My thoughts after Ateneo’s loss to DLSU.

My thoughts after Ateneo’s loss to DLSU.

by rick olivares table from abs-cbn

At the start of the season, I pegged La Salle to sweep the entire campaign. Not even the loss of Aldin Ayo and Jeron Teng for the first round match against Ateneo would derail my feelings that La Salle would still fashion out a win. And they did, 97-81, to sweep the first round, 7-0.

Why?

I’d like to reiterate that the Green Archers have fully imbibed Ayo’s system. They have since the start of the summer leagues.

Furthermore, it is Mbala that drives this team, not Teng as good as he is. Mbala gives them the confidence to shoot because they know someone will rebound that ball. And he gives the perimeter players an opportunity to gamble on defense because they know he is quick to recover to the basket.

Lastly, they are a deep team. You go up and down that bench, everyone can play. Winning during the summer has given them the confidence they need. Close shaves in the first round doesn’t mean anything. They have taken everyone’s best shot and they are still undefeated. And now they are starting to hum like that well-oiled machine that we saw during the summer.

Having said that, I am not down that Ateneo lost. I am more disappointed at how the game was played.

Let me get this out of the way… this year is the learning curve. It is a young team with some players who would not have probably made the roster were it not for that pre-season debacle. There are many players who didn’t get a lot of minutes last season while some are returning to action after a year off. Furthermore, there’s a new coach and a new system.

Yeah, so does the other team. Aye, there’s the rub. Still, I think that this too is a learning curve for our new coach. Same thing happened to Norman Black and Bo Perasol. A pro coach tends to struggle in the return to the college game (it is played with far fewer minutes and there’s a shorter leash on fouls before penalty situation to name a few differences). Conversely, it is the same for the college coach who moves up to the pros (check out Franz Pumaren, Pido Jarencio, Junel Baculi, and Leo Austria). On the contrary, our friends from Taft seem to have more luck with first time coaches since Franz Pumaren (there’s also Juno Sauler who won on his first year and Ayo is on his way to another championship).

Having said that, the coaching staff of Ateneo will get this down pat and I believe that and know that. We’ve seen that before.

So why am I disappointed? With all due respect, here are my thoughts….

I thought that Ateneo didn’t offer La Salle anything different. Not sure if Ateneo was slowing down the pace to play a grind it out game similar to what they employed during the FilOil semi-finals. That might have worked for FEU and NU but those teams are better in rebounding and have the inside operators. Ateneo…. Well, it depends if Chibueze Ikeh plays well.

The halfcourt… I believe you are playing into La Salle’s hands. For one, they have a better work ethic. Two, they have several rim protectors. Third, that didn’t work in Ateneo’s three previous matches with them during the summer. And fourth, if you don’t bring the energy, that’s going to be a struggle. I thought at the very least, Ateneo should have come out in the manner in which they played FEU and Adamson. It was somewhat there early in the game until the unforced errors and poor decisions and La Salle’s defense took Ateneo out. This game was practically over in the second quarter. When the Blue Eagles didn’t come out with any fire after the halftime break what chance did we have? To rally by sniping from the outside?

On the halfcourt set, the offense was too predictable. Weave, cut, and look for the open man. Sure the last one worked in the first quarter. But once the pressure defense was on, that was it.

Now why don’t Ateneo’s bigs attack? From the get go they don’t look to attack. They went about the predictable selves trying to pass out from the short corner or the elbow. La Salle knows that and they were just waiting to pick off the passes. They pilfered the ball 16 times! Isaac Go had the right mindset which is to be aggressive inside.

Furthermore, DLSU would rather have Kris Porter shooting threes where he is a combined 4-12. While that isn’t too bad, you need people to rebound. Ateneo is already at sixth place in terms of rebounding.

Why isn’t that ball pushed? As it is the guards dribble too much. Then they dribble into a corner where they cough up the ball.

You might point out that we are dead last in fastbreak points but is there a genuine attempt to run? Ateneo averaged 28 defensive rebounds a match entering the game against La Salle. Yet the Blue Eagles only have 3.5 fastbreaks attempted per game. That is the fewest in the league.

I notice how they pull up and ease off the pedal so everyone moves into position. Why wait for the opponent’s defense to set up? This squad is a guard-small forward team. Lots of small players who like to run and gun.

