckily, it was another ateneo-lasalle battle. Supposedly it was going to be so competitive like their game in the first round. I wanted something like that to happen. Apparently, as I've expected, it was a blowout. I even remember telling my brother Luis before the game, "tatambakan ng ateneo ang lasalle. wait and see."

And I predicted it right. Ateneo led by double digits right from the first quarter. It felt like last year, when Ateneo was so invincible that a blowout was in mind going into any game. This year, seeing a big blowout against La Salle definitely showed a lot of promise for this year's Hail Mary team. :) Cheered my lungs out as always. :)

Now even if I bleed blue, I need to start being objective when it comes to Ateneo-Lasalle games. Hehe. I'll be affiliated with the other side soon. :P

watch out for this guy

That's Kiefer Ravena for you guys. How often does a player dunk in a juniors' game? This guy isn't even a 6-footer. I watched the video and he did it in stride. He didn't need a full court run to have enough hops for this.

Hopefully we'll be seeing this guy in the seniors' team next year.

One Big Fight!

Big game today! :)

Credits to Alyson Yap for the photo and http://nonoyforpresident.blogspot.com/ for the lead.

humble

was YouTube-ing yesterday for basketball videos. i wasn't really looking for anything specific. i usually end up watching highlight plays from the current season, some bloopers, interviews, and documentaries as well.

i guess this way i find some inspiration for my game. haha :P

seriously now, i bumped into this rare video. it's an interview of Kobe Bryant (the NBA MVP) conducted by Ron Artest (former NBA Defensive Player of the Year). i think it was done a few months before the current season started.

watch:

i was really surprised with how this interview came to be. i thought it was going to be something like two friends/colleagues talking and messing around with each other.

hey, Ron Artest didn't act like a former NBA All-Star who could still be considered among the league's best right now who has every right to at least brag about it.

he was a true person who really idolized a man like Kobe Bryant.

he even recalled a memory of him playing a pick-up game with Kobe back when they were 13-14 years old. he told Kobe it was the moment when he started being a big fan of Kobe. he didn't even care if Kobe remembered it. he just really had to say it.

some lines were just really nice to hear.

"Oh no, Kobe's about to give me 50 (points)!" - Ron

"I gotta get ready for Kobe Bryant!" - Ron

"That thing about trusting your teammates, that's a bunch of BS... it's more than that." - Kobe

"I had to average 35 points to keep us competitive with the Raptors!" - Kobe

"This has been the biggest opportunity i had in my life. You're one of my idols." - Ron


Artest looked like a real person here. it's great to see NBA stars like that. behind all that competitiveness and ruggedness on the court and towards the media, is the a big amount of respect for his fellow NBA star Kobe Bryant. even though they entered the league only a few years apart and Ron is just a year younger than Kobe, Ron treated Kobe like he was already a legend, while he was a kid.

Kobe on the other hand looked flattered and down-to-earth with the way Ron looks up to him and all. and yeah, he remembered their game back when they were 13-14 years old. it was also nice of them to talk about their families and stuff.

Kobe has also been one of my idols ever since he shot that buzzer beater in game 4 against the suns way back in 2006. and now in 2009, him and the Lakers look groomed for a title run this june. and so i make the following prediction:

LAKERS will win the 2009 NBA title in a 5 game series

iverson gets fined after missing practice on a holiday

please don't tell me i'll see more of this..

allen iverson just got fined by the Detroit Pistons for missing practice on Thanksgiving day.

it was reported that he was one of the many players grumbling after their coach Michael Curry declared practice on Thanksgiving day. but on the day itself, it was only Iverson who was a no-show.

Michael Curry reportedly just ran some conditioning drills for an hour and let all the players go. but Iverson chose food and family.

i've been a fan of the Pistons since they won that championship in '04. and although they're not really number 1 on my list this year (because that belongs to Kobe and the Lakers), i just felt disturbed about this issue.

after they traded away Chauncey, i thought it was still a good move though it would definitely affect the team chemistry drastically. we just really have to wait and see. but i felt they would learn on the fly since Iverson has always been the 6 foot flat player who was all-heart on the floor.

but this incident won't really help. come on AI, you earn 20 million dollars a season, which is around $250,000 a freaking game, and you don't show up for an hour of practice on a holiday. wow. i go to school on a holiday for student council work, volunteer work and you don't show up to practice playing basketball?

what happened to your promise that you'll do whatever your coach tells you? even practice?!

