CONFERENCE’S OPENING GAME ALSO ITS FITTING FINALE
http://www.pba.com.ph/index.php?option=com...d=839&Itemid=59

Monday, 06 February 2006
Purefoods and Red Bull provided the opening salvo for the San Mig Coffe PBA Fiesta Conference.

Now, the two teams will try to finish off what they started four months ago.
Call it coincidence, but the Giants and the Barakos, who battled each other in the lone opening game Oct.2 of last year, find themselves on the collision course again. But this time it’s for the championship of the league's season-opening tournament.

Red Bull set up the conference finale Sunday evening after surviving a gritty Barangay Ginebra five, 83-79, in a thrilling Game 7 of their semifinal showdown played before a jampacked Araneta Coliseum.
The hard-earned victory allowed red Bull to wrap up the series, 4-3, and avoided the ignominy of squandering what had been a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Purefoods Chunkee also went through some agonizing moments of their own during the Final Four, although the Giants had little trouble making the Finals as they wrapped up their own semis series in six games opposite Air21 Express as early as Friday.

The best-of-seven Finals, the first time pitting the two squads, begins Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Again, Purefoods has the luxury of enjoying a few days rest going to the championship round, in the same manner they did going into the semifinals as the No. 1 team at the end of the qualification phase.

"I gave my players a two-day rest and I think that will be our advantage. We have the fresh legs and fresh minds, too," said youthful Giants coach Ryan Gregorio, who personally watched the do-or-die game between the Ginebra and Red Bull at the Big Dome.

The uncertainty of the situation admittedly has made Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao avoid looking past the semifinal phase.

"We haven't thought about that (Finals) for a second. This is the only time that I thought about it. Perhaps after I've gathered my players, then that's the only time I can tell something about it," offered Guiao, whose wards are in the Finals for the first time since the 2004 Fiesta Cup.
Looking at the stats, Guiao may have a lot to ponder about.

In their two meetings with the Giants this conference, Red Bull was beaten both times, including an 77-84 defeat in the season-opening game.
Both losses, ironically, were absorbed by the Bulls with Quemont Greer still their import. Greer, the former DePaul standout, had since been replaced by James Penny.

Although not as explosive as Greer, Penny appeared to have blended well with the Barakos, who are 7-2 with Penny around. The unassuming import also held his own against Ginebra's celebrated import Chris Porter in the semis.

Against the Giants, Penny, the former Texas Christian University stalwart, will be opposite Marquin Chandler, easily the yardstick among the reinforcements this conference and the top candidate for the Best Import award.

The 6-foot-5 Chandler, straight out of the San Jose State Spartans, is one of only two original imports who stayed on with their respective teams and credited for guiding the Giants to their first Finals appearance since the 2002 All-Filipino Conference. He averages 25 points and 13 rebounds.

Also of great interest in the Finals is the matchup pitting big men Enrico Villanueva and Kerby Raymundo and the possible shootout between Lordy Tugade and James Yap.

Raymundo, a leading candidate for the Best Player of the Conference plum, has now assumed the role of Purefoods' top man, three years after being acquired by the team from Red Bull in exchange for a first round draft pick.

Villanueva, the young, energetic center of the Bulls, has since perfectly filled the void left by the former Letran center – one of the original six amateur players elevated by Red Bull to the pro league – and rose to become the team's main man up front.

Until the 6-foot-6 Raymundo chose to turn pro in 2000, he and Villanueva were considered the rising big men of the amateur league.

Yap on the other hand, is expected to engage Tugade in a virtual shooting spree featuring two of the league's deadliest perimeter players.

"This is going to be an interesting series, so I'm inviting everybody to pack the Araneta Coliseum and watch the games," said Gregorio.

I was a big fan of Purefoods when they first came into the league in the late 80's. I would even watch their practises at the Loyola Center. Padim Israel and David Thirdkill once came to blows during one of those practise sessions. I haven't really followed the PBA much since returning from the US, the UAAP is much more exciting, but now I'll cheer for Larry and Red Bull.

It's really a thrill that Fonacier and Bugia will be involved in a PBA Finals at the very first conference of their rookie year. Enrico I think already has PBA Finals experience so I hope he wins it all this time.

Enrico vs Kerby wow parang kailan lang they were terrorizing the college leagues. Tugade and Yap for a shoot-out. But there is a possibility that Larry will guard Yap since he did a pretty good job on Caguioa. Maybe Junthy and Larry will alternate on Yap. Bugia will again give relief to the three towers of Enrico, Pennisi and Penny.

I hope our boys will enjoy this series and win it also. It has been a long time since I kept an eye of a PBA conference from start to finish. I'm glad I did this time around.