Of course you need to rebound to run so why aren’t we grabbing those boards?

On defense, how many times did Ateneo scramble to cover the corners when they were packing the lane?

This is why I question some of this so-called “role player” stuff (not the current coaching staff but in general terms). Shouldn’t a player be developed so his skills improve every year? I don’t know if GBoy Babilonia could be the second coming of Ford Arao who was mostly an underperforming power forward and center until his final season when he put it all together. And I am of the belief that every single player on the court can score and not just one or two guys (but you still need your go-to guys to lead you). Of course, I cannot claim to know what goes on inside. I can only surmise from my perch.

After DLSU won the FilOil Flying V Premier Cup, Ayo boldly proclaimed that “labas na baraha nila” and they had nothing left to hide. It was up to everyone else to adjust.

Watching La Salle is like a team going on light speed while Ateneo is like the Millennium Falcon with its hyperdrive malfunctioning.

It was noted that they were not only superbly conditioned but the Green Archers liked the physical contact. You need look no farther than the Lady Eagles volleyball team to see the boon of a physically stronger team. How many Blue Eagles were sent to the floor after a bump or what? I know that a few years ago a strategy was developed to help Nico Elorde take the contact and not lose the ball. Why can’t we see that now? The only statistical category that Ateneo led was in floor burns and falls.

Going back to what I said about not giving La Salle a new look, what I mean is something totally different. Why not press them? Yes, press. See how they handle it. Hey we tried everything including playing them physical. I recall some two decades ago when then Blue Eagles Chot Reyes had the cojones to throw back the triangle and two that Derrick Pumaren used in La Salle’s first round win over Ateneo. The result was a massive upset.

So how do you beat DLSU?

You really have to play the perfect game. In their three close matches against FEU, NU, and UE the only team to outscore the Green Archers in the paint was FEU 38-32. But DLSU hammered them from the outside. That was all NU and UE could do against them – shoot from the outside.

So to beat this La Salle squad, you have to play the perfect game inside and outside on top of matching or exceeding their effort. You have to be perfect against a team that is chasing perfection.

While it’s back to the drawing board… I don’t feel too bad. As I previously wrote, this is like 2005 all over again – a learning curve where the team will take its lumps and get better. It’s all part of the process.

Having written all of that, I can’t wait to see how the Blue Eagles bounce back not only adjustments-wise but also to the teams they lost to in the first round.

On the Meralco Bolts on the cusp of its first ever PBA Finals berth....

This appears in the Monday, October 3, 2016 edition of the Business Mirror.

Thunderbolt rising

by rick olivares

Following that massive 119-113 win over Talk ‘N Text last October 1, the Meralco Bolts put themselves in a great position to advance to its first ever PBA Finals stint.

The elimination round has been anything but smooth after what was a rollicking pre-season that saw Meralco steamroll opponents. Come the actual Governors’ Cup, the Bolts struggled and took some painful losses. They eventually booked a semi-finals slot that equals their placement during the Commissioner’s Cup where they were a minute away from also making the finals.

Now they are one game up on their sister team, a seemingly incredible position considering the Trop ran roughshod over opponents during the entire tournament.

The Bolts are a curious mix. You can say that many of their players have seen better days. Some have so-so careers, some were never even drafted while a select few are budding stars. Yet they have been playing grind it out basketball.

And all that was on display last Saturday.

The oldtimers Reynel Hugnatan and Jimmy Alapag scored 21 and 17 points respectively.

The unheralded in Jonathan Uyloan (who had his best game as a member of this team) and Bryan Faundo added nine and six points respectively.

While the young guns – Chris Newsome, Cliff Hodge, and Baser Amer – were solid. Newsome who had two of the best dunks this conference if not the entire season scored 16 points while dishing for a team high eight assists! Forward Cliff Hodge added 13 despite not rebounding well. And Amer, who has struggled in his rookie season, finished with 12 points.

American reinforcement Allen Durham finished with his usual workman-like 23 points and 13 rebounds.

It is Year Two of Norman Black’s plan to bring a first-ever title to Meralco and they would love nothing more than to arrive ahead of schedule. This team was overhauled before this season started and although their imports (Durham and Arinze Onuaku who suited up for the Bolts during the Commissioner’s Cup have played huge roles plugging that gap in the middle, the locals have really come to play.

