2nd Round- September 19 @ 1215AM and 3AM
Semifinals- September 20 @ 1230AM and 3AM3rd Place- September 21 @ 1230AM

Finals- September 21 @ 315AM

BTV

2nd Round- September 19 @ 1215AM and 3AM
Semifinals- September 20 @ 1230AM and 3AM
3rd Place- September 21 @ 1230AM
Finals- September 21 @ 315AM

BTV

2nd Round- September 19 @ 1215AM and 3AM
Semifinals- September 20 @ 1230AM and 3AM
3rd Place- September 21 @ 1230AM
Finals- September 21 @ 315AM

BTV

ESPN
Sky Cable 31
Destiny 82

These are cool. I want one. No, on second thought, for $14.98 each (approx. P750.00), I want three.

In a deal that was weeks in the making, the Air21 finally shipped high-flying guard 6-1 Ronald Tubid to crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra for a 2009 first round draft pick and two second round picks in 2007 and 2008. Tubid has been averaging 11 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.7 apg and 1.2 spg in 6 games with the Express this season. He gives the Gin Kings an energetic player off the bench or as a starter at point guard if they decide to field a big lineup. Tubid can play at least three positions and that versatility will be a huge boost for the Gin Kings. The addition of Tubid means that the Gin Kings are now "2-deep" at every position.

(more...)

I know this is a bit late, but in case you weren't able to watch the PBA on ABC Sports last Wednesday (October 25), here are a few screencaps of the halftime segment featuring posts from BallEx.

(more...)

In my frequent travels to the land of great books and not so great books, one particular piece caught my attention. No, it was not a special swimsuit edition by Sports Illustrated (but I like what you’re thinking). The book was sealed and had an old basketball picture on its cover. It was dubbed “The Legends and Heroes of Philippine Basketball”, a masterpiece by Christian Bocobo and renowned journalist Beth Celis.
(more...)

Before the NBA regular season kicks its 60th year, it would be nice to look back what happened 10 years ago when the league was it's 50th. It was 1996 when the Chicago Bulls started their second three-peat after having a 72-10 finish. Atlanta became the host of the centennial year of the Olympics, where "Dream Team III" dominated (what do you expect?). It was also in this year that throwback jerseys were reintroduced to the league, having seen the Toronto-New York match on opening day (Damon Stoudamire and the Raptors, and Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks wore their team's throwbacks) where the Knicks won by a convincing margin.

But what stood out that rocked the league later on as the years went by is the 1996 NBA draft class. Nobody gave a damn or nobody ever thought that this class produced MVPs, scoring champs, three-point kings, All-Stars, players with rings, current leaders of their teams, a couple of ballhogs, and a jinx (until recently), among others. You might think that with the things I mentioned, it might be just an ordinary draft class because every class have marvelous players who can be those in the aforementioned. Believe me, that's what I thought when I first picked the 96th issue of SLAM magazine, which gave me an idea on this piece I'm doing. But no! This class is very special. Here's why:

(more...)

We’re still almost halfway into the elimination round of the 2006-07 PBA Talk N Text Philippine Cup and already there are several notable rookies who are more making a strong case for the yearend Rookie of the Year Award.

Leading the pack of this year’s exciting rookies are the 2006 PBA Draft’s number 1 and 2 overall selections: Kelly Williams of Sta. Lucia Realty and Arwind Santos of the Air21 Express. Williams is leading all rookies in scoring (14.75 ppg) and rebounding (11 rpg) while ex-FEU stalwart Arwind Santos is the numero uno shotblocker among rookies with an astonishing two swats per contest. Santos also ranks 2nd among rookies in average points per game (14.4 ppg) and in steals (1.2 spg).

(more...)

Ok I posted a Michael Jordan Top 10 vid a few days ago right? Well then its only right I put up his number 2, Scottie Pippen then, don't you agree?

Its in Russian I think, but the language of Basketball is international. Ok whatever, here it is:

Here's another

(more...)

Barely a week to go, two prominent NBA players wanting to get back in the NBA was cut by their respective teams. One was Jay Williams and another guy was Paul Shirley. Doesn’t ring a ball, err, bell eh? I am not surprised that you do not know him coz the guy rarely played. (And yes, Shirley is guy.)