GO RED BULL ATENEO!!!!!!!!

Kerby VS Enrico - "Flair versus power. Finesse against brute force."
http://www.pba.com.ph/index.php?option=com...d=843&Itemid=59

And yeah the Pacman will be there tomorrow!
http://www.pba.com.ph/index.php?option=com...d=844&Itemid=59

I heard the Blue Babble Band will do the halftime on Sunday. No kidding.

^^^ Yes, Jancarlo. The Blue Babble will do a drumline presentation in the PBA Finals game on Sunday.

Will the UE Pep Squad be far behind?

'Course not. They'll be selling popcorn and drinks to legions of hungry fans.

they won't make it. the ue pep squad members are still "counting down," my_maka_mandag-style, per instructions from their "corpse commander."

^They are trying to improve their new and copied cheer from Adamson (which I heard when their pep squad cheered during the Finals of UE and Ateneo in Junior's Volleyball).

It goes like:

UE Let's Go, UE Let's Fight and Win This Fight! (It's just the same with Adamson)

I was only able to watch the player introductions and then fell asleep , when I woke up the game and coverage was over! Sayang! balita ko nagovertime pa! Good thing RED BULL won

for those who were able to watch game 1.. any analysis on the game? musta laro ng mga bata natin?

It was one of the best Enrico games you will ever see. He was very poised in this one specially in OT. Slamming three times, hitting short stabs, shooting jumpers, making crucial freethrows.

Larry had 10 points with two three pointers. Even Bugia had a layup.

^
Enrico had a statement game last night. He made sure that everyone knew he was the better player between him and Kerby. Even Kerby had this dazed look on his face the whole game, wondering how he's being outplayed by this 'totoy' he used to manhandle during their college years (sa practice/exhibiton games).

"Flair versus power. Finesse against brute force." Yan ang sabi sa PBA website. Baka nabasa ni Rico at nainsulto. Rico was all that last night! You want flair and power at the same time? How about those three dunks then clutching his jersey everytime as if to say 'SINONG NANAY MO!" Brute force is the definition of his game but last night he was side stepping for jumpshots and using his footwork and dribbling skills for lay ups.

Wala na, iwan ka na yata Kerby.

I watched part of the game but went to bed sometime during the 3rd Q. Mukhang binubuenas parati si Rico V pag hindi ko tinatapos ang mga laro niya. Hehe.

Or it could also be Jun Limpot's BSP power in effect.

GO ATENEO!

BATANG
BATANG
RED BULL
ATENEO!!!!!!

Animo ATENEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BATANG
BATANG
RED BULL
ATENEO!!!!!!

One Big Fight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

freak

As the other posts here have mentioned, you missed one hell of a game. I almost missed it myself I was only able to catch the 4th quarter and the overtime.

Enrico took home the best player of the game honors with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. I would say he was able to pretty much outplay Kerby Raymundo (11pts 6rebs & 2 blks) on this game, although Kerby's 2 blocks came at the expense of Villanueva. Enrico sealed the game with a long jumper from the amateur 3pt line after Kerby gave him way too much space in the perimeter.

It also helps Enrico that James Penny really looks to involve his teammates alot before looking for his own points in the 4th quarter. Penny has pretty much stuck to this pattern of behavior since he replaced Greer. The Penny vs Chandler match-up could pretty much be a wash with Penny getting more assists with his teamplay.

I would like to commend Yeng's brialliant strategy in defending Chandler. He did not play to what everyone was thinking, by alternately putting Fonacier, Najorda and Tugade on Chandler. While these three are significantly shorter and "weaker", they are still able to stay with him until he makes his final move to the basket, his spin move. This move then enables Penny to help by blocking the shot or just by cramping Chandler's space when he spins. It also saves Penny a lot of energy for offense and defense in the end game.

I was cringing during the 2nd quarter though when Larry was defending him. I fear for his life.

RBA wins again!

This time Tugade was on fire while Enrico took care of things underneath on both ends of the court.

Excellent game by our boys again.

Enrico outplayed Kerby once again tonight, offensively and defensively, forcing Kerby to change his shot a number of times. I wonder if Enrico has a decent chance of edging out Kerby for Best Player of the Conference honors. Too bad www.pba.com.ph doesn't compile cummulative statistics. Buti pa ubelt.

And Larry... though playing under the shadow of Lordy tonight, delivered another worthy performance with 10 pts, 12 rebounds, not to mention that big 3 from the corner that helped pull Red Bull away in the 4th quarter. Rookie of the Year? Who is he up against for this honor?

I read somewhere that Enrico is the leading candidate for the Best Player of the Conference Award, while Purefoods' Marquin Chandler, one of only two original imports to finish the entire conference, is the runaway choice for best import.

