FRIDAY / NOV 6 / CUNETA

2:30PM SMART GILAS VS. COKE
5:00PM BURGER KING VS. ALASKA
7:30PM GINEBRA VS. BARAKO

Ok sorry again for the late post. I can name a few excuses but let's just cut to the chase, shall we?

As of my last posting, there have been recent developments directly as a result of the PBA's decision to declare Smart Gilas' games as no - bearing, which we'll get into later. For the moment, let's analyze the PBA Press Release I posted 5 days ago, starting with:

Jong Uichico's “It is unfortunate that the PBA teams play the National Team always looking to win.”

I am 100% convinced that what Jong Uichico wanted to say didn't come out the way he said it. In other words, I think what he really meant was: "It is unfortunate that the PBA teams play the National Team always looking to win [at any cost, including using rough play]. That's GOT to be what he really meant to say, right? I mean, the alternative, which is to read what he said face - value, means that he thinks PBA teams should play to lose when up against Smart-Gilas, which is stupid, and Jong Uichico is not stupid, right?

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Friday/ October 23/ Cuneta

2:30pm Ginebra vs. Smart Gilas
5:00pm Purefoods vs. Barako Bull
7:30pm Coke vs. Alaska

Saturday/ October 24/ Araneta

5:00pm Burger King vs. Rain or Shine

I absolutely have no idea how things transpired so badly the other night, but in the interest of keeping a record, here's (belatedly) what I got. Yes, I'm referring to Wynne Arboleda's going UFC on a fan in the middle of a game between Smart Gilas and Burger King, and not the game itself. Anyway, here's the video:

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Smart Gilas is a team that had been playing together for quite some time now, only recently coming back from tournaments abroad. RP Powerade Team Pilipinas in contrast is composed of pro players who hadn't played together because they had no reason to.

So lo and behold, when I went to Araneta last Monday to watch the game, I saw a Smart Gilas team that looked like they had been playing together for quite some time now, only recently coming back from tournaments abroad. In contrast, RP Powerade Team Pilipinas looked like they were composed of pro players who hadn't played together because they had no reason to.

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Benefit Games for victims of Ondoy

UAAP / NCAA Selection vs. PBL / Liga Pilipinas Selection 5pm
RP Powerade vs RP Smart Gilas Benefit Game 7pm

Araneta Coliseum

Here's a repost from Chris Tiu's blog:

The SBP (Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas), together with the PBA, PBL, UAAP and NCAA, is organizing a fund raiser basketball showdown this Monday, October 5 for the victims of Ondoy. There will be two games (at the Araneta Coliseum). First game at 5pm is between the UAAP / NCAA selection vs PBL / Liga Pilipinas selection. And the main game at 7pm is between the RP Powerade vs RP Smart Gilas. Of course, I will be playing in that game for the Smart Gilas team together with Japeth Aguilar, Marc Barocca, JV Casio, Dylan Ababou, CJ Giles, etc.

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I told you once how impressed I was at Chris Tiu's blog, even referring to it as 'the best read on the Internet'. He's delivered today once again, with a recount as to the Smart - Gilas' adventures at the recently concluded FIBA-Asia Champions Club held at Jakarta. Some choice cuts:

Maybe before the tournament began, we would be satisfied to clinch 5th spot. But after actually competing against those colossal and experienced national players, 5th place was actually a disappointment for me, personally. I have been advised not to get too hard on myself and the team because we did OK considering we are a young, scrawny and inexperienced team. But here's the reason why i felt that we could have easily landed in the 3rd or 4th spot.

and..

What was really frustrating for me, was that i was in the bench for the most part of the game. I sat down around halfway through the 3rd quarter and never got the chance to get back in the game. Really disappointing especially since I love 4th quarters! And i usually finish games.

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Sorry for the sensationalist title, I just wanted to bring your attention to what is probably the best read in local basketball at the moment, Chris Tiu's Blog 'http://chris-tiu.blogspot.com/'.

At the moment he is in Serbia along with the Smart Gilas National Team, which doesn't even have a page on the Smart website so I couldn't find more info re it other than a few newspaper reports.

Fortunately Rick Olivarez was on the case, so at least we have some data re it.

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