But if you frequent ESPN.com/nba past months, you would probably get to follow his journal, aptly titled, "My So-called Career". The blog segment is his literal journey in the NBA, as he bounces from team to team and countries to countries playing as an import.

Shirley, 28, is one of few ESPN-NBA bloggers slash writers slash contributors. He's one hell of a blogger. His choice of words, his candidness and his cynicism is as fresh as you can get. He is not the proto-typical writer. Even his failed quest in landing a TV show was dealt upon in his blog. Among other things, he likes to talk music in his blog and with occasional sarcastic say in pop culture, of course sports, TV, cheerleaders, etc.

(more...)

Watch out for the halftime segment tomorrow, Wednesday, Oct. 25 during the Talk 'N Text-Purefoods game Game 1, where ABC Sports will feature posts from Ballex, all by John Dacanay! Here's their letter:

.. we've been browsing your weblog "Basketball Exchange" for sometime now. We'd like to request your permission to use the three blog entries posted by John Dacanay focusing on PBA lookalikes:

Pba-look-alikes-part-i/
Pba-celeb-lookalikes-part-ii/
Pba-celeb-lookalikes-part-iii/

We're planning to feature some of the lookalikes during the halftime game this Wednesday. I hope you could reply as soon as possible through email or through text.

Thank you and good day!

(more...)

They may not have won the UAAP gold, but they've certainly redeemed themselves this time around.

The UE Red Warriors clinched the championship of the Collegiate Champions League by downing the San Beda Red Lions, 66-59, in a tightly-contested game yesterday afternoon.

(more...)

This is waaay late, but am posting the pics used on the Inquirer 2bu's July 12, 2006 issue featuring a 'Beauty Editorial' by famous makeup artists with a UAAP theme. Ok ok, I know this hardly has any basketball relevance other than the UAAP theme (and besides, basketball is just one of the many sports), but hey, who's gonna argue if they look this great?

UST by Claire Diokno. Model: Margaux Tecson

(more...)

With three straight defeats and the title of being the only winless club in the 2006 PBA Talk N Text Philippine Cup, San Miguel Beer knew they had to do something dramatic to swing their fortunes around. Yesterday, they consumated a trade deal with Red Bull Barakos and sister team Brgy Ginebra Gin Kings to bring hotshot Lordy Tugade, shotblocker Omanzie Rodriguez from the Barakos and center Rommel Adducul from Gin Kings to their fold.
(more...)

It will be the UAAP's University of the East Red Warriors and the NCAA champions San Beda Red Lions in the Last Dance of the Collegiate Champions League.

In the first game, the Warriors pulled through in their match against the gritty Mapua Cardinals to clinch the first Finals spot. In my opinion, there was no surprise there. The Lions followed suit in the next game, just squeaking past the upset-minded Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers, 61-58. That was a surprise.

(more...)

Games on Friday October 19, 2006
Venue: Ynares Center
1ST GAME 4:40 PM Talk N Text Phonepals vs Coca-Cola Tigers
2ND GAME 7:35 PM San Miguel Beer vs Alaska Aces

It was a night of upsets and career games. Ex-Ginebra forward Allan Salangsang scored all but two of his career-high 16 points in the fourth quarter to key the Coca Cola Tigers' breakaway over the defending All-Filipino champs Purefoods Chunkee Giants, 92-77, in the 2006 PBA-Talk N Text Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum. Aside from Salangsang, the Tigers also drew some strong games from Jason Misolas (14 points and 10 boards) and rookie Joseph Yeo (13 points), both career-highs.
(more...)

Bowling Green, Kentucky (E.A. Diddle Arena) - In an evening dubbed as the “Hilltopper Hysteria”, former Ateneo Blue Eagle Japeth Aguilar bested fellow newcomers Desire Gabou and Jeremy Evans and junior Mike Walker to rule the Western Kentucky University (WKU) slam dunk contest in front of more three thousand cheering fans.

The 6'9" Japeth Aguilar put excitement to the show by bringing home a difficult one-handed slam where he placed his entire forearm through the rim. He capped off the contest and the title with a baseline two-handed windmill dunk.
(more...)

Seems a little quiet around here today, so let me dig into my fave youtube vids to liven things up. Here's a top ten blast.from.da.past. ftg the top ten dunks of Da Greatest himself.

