MVP

               Yesterday wass a great day. A win for Rain or Shine and The Leo's Awards. Rookie of the Year, Mythical Team, Defensive Players. But what we all waited for was the announcement of this season's MVP. Nominees includes James Yap (BMEG), Arwind Santos (Petron), Gary David (Powerade) and Mark Caguioa (Brgy. Ginebra). It was thrilling to wait for this huge announcement. Everyone hold on their seats as they waited to hear the results.

                As many of the fans expected, including me, PARTLY, the guy-with-many-different-hairstyles-every-season won. Mark Caguioa is this season's MVP. Many of his fans celebrate, obviously. They want this for their idol for the very long time.

               But, for me, I have to go with David. David should won the MVP award. We all knew that David did an excellent job this season. His points is always on top. Yes, Mark also has his points top of the board. He's always aggressive. Jump shots, 3-point plays, under the basket point. He just improved more this time. He never disappoint his team. He's skillful, quick and professional.  He owned it.

               No hard feelings for Caguioa's fans, but that's what I have thought. But I'm not saying that Caguioa doesn't deserve this award. He has athleticism in every game he played. He's wise and really work his way inside the court. Surely, I'm a fan of his. I admire his dedication every game. When he puts everything when he play. He can do anything, he can. But I think that David did better in this season. 

Just saying. Don't hate me. :)

Slam Dunk. Veterans vs RSJ.

                 "KG Canaleta, a 5-Time Champion in Slam Dunk Competition."

                  The most waited event in PBA All Star is the Slam Dunk Challenge. It's the most exciting yet most difficult event in PBA All Star. Five players were competing in this event; Elmer Espiritu of Air21, JC Intal of BMEG, Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine, Arwind Santos of Petron and KG Canaleta of Brgy. Ginebra. They're given two rounds to show their dunks in the elimination round. The players who get the three highest score move to the finals round. In the finals, the rule is the same. Two rounds and a winner will be pick. Five judges are scoring from 5-10, 5 being the lowest and the like.

                   In the first round of elimination round, Norwood impressed the judges by his dunk as well as Canaleta giving them both perfect 50 scores. In second round, again, Norwood got perfect score while Canaleta and Intal tied in 90 giving them the 2nd and 3rd spot. In final round, KG Canaleta proved that he is a 4-time champion in this event and tried to jump over a man under the ring which he did successfully. And in his second round, he jumped over three men including Bolts' Asi Taulava, although he hit Asi's head. JC Intal also impressed the judges by his 360 dunk. Norwood fell short in spite of a great start in the elimination round. With his experience, talent and creativity, KG Canaleta won his fifth championship in the Slam Dunk Challenge and has the pride of being 5-Time Champion in this event.

                     Main event: Veterans vs RSJ (Rookie-Sophomore-Junior). Veterans took over the RSJ players of the PBA. On the first half, the Veterans were really dominating the RSJ. They showed that they had more experienced that the young ones. They showed that the RSJ need more practice and prepare more before they face them. It continued in the second half. James Yap, Gary David, Arwind Santos, what more can you wish for a dream team. Until the end, Veterans dominated with the score of 176 defeating 144. In RSJ, standout, Dylan Ababou got 44 points and in Veterans, James Yap, also scoring 44 points.   They beat the record of Samboy Lim that was 42 points. Also, Gary David got triple double. PBA All Star MVP is James Yap.

                   PBA All Star 2012 ends. We can all see that all the players enjoyed as well as their fans. It's PBA All Star is about. Giving back the love that the fans gave to them, for supporting them. It's an amazing experience to see the players team with each other, to play with the legends of PBA and to socialize with their fans. We can say that this All Star was a great success!

                 Next conference will start in May 20, 2012. Another conference will start and another war between the teams will also begin.

Obstacle, 3-Point Shootout, Greats vs Stalwarts.

             "This picture was taken in the 2010 PBA All Star, but this 2012, it remained unchanged."

            In the first three events of the PBAAll Star 2012 in Laoag, the players gave us all excitement as well as we were overwhelmed. 

            First, is the Obstacle Challenge. Players who have the speed, the ability to pass well and to move well inside the court is playing in this event. There were dribbling station, lay-ups, passing and the hardest, and most of the players took some time, is the 3-point shot. Jonas Villanueva, is the defending champion for this event. Many of the players of this event today showed well. LA Tenorio of Aces and Paul Lee of Elasto Painters as well as the defending champion made it to the final round. All the three of them had problem in the 3-point shot as I have said. LA played well, but it's not enough to beat the defending champ's time of 31.1 seconds. Lee, having the shortest time in the elimination round came short in the final round with 31.3 seconds. Still undefeated, Jonas Villanueva gain respect as he got his 3rd consecutive championship and be a back-to-back-to-back champion. 

              Next event is the 3-point Shootout. This All-Star, is a tight game. All of the players is fired up every time they're hitting the 3-point area. Five racks, each containing five balls, one is worth two points. Mark Macapagal of Bolts is the defending champion for this event. When he was interviewed, he said that he was pressured to win this championship as Jonas win his. In the elimination round, Nino Canaleta of Ginkings fired up the basket with 19 points. Josh Urbiztondo of Llamados, Marcio Lassiter of Boosters and the defending champ, Mark, tied up with 16 points each. So, instead of Top 3, it became Top 4. Josh and Nino, tied up. Marcio messed up and Mark Macapagal proved that he was the defending champion. He remained being the defending champion for 3-point Shootout, and became a back-to-back-to-back champion, the same as Jonas.     