As far as rookies are concerned, Larry is up against Sta. Lucia's Alex Cabagnot. Cabagnot has the gaudier stats, but Fonacier is playing in the championship and contributed heavily to the Barakos' championship run, especially in the playoffs.

12 rebounds naba un? it looked like he was just going through the motion of the game.. astig talaga si larry, cold blooded shooter.. sabi nga ni coach norman dun sa magkasunod na 3s .. "we've seen this before.."
at nalimit nya c james yap to 5 pts

hope larry wins ROY!

Lalaban din for the ROY award si KG Canaleta. He put up some pretty solid numbers this conference, especially in the semis. I think it'll come down to the amount of playing time each rookie gets. The more court time, the better the chances.

Give me a B!
Give me an S!
Give me a P!

What does that spell?

JUN LIMPOT!!!

with how lordy (what a name) performed last night, it looks like we'll have to find another way to snag rich out of alaska. ibigay na nila si diego valenzuela!

Jondan Salvador is the leading candidate for ROY as he is in the top ten in the race for MVP honors.

FYI.

Hindi qualified si Jondan sa ROY race. Naglaro na sa MBA dati 'yan e.

hmmm.. is this true ? kung ganon, Larry will be in the thick of the fight of the ROY

yup, if my memory serves me right i think he played for one of the mindanao teams in the MBA... The Socsargen Marlins ata? Or Surigao Miners? Basta i remember a good forward in the MBA named Salvador.

yes, di na pwede si jondan salvador for the rookie of the year race because of his MBA stint. if the old PBA policy were still inplace, salvador would have been classified as a "direct hire."

the redbull eagles were out of their element last night.. 20+ turnovers.. the result a victory for the giants..

sayang ung baskets ni Larry and Rico nung last minutes.. parang nanggigigil lahat sa bola..
i think they need to relax like the first 2 games and let the game come to them instead of forcing themselves. sayang na fouled out pa nman kaagad si Chandler, di sila nakapag-take advantage.

purefoods averted a sweep mainly by matching the local and bench strength of red bull, drawing double figure point productions from marquin chandler, james yap, jondan salvador, kerby raymundo, and noy castillo. amelie mauresmo look-a-like marc pingris, paul artadi, richard yee and roger yap all backstopped in the scoring effort with their timely points. purefoods's locals shone most brightly when they were able to buck the loss of chandler, who fouled out with a good five minutes remaining in the game.

red bull failed to capitalize on chandler's loss mainly because they failed to make the crucial stops in the endgame. kerby played his sharpest last night, and he hooked up with jondan salvador to put the barakos away on a "nakaw" out of bounds play with him as inbounder in the last minute.

taking a page from the yeng guiao book of knowledge, purefoods coach ryan gregorio gave paul artadi considerably more minutes to play off his old college teammate james yap and was rewarded with sterling performances by the UE connection. i think that was gregorio's biggest adjustment in game 3. game 4 promises to be an exciting confrontation.

RBA just couldn't get their game going last night. Enrico and Penny tried their best to keep them in the game. Even Larry had a hard time but he and Enrico, together with Junthy, almost got themselves a win with gutsy plays. But last night it was obviously Purefoods' game.

Hmmm... sino kayang may BSP sa amin kagabi sa Cuneta Astrodome nina atenean_blooded and mrs., ikay and Posterized?

Or baka ang "Ateneo Drumliners"....?

Or si LA Tenorio...?

Hyukhyukhyukhyukhyuk!!!

Basta...
Payt, Payt, Payt!!!

why doesn't yeng play larry and lordy together? in my non-expert opinion, i think they can play off each other and form a tall and potent wing combo. instead yeng mostly plays larry-junthy and lordy-cyrus.

any thoughts?

my guess yungha is that yeng guiao is matching the "cerebral" player with the "flow" player to balance both the benefits and minimize the mistakes. both larry and lordy are cerebral players, letting the game flow and picking their spots, without too many mistakes. both have great game sense, and can create their own offense still within the tem concept.

baguio and valenzuela give you great energy, and rather play off the flow of the game and primarily use instinct. when the team rhythm is going, that's great, like when they're playing a high energy team like ginebra, but when it's off, or a slow down execution team, it can be counter-productive as well. my thoughts only.