So let me see, there was that New York one, with Patrick Ewing, John Starks and Charles Oakley. There was also one over Manut Bol, and I think that was Tree Rollins in the Cavs uniform. Can you help me name some of those other postered guys?

Games on Wednesday October 18, 2006
Venue: Araneta Coliseum
Game 1 4:35 PM Coca Cola Tigers vs. Purefoods Chunkee Giants
Game 2 7:20 PM Air21 Express vs. Talk N Text Phonepals

The Welcoat Dragons are slowly getting some well deserved attention in the league. Proving that their win over the Coca Cola Tigers was no fluke, they turned back San Miguel Beer to notch its second successive triumph in the 2006-07 PBA-Talk N Text Philippine Cup. The Beermen are still winless in three starts, their worst skid at the start of an All-Filipino conference in ten years.
(more...)

It's the underdogs versus the powerhouses (isn't it always?) in the Final Four of the Collegiate Champions League. Ladies and gentlemen, the second-to-the-last dance:

The two tiffs are scheduled for Thursday in the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, starting at 2 PM. The Cards and the Heavy Bombers stunned the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the Letran Knights, respectively, to barge into the Final Four.

Whilst Mapua and JRU's wins might both seem tremendous upsets, the pair battled undermanned opponents. (more...)

Noticing how the Champions League got underway, I was reminded of a format that my brother and I formulated around three years ago. I wrote it in an article style, hoping to be published in one of the dailies. I submitted that to Theresa Jazmines, who was a vice chancellor in UP at that time (don't know if she still is, I lost contact with her).

Another reason why I made an article out of it is because I want the people to know the rationale of my "proposal" for a unified league. By the way, this only covers the UAAP and the NCAA, being put in a combined league, so I know why many of you will react on as to why I didn't include provincial leagues. It has to start here in Manila and hopefully, it could spread like wildfire to other provinces to create a bigger and broader league.

Probably another reason why I hope to see such league is because of the many bickerings by the UAAP people on the NCAA. Some of their comments about the NCAA is that it is a hooligan league and a second-rate institution. To tell you honestly, it hurts to hear such because of my school, San Beda, is one of the founding fathers of the NCAA. It is but sad to note that those in the UAAP do not realize that fisticuffs are thrown here and there in some games. Case in point, during the semifinals match between Ateneo and La Salle, quite a number of people, including players, were involved in scuffles. LA Tenorio of Ateneo and Jerwin Gaco of La Salle were involved in one then some Blue Eagle alumni and La Salle alumni got into each others' nerves and had a mini-rumble behind the Ateneo bench. These are but a few instances that people do not realize about the UAAP, that when hotheads collide, all hell breaks loose. In the NCAA, people see it natural for brawls to occur but in the recent years, you don't see that quite often. Actually, it saddens me more that brawls occur while a basketball game is going on because it taints the game and the passion of those who just want to enjoy watching basketball and root for their school.

(more...)

The UAAP scribes tell us something we already know, don't you agree? The UAAP Press Corps will recognize Pido Jarencio of the newly-crowned UST Growling Tigers as the Coach of the Year tomorrow.

In my opinion, no other UAAP coach deserves the award (save for Leo Austria of the Adamson Falcons, but then Pido's Tigers made it all the way). Congratulations to the coach with the infectious smile and affable demeanor!

The rest of the UAAP Press Corps Awards:

(more...)

Games Today (Sunday, October 15, 2006)
Venue: Araneta Coliseum
Game 1 4:05 PM Welcoat Dragons vs San Miguel Beer
Game 2 6:30 PM Brgy Ginebra Gin Kings vs Red Bull Barakos

SAN JUAN - The Purefoods Chunkee Giants blew a 29-point lead in the third quarter but had enough strength to repulse the furious rally put up by the Air21 Express to nail their first win in the 2006-07 Talk N Text PBA Philippine Cup, 103-101 at The Arena, San Juan. The Express had a chance to steal the game but rookie Arwind Santos' desperation three point attempt bounced off the rim.

Kerby Raymundo presided over the Giants' offense, scoring a game-high 20 points. James Yap tallied only 9 points but Jean Mark Pingris and Richard Yee, who were instrumental in giving the Giants the double digit lead in the first half, provided ample support with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Yancy de Ocampo and Ranidel de Ocampo paced the Express with 19 and 17 points.
(more...)