                  Everyone is waiting for this game. Greats vs Stalwarts, where legends came back. Patrimonio, Caidic, Lastimosa, Coach Ato, Duremdes, Abarrientos, Olsen, and Coach Leo proved that age doesn't matter. This game was fun and all of us enjoyed the running of those legends. Even if, there are times that when the phase of game is fast, some legends were left at the end of the court. 3-Point shots, lay-ups, jumpshots. It was all made in this legendary game. It was a high-scoring ball game. At the end of the game, the Greats topped the scoreboard with the score of 143-139.

                   All in all, this day was very successful. Next event we will wait is the awaited Slam Dunk Challenge and the "Veterans Vs RSJ" game. All of us will expect a great game and we will be overwhelmed of how the players played so well to give their fans their only wish, to see their favorite players have fun as well as to inspire them on how far they've come. 

PBA All Star Weekend 2012

          PBA All Star Weekend will start today, May 10, up to Sunday, May 13 and will be held in Laoag. Unlike NBA All Star, in this event, there will be a game between the Veterans and RSJ (Rookie-Sophomore-Junior). Aside from this game, there will be various events that some PBA players will participate. There will be Obstacle Challenge, 3-Point Shootout, Slam Dunk Challenge, etc. I'm sure that all of the players will enjoy it as well as the fans. If you can't go to Laoag, AKTV will air this event.

         Just enjoy this annually event and may the best All Star win! c:

BMEG is the champion for the Comissioner's Cup!

        This was the craziest game in this series. Not because it's a do-or-die game, but because both teams played superb in the court. They played harder that we could ever imagine. We know that this series is a physical one, but we didn't know that it will be a dramatic one. 

        The game is full of surprises. We can never said who will win. There were times that the lead is with BMEG, and times that it's with TNT. So, we can never can tell. In the fourth quarter went all the excitement. In the last 20 seconds in the ball game, BMEG's import, Bowles got a foul from TNT. Then, it's in his hand to tie the game and send it to overtime. Not surprise, with Bowles really doing good in the 15-foot line, he shoot the two baskets. Then comes OT. Bowles, still unstoppa-BOWLES, continued to score and led the BMEG team. He just proves that he's the Best Import. He shoots well with the jumper and in the lay-ups. He just do his thing.

            Well, I'm a TNT fan, and hoping for TNT to win. Some people is not convinced on the last foul given to Bowles that led to OT. But, they work their asses off. Jimmy gave all he can to bring his team to another championship. Kudos to this team, my team.

             BMEG work this game up, and won. Congratulations.

          These two teams gave the best with all their might. Whoever wins, deserves it. All in all, they put a great show. And that's PBA is what for. To inspire their fans. Well, the fans are the true winners in this ball game. All of us had fun and looking forward to the next conference to begin. And a new war will start again.

PBA Finals (Game 4)

            Wow. This game was full of drama and a very physical one having the biggest attendance this season with 18, 696 viewers. (from AKTV on IBC 13 twitter account) TNT and BMEG were in each others peak. They played hard every time and they played harder this game. In the first quarter, the game was close ending the quarter with only a point led by TNT. But in the remaining three quarters, the TNT prevailed. They got easy layups and many opportunities in the 15-foot line. Early in the fourth quarter, BMEG is catching up but every time they shoot the basket, TNT had an answer to it. So they never got close to TNT. There were also several calls foe technical fouls in this game. But in the latter fourth quarter came all the drama. Upset, Joe Devance threw the ball in Pamboy Raymundo's face. By this action, Pamboy answered by slapping Joe's nape. This led for the referees to call Flagrant foul Penalty 2. Well, I thought that it's too much for the referee to call this foul Flagrant. There's not much power in the actions of two players. It should have been only a technical foul. Well, we can't argue with the referee so the two players and each other coaches accept it (just because the don't have choice, in my opinion). After that incident, another drama came in. With the ball possession in BMEG and still trailing TNT, Coach Tim Cone of BMEG suddenly fell down. With the rewind of the game, we saw that as JC Intal is dribbling the ball, going sideways into their bench, the referee avoided to crash with him. And with this avoidance of Intal's play, the referee crashed with Coach Tim and he fell down. This brought shock to everybody. BMEG players in the bench immeditely helped their coach to bring him in his feet. And I thought, with this embarassing moment and his disappointment in the game, he immediately walked outside the court without even waiting the game to finished. I thought that the referee made it worse. Giving this embarassment in Coach Tim, he didn't even helped him to get up. What a pathetic referee. This was too much drama for this game. Well, TNT having a lead by 15, won this game. 

           What do we expect in the Game 5. Well, the Devance-Raymundo brawl and the war going on between these two very physical teams. Game 5 will be a war, a bloody one. With the series tied at 2, each teams must step up each others game to gain advantage with the other one.

PS: Go TNT! Sorry, I'm bias. ☺