It was all thought that Alapag ought to have stayed retired but he has rediscovered his shooting form that has been inspirational. Hugnatan has been old man reliable while the other bigs – Faundo and Kelly Nabong – have done a lot of the dirty work.

The rookies have been superb.

The one thing I have learned following the career of Norman Black is that it is always the darkest before the dawn. When he began coaching Magnolia during the 1986 season, they won only one game (during that third conference). In 1987, they won one championship. By 1988, the San Miguel Beermen were building towards the juggernaut it would become by annexing two more crowns. By 1989, they copped the coveted Grand Slam.

In 2000, he joined an underachieving and demoralized Sta. Lucia franchise and led them to the finals where they lost to an SMB team that reloaded and featured none of his former players. A year later, the Realtors won its first PBA championship.

Even with the Ateneo Blue Eagles, Black endured difficult seasons before leading the school to five straight UAAP titles. In his return to the PBA, he immediately won with Talk ‘N Text before moving to Meralco.

It hasn’t been easy with the Bolts. The first conference of this season was an unqualified disaster as they only won one title.

If you talk to Black, he will tell you that he never looks back at the past and only looks forward. Sure. But the man has made a name for himself for turning teams around. Think of it, he won one game with Magnolia in 1986 before he turned it around. Thirty-years later, his team is on the cusp of a finals berth an in the hunt for a title.

Now we will find out if his team can close it out. Whatever happens, watching Black and his team turn things around has been amazing. Now for Game Four.

Pocari Sweat Lady Warriors' Breanna Mackie expands her volleyball horizons

This appears on abs-cbnnews.com

Pocari Sweat Lady Warriors' Breanna Mackie expands her volleyball horizons

by rick olivares

Breanna Mackie stands a statuesque six-foot-three and is one half of the Great Pocari Sweat Wall. The other half includes her six-foot-four fellow American Andrea Kacsits who joins Desiree Dadang and Michelle Gumabao at the net. Just when they already had one of the Shakey’s V-League’s toughest net defense they’ve added more ceiling.

“It’s different over here,” says Mackie or “Bre” as she is called for short. “size-wise. You kinda get used to the tall players you go up against in the US and Europe but the passion for people to play is just the same.”

In two short years, the pretty blonde from Redding, California has been on one long road trip that has taken her across Europe to the Philippines and Hong Kong.

“When I was almost done with college volleyball, I knew it wasn’t done and I still wanted to play a little bit more,” related the Kinesiology graduate from Long Beach State in California where she also received her Masters Degree in Sports Psychology. “After graduation, I got my chance to play in Switzerland with VCB Cheseaux (where she was a teammate with BaliPure’s Kate Morrell). The first couple of months away from home was pretty hard but I learned to cope. Aside from pursuing your passion, the cool thing about being in Switzerland is you are in the middle of Europe and it can’t get any better than that.”

With the long European season over, Mackie was looking to head back home to the United States when Pocari team manager Eric Ty reached out to her about playing for the Lady Warriors in the SVL. “I told myself that I have to do this. It’s only a short season – three months and I can go home after.”

Both Mackie and Kacsits have been with the team for a month now and they appreciate getting in early to acclimatize themselves. “In the time that I’ve been here, our team has bonded well especially during that trip to Hong Kong where I understand it was a reward for their winning a championship early in the season. Andrea and I were fortunate enough to be invited along for that. Now we’re working on our play on the court.”

In her short time in Manila so far, Bre says that she appreciates this team more than the one she played with in Switzerland. “Not to say I didn’t like my previous team but my Pocari teammates have been very friendly and helpful. And I love the girls here. I haven’t been around a lot but so far, I love Tagaytay. I have also eaten balut,” she laughed and cringed at the same time. “Now that wasn’t very exciting and it was definitely crazy! I don’t think I will ever do that again!”

“The biggest thing that I learned about myself in this time abroad is learning what are my priorities are. And they are my relationships and to continue to build on those. It has also taught me to be grateful for what I have back in the States and all the opportunities that come my way. It’s very eye opening considering I am just playing out my passion.”