Actually he did during the last half of the 4th Quarter and he used Junthy as point guard. It almost worked. But Tugade was really off in the second half and Larry can't get anything from the outside. Sensing this, Larry and Junthy tried attacking inside.

it figures that a team as deep as red bull can beat you in a number of ways because of its wide variety of player combinations. that's hell to defend against if you're the opponent. in fact, yeng guiao is known to shuffle his starting personnel just to confuse opposing coaches, which is in stark contrast to conventional thinking that you must keep your starting five constant to ensure consistency in the allocation of playing minutes in the rotation. pero kung papansinin nyo, red bull's closing five almost always consists of guards celino cruz and larry fonacier, forwards lordy tugade and import james penny, and center enrico villanueva. if coach ryan gregorio wishes to bring his squad back into the thick of things, he must find a way to match up with red bull's closers to win the pressure-packed games.

Larry has brought his silent assassin tag to the PBA. Everytime he's on the court, you're always second guessing that he'll pop a three pointer to stop a rally like a dagger to the heart. Coach Norm was right: to the Ateneo faithful, we've surely seen this before.

Enough said. Animo!

So, did the Babble perform? Anybody knows kung pwede ma-"hire" and borrow ng Red Bull mga Ateneo Cheers, lalo na if they add Wes, Rich or LA sa line up?

Eh Barako and Ateneo sobrang lapit - and dali ma adjust.

imagine yung energy level sa Araneta and the ADMU boys if they start using some of the cheers like "get that ball /fight' tapos "go Barako"

Kasi, if they get the other guys plus the cheers, Im sure madami Ateneans na watch ng live. Maging marketing pa niyan is the Red Bull "atenista elite" crowd versus the Ginebra Masa hatak.

Barangay Ginebra is the purest form of fanaticism that I have ever seen. Wala na nga si Jawo, Ginebra pa rin sila.

P.S. I am not a Ginebra fan. Toyota ako, then when Jawo and Fernandez split, I followed El Presidente.

didn't see the BBB.. i waited for them sa halftime.. guess what?

they ran a VTR on the James Yap-Kris Aquino love affair..

..nice napalipat tuloy ako ng channel.

Ganda ng kotse ni James Yap ngayon, brand new black Beemer 7 series. Saw it parked in the Moro parking lot when Purefoods was practising sometime last week.

Hanep mag-regalo si Kris

Animo ENRICO VILLANUEVA!!!
King Bull Eagle!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations for being named as the Best Player of the Fiesta Conference.



I'm not so cool to this idea. My viewpoint lang ha. I don't know with the others here.

Tough loss for RBA today but Purefodds really came out smoking in the fourth and it was hard to stop. But Enrico still had a great over-all game.

The series is now tied and it's anybody's title.

The Band performed last Sunday, nung halftime.

I'm not cool with the idea of the RBA supporters using some of our cheers as well. Although... Mejo masakit sa ulo yung paulit-ulit na "Go Red Bull! Go Red Bull!" and "Deepens! Deepens!" chants ng mga (just guessing) binayaran nilang crowd. Parang choir, pero four words lang ang alam. Hehe.

Hi I'm new here. Hope you guys don't mind the post. I just noticed:

1. RBA loses everytime that JY-KA thing is overly hyped.

2. I don't want to sound like a sore loser but 3 consecutive free throws for PF in the shaded lane in the end game yet no call on Penny's 3 plus yung mga nagliliparang RBA players right before that?

Shucks. This reminds me of why I quit watching PBA in the first place before RBA came about.

Hey ... I could just be venting. On the other hand, I AM one of the old PBA fans na kakabalik lang.

Great game by both sides. With the way Purefoods executed in the end game with that spectacular 3 by Castillo, and by putting Chandler on Rico, they deserved the win.

The lowest point of the evening was hearing Kerby shout to the microphone "Basta alam ko sa sarili ko ako ang MVP!" and then abruptly walking away. Wasn't that so unsportsmanly of him? Okay lang manggaling sa iba, but for you yourself to proclaim that, sheez. Enrico I think truly deserved the plum given his more consistent showing especially starting from the semis. And I think I would say that even if I weren't an Atenean.

i'm pissed because the refs won that game for purefoods.

sure, maganda ang ipinakita ng hotdogs nung end-game. pero that's because the momentum had already shifted in their favor.

ang masama noon, nawalan ng momentum ang RBA dahil sa mga basurang tawag at no-calls ng mga zebra in favor of the hotdog giants.

i know that players, especially pros, should learn to play above the calls and errors of the officials. pero lintek, FINALS GAME ITO AT SUNUD-SUNOD ANG NANGYARING PANLULUTO.

i'm wondering... obvious kasi na mas maramang fans ang chunkee hotdogs kesa sa mga machong barako. hindi kaya "decided" na ang series na ito ng mga "powers-that-be" in an effort to lure the crowds and appease the fans?

well, manalo man o matalo, isa lang ang sigurado ko:

PAGDATING NG ALL-FILIPINO, LAMANG ANG BARAKO!