TEAM STAT 2009 Season Preview

Last Season: 5 wins and 3 losses - lost to CSSP in the 3rd place game (Diliman Games); 1 win and 1 loss - lost to CBA for the Championship (BEST)

Key players added: Earvin Francisco (Transferee, UE), Andre Bustos (Transferee, UPSF), Aaron Poliquit (Transferee, UPSF)

Key players lost: Nan Enriquez (Graduation), Adam Vinluan (Transferred, FEU), Hajji Hassan (Shifted, ChE)

After exceeding much of the expectations from last year despite a 4th place finish, the team enters this season with more progress and boosted confidence. Despite losing two starters and a key rotation player, the team has added three solid players to boost its bid for this year's Diliman Games. Add to that, team stat now expands its pool of players for this year's roster. Any medal would really be great for these hungry statisticians.

Team Captain Casey Cabugoy and Co-Captain Migs Abrillo will again lead the way for this team's high octane offense, banking on perimeter defense and transition plays. Junior forward and last year's most improved player in the team, Mikko Mindanao shall continue to support on the offensive side of things and provide experience to the team. Either playmaking forward Marnex Mijares and high flying Abram will be starting at the other forward spot, depending on the match-ups. And rookie Earvin Francisco will be replacing Vinluan's spot at center.

Expect new recruits Aaron and Andre to boost this year's bench. The team will be expected to play either an 8- or a 10-man rotation depending on the opposing team. But that doesn't mean that the 11th down to the 20th man will be out of the picture. This team will play not just to win but also to have fun on and off the court.

Perhaps the biggest blow among the team's key losses would be Vinluan's interior no non-sense defense and the toughness that Enriquez brings to the table.

But the upside for this team would be how Earvin is suited for the running, small-ball game. Also, Aaron will be another weapon as the team's newest pass-first point guard who could deliver on the half-court set. The team has now gained more flexibility.

The team shall continue to develop its core and bench of players as the start of the season in January nears. Their final roster shall be released beforehand.

At the sidelines will be Tonico Maningat and Nikko Buhangin, both playing for, managing and coaching the team. Learning from last year, the team management will now be holding practices on a twice-a-month schedule starting this November in order to infuse commitment and discipline among the players.

Expect team stat to play with more heart and commitment as they embark on their 2nd season in the post-batch2007 era. This year, going all the way is not necessarily far-fetched for this team. After all, it's all about heart and the will to win. "Bilog ang bola". Besides, stat has the most fans during games.

Predicted record: 6 wins and 2 losses (Diliman Games)

Photo credits: Jin Jin Buzon

btv = man's bestfriend

haven't really blogged for quite a while now. have been busy for the past few days preparing for my brother Paolo's wedding.(Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Maningat!) i have had a lot of ideas for my next blog entries and they just really piled up! :(

anyhow, last friday night, my dad asked me if i already turned the tv on that day. i told him i haven't and so i turned it on and lo and behold, we're back on Destiny Cable!!!

about two years ago, our family chose to switch from Destiny Cable to SkyCable because Solar Sports was on Sky. there were nice channels like JACK tv, ANC, other news channels, and even that channel 33 where we can watch replays of UAAP and NCAA games. we also witnessed the inception of BTV last year. we enjoyed SkyCable so much.

well not until what was supposed to be a "happy" new year last January 1st. it was doom's day. Solar Sports pulled out all of their channels out of the SkyCable's roster of channels. that meant no more Solar Sports Channel, no more JACK tv and most of all, no more BASKETBALL TV. what was ironic was they transferred to Destiny Cable.

from then until last friday, we have been wanting to switch back. but due to our busy schedules, we never found time to have it fixed. we had to be contented with Sky's pseudo sports channels like Balls, Maxx, etc. they just sucked. and we had to watch local television for very limited sports action.

now that we're back on Destiny, we have "less" channels but "more" entertainment.

all i can say is, BTV (or Basketball TV) is man's bestfriend. honestly, i can watch this channel all day and the NBA season hasn't even started yet. i don't really watch much television but this channel keeps my TV on for hours in a day.

BTV has really been a success story in sports entertainment. seldom do you find an all-basketball channel that almost has all basketball action in the country, again in the country, covered. the Philippines, although not gifted in height for basketball, is definitely a basketball country.

aside from what i have been watching before (like the NBA games, NBA documentaries, NBA daily recaps, NBA fantasy, PCC, PBL, SBP, PASARELLE and even the WNBA and the WNCAA), BTV now covers the PBA games!!! wuhoo!!!

so to all sports (specifically basketball) addicts/geeks out there watching Sky Cable, switch to Destiny and you'll meet your bestfriend! :))

this is not a paid advertisement. haha.

champions of uaap basketball

last september 25, 2008, the Ateneo Blue Eagles were crowned with the UAAP Season 71 Men's Basketball Championship. Congratulations to the team and to the community for the very successful season! Finally, the Championship has come back to Loyola!

in exception to the game against FEU, this season for the eagles has the word perfect written all over it. although the team didn't necessarily blow out all its opponents this year, ateneo won 16 out of the 17 games it played. what's more impressive is how they did it: playing defense and as a team. other than the championship itself, the team also received its affirmation through the league awards where 6 of them received at least one.