Note:I wrote this waaay back in January 2005. Just felt like reposting it here in time for the NBA. I hope you forgive some of the writing, I tended to be a bit long-winded back then. :)

Just took a gander over at the NBA's 5 Great Dunks, where listed, in no particular order I think, are the most fantastic dunks ever such as Vince Carter: The French Toast (2000), Shawn Kemp: The Lister Blister (1993), Tom Chambers: The Torture Chambers (1989), and John Starks: The Dunk (1993)

Here's some stuff I've noticed:

- No MJ?!. Pound for pound, MJ's the most ridiculousness fantabulistic dunker of all time. Although spectacular in itself, his dunking is merely an interesting sideshow to his overall greatness, and what a sideshow it is. He has a more complete collection of in-your-face, unconscious slammz than any other player. He's probably dunked on every center in the NBA, hell he probably collects them. Yet he's not in any of the top five.

(more...)

Games on Saturday (October 14, 2006)
Venue: San Juan Arena
Game 1 4:05 PM Sta. Lucia Realtors vs. Alaska Aces
Game 2 6:30 PM Purefoods Chunkee Giants vs. Air21 Express

The Coca Cola Tigers found two unlikely heroes in rookies Chris Pacana and Mike Gavino to shock the Red Bull Barakos and its faithfuls 105-86 in the 2006 PBA-Talk N Text Philippine Cup main header.

Pacana and Gavino took the cudgels from fellow rookies Ronjay Enrile and RJ Rizada to make a solid impression in their first official game as a professional. Pacana was able to orchestrate the Tigers' plays to perfection and scored timely hits to put the Barakos at bay. He scored 13 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in just 23 minutes of action. Gavino, on the other hand, managed just 6 points in 20 minutes but had 6 rebounds and held the Tigers' fort when Ali Peek was in foul trouble.
(more...)

I had earlier promised a review of Allan Caidic's book "My Life" all the way back in July, but it took a storm signal #3 to actually give me time to read it, given my busy sched. Well, no not really. Ok fine I'm not that busy. Truth is I was so bored in the ensuing 24 hour brownout that I finally picked it up, and yes as the cliche goes, I couldn't put it down.

The P275.00 "My Life", published by Atlas Publishing Co., Inc. is 184 pages of Allan Caidic's early years growing up in Cainta, his early playing years before and after College, making the National Team, entering the pros, meeting the people who influenced him along the way as well as getting married and starting a family. It starts from playing in Inter Subdivision Leagues at Brookside, Cainta in the 70's, through winning championships in the UAAP for UE in the 80s, playing for the National Team, Presto Tivoli / Great Taste and SMB in the 80s and 90s, all the way up to becoming Coach and eventually Team Manager of Ginebra San Miguel in 2004.

(more...)

Games on Friday (October 13, 2006)
Venue: Cuneta Astrodome
Game 1 4:35 PM Talk N Text Phonepals vs Welcoat Dragons
Game 2 7:20 PM Red Bull Barakos vs Coca Cola Tigers

The Ginebra Gin Kings needed a miss from ex-Gin King Aries Dimaunahan at the free throw line and a Ronald Tubid follow-up at the closing seconds of the game to narrowly escape with a win, a 114-113 squeaker, its third in as many starts over the hard-fighting Air21 Express in the 2006-07 Talk N Text PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum. The Gin Kings looked to wrap the game up with a four-point lead but allowed Dimaunahan a potential game-tying four-point play with less than 4 seconds left. Dimaunahan missed the bonus free throw but teammate Tubid came from nowhere to grab the looseball but his buzzerbeating follow-up jumper just bounced off the rim.
(more...)

College players are supposed to aspire to become pros, but our Pro league, the very first in Asia, is a yawner and the cameraman can't find enough angles to hide the empty seats.

Meanwhile, both College leagues are so exciting they regularly fill up Araneta Coliseum to the rafters. A Champion's league that puts winners of each team together is knocking on the door to fame, but what about the many Amateur leagues that are supposed to do the same?

Then finally, there's the question of where to go to get players for the International Events. There are the pros, but they've not done a good job so far, and are hampered by Company commitments. There are the amateurs, but which league to get from?

(more...)