Rabeh Al-Hussaini - Most Valuable Player, Mythical 5 member, Jollibee Champ of the Year and Most Improved Player.

Chris Tiu - Mythical 5 member, PSBank Maasahan Player of the Year

Nonoy Baclao - Defensive Player of the Year, Finals MVP

Eric Salamat - KFC Court Colonel of the Year

Ryan Buenafe - All Rookie Team, Rookie of the Year

Nico Salva - All Rookie Team

all these players belonged to just ONE team. and what's amazing is that among these players, only Chris won't be playing next year. Rabeh still has room to improve and will be coming back next year. Nonoy became the cornerstone of the team's defense. his finals mvp award just vindicated the defensive mind-set of the team. Ryan Buenafe didn't play like a rookie all year. the scary thing is he still has 4 years to play. i saw this guy play back in ncaa, he was a monster. now that he has one uaap championship, he'll be gunning for four more.

most of the credit should go to Coach Norman Black. it may have took 4 years before he won this long overdue championship but the development of his program and the players definitely was worth the wait. he is definitely such a gem for the Ateneo community. how often do you see a 6 foot 5, American basketball coach hug his players like they were his children and tell them that he loves them? he definitely worked out his black magic and motivated the team well.

spoke to my prof (who happens to come from the Ateneo High School like me) the other day. i dont remember what he told me exactly but he sort of said that ateneans like us who enter UP still has the privilege to cheer for Ateneo. well that's quite true. and it's quite cool. because by heart, i am still part of the Ateneo community that's all out when it comes to cheering for my alma mater. sarap maging atenistang iskolar ng bayan. champion na nga sa cheerdance, champion pa sa basketball.

it doesn't end here. my true alma mater (the ateneo high school) bagged the UAAP Juniors Championship yesterday. wuhoo. congratulations blue eaglets!

ONE BIG FIGHT!

ateneo finishes the first round on top

after a heartbreaking loss against FEU last thursday, the Ateneo Blue Eagles bounced back with an impressive win against the team that beat them in the uaap season 69 finals. with the win, ateneo finishes the first round of season 71 with a 6-1 win-loss record, with both FEU and DLSU losing to NU and UE, respectively, both going down to 5-2. UST, on the other hand, drops to 3-4, a half a game below the .500 mark placing them outside the current final four picture.

the game was a game of spurts from both teams but ateneo seemed to control the pace of the whole game. it was usually the blue eagles trying to pull away from the tigers but the tigers from espana kept coming back, usually at striking distance. the eagles almost let a game slip away again with the tigers taking the lead with around 2 minutes left after a Khasim Mirza 5 point swing, putting them ahead by 3 points, 51-54. after a timeout, ateneo finally pulled away with a 13-0 run using great plays and excellent defense, led by Nonoy Baclao's 4 blocks. they ended the game with a run that almost left the tigers scoreless for the rest of the game, scoring only a three when the game was already decided. the final score was 64-57.

Nonoy Baclao only scored two points but had 10 rebounds and 4 blocks, about 3 of them in the crucial minutes of the game. Jai Reyes stepped up big time with his scoring this time, giving ust the dagger three off a Chris Tiu assist. Rabeh Al-Hussaini played another big game with 16 points and 6 rebounds, now a formidable MVP candidate after a 33-20 game. expect norman black to continually pound the ball inside to Rabeh for his now-unstoppable jump hook.

i thought this was also going to be a showcase of top rookies namely Ryan Buenafe and Clark Bautista. Ryan Buenafe finally looked like a rookie when he made some bad decisions late in the game. i think he was a bit distracted with Dylan Ababou hounding him on defense. still, he scored about 12 points. the only way the tigers stopped him was by fouling him. Clark Bautista on the other hand only converted on one three after his "birthday" last game when he scored 18 points, all from the three-point line. i heard that Bautista was actually on ateneo's team B but suddenly enrolled in UST. maybe he thought that he won't be able to play much because of ateneo's crowded back court, which i think is true. i think it's a good career move for him.

the First Round of Season 71 ends with a bunch of upsets. (well, if you consider the w-l records of the teams coming into games) FEU won against UE and Ateneo. UP won against Adamson! i actually thought Adamson was a really strong team with Galinato leading the way. now UP is making some noise! yeah. UE made things complicated by beating La Salle. then now NU beat FEU (the team i almost thought could win it all this year, playing much inspired basketball).

woah. so much parity in the UAAP. coooooL! this year looks like a combination of the previous two seasons, when a losing team may just win it all in the end while there's a logjam of teams in the top 4!

Go Ateneo. Go UP.

Now i really want one of those adidas ateneo jackets for my birthday.