D’s Side…

    After the loss from Athens Greece, from the 3-year commitment of NBA superstars, the trainings, and from the memorable journey in Beijing, the USA’s "Redeem Team" reclaimed the gold, got back on top of the world in the Seniors Basketball event at the Beijing Olympics.

    They have perfected the whole event with 8-0 standing. The last seven games that they have won where seem to be no challenge because they have an average a lead in 30-point win in every game but the last game has another story. The Spain who lost 37 points againts U.S.A. in their first meet shown their best and character in the finals. For me they have made the medal round againts U.S.A. an entertaining and a crucial one. During the 4th quarter in the game, the Spain trailed for only 2 points but Kobe Bryant who scored 20 points led the team to recover and build the lead from the close score.Another big contribution to their win was Dwyane Wade who scored 27 points and LeBron James 14 for the U.S.

    As we remembered the Americans failed to win a medal at the 2002 World Championships and received bronze at the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Championships, prompting an overhaul of USA Basketball. This was truly a redemption of the team that was once the best, was tested and came back to kick some ass on their way to the top.

Image from: www.NBA.com 

    It was all heart that made the Brgy. Ginebra Kings named as champion in the Smart PBA Fiesta Conference 2008. Ginebra didn’t won that easy because even when they were 13-0 before they got to finals, Air 21 proved to them that they are a championship contender. The series got to a "do or die" situation, a 3-3 wins a piece. Ginebra has a lot of struggles during the series but the most crucial was when Helterbrand got injured in the Game 2 and Caguioa is not playing his 100% because of knee problems. But it was Menk, Alexander, Tubid and Artadi who shine in the remaining games. They’ve given their best and they have reap what they saw. For the Air 21, obviously it was a sad ending because they were ahead in the series 3-2 but they were outplayed by the crowd favorite Ginebra to forced a game 7 and win all the way.

    It was a very entertaining, crucial, dramatic and very physical series. As I can remember there was once that Valenzuela of Ginebra kicked out in the game due to flagrant fouls. After all that have happen they still have shown their sportsmanship as they shake hands after each game. In the awarding ceremony Menk and Tubid was named as the finals MVP. Congratulations Brgy. Ginebra Kings!

    It was a shocking end when AJ "Bazooka" Banal was knocked out and losses for the first time in his boxing career by Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion from Panama. It was in Round 10 when Concepcion throws a right punch that hit the face of the Pinoy fighter which ended the fight and made Concepcion the new WBA Interim Super Flyweight Champion. At the beginning of the fight the Pinoy fighter was the aggressor, made some solid blows but it turned around and went the other way from 6th down to the 10th round. It was also in the later rounds when Banal was deducted 1 point by the referee. I can see Banal was weak, he has lost his stamina and Concepcion became stronger and stronger that made his confidence boost up to the end of the fight.

    I really feel sorry for Banal because if he had won, it was a perfect time for him to become a champion. The audience also were shocked in what they have seen. That was unexpected because he was a strong and talented fighter. I think this loss will help him become a more mature fighter and if he sees these experience in a positive way, there’s no doubt that he can still become a world champion. He is still very young, a lot more to learn and its just 1 loss, it can’t hinder him to pursue what every boxer’s dream, to become a world champion.

photo from http://philboxing.com/news/story-18066.html

    It was a decisive game-winner when the Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers with the score of 131-92 in the Game 6 of NBA Finals 08 last Wednesday(Philippines). The Celtics grabbed its 17th title in the NBA and first since 1986. It is still fresh to the NBA fans the rivalry between these two teams which made this series very exciting and entertaining to watch. The defense of Boston Celtics prevailed in the series and LA Lakers has just not solved the puzzle. The turning point of the series was the Game 4 when the Celtics recorded one of the greatest comeback in NBA history, Celtics cutting the lead and winning the game in LA when the Lakers led 24 points in the 2nd half.

    In the trophy presentation, "the Truth" Paul Pierce was awarded as the Finals MVP and during his postgame press conference he said "It means everything. I’m not living under the shadows of the other greats now. If I was going to be one of the best Celtics to ever play, I had to put up a banner, and today we did that." Celtics trully proven that it is team effort and team basketball, as Garnett, Allen and Pierce said that they don’t want to be called as the BIG 3 because its a team effort, its BIG 15.

After the playoffs, the NBA has finally come to an end but before that either each team from the East and Western conference must have 4 wins during the 7-game NBA Finals and be declared as the world champions. The teams that have advance to the finals are the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. This matchup I think is the most anticipated because as we recall the history of the league, during 60’s and 80’s both teams have battle its way to the world championship. The very fresh memory is the Larry Bird and Magic Johnson rivalry during the 80’s.

Anyways, Lakers beat the defending champion San Antonio Spurs with only 5 games and the Celtics with 6 games againts the Detroit Pistons during the conference finals. During the regular season these teams met twice with a standing of 2-0 in favor of Celtics but it was November and December, before the trade of Pau Gasol to the Lakers. We have seen the development of the Lakers since the trade and we really cannot say now who will win. These teams have their own strengths that will be a factor in a game. If Lakers have Kobe and Gasol, Celtics have Pierce and Garnett. Well just have to wait for the games to take place and really see who will prevail. Here are the schedules of the series and this will shown on ABC and in the Philippines, since we are ahead on few hours meaning the Game 1 will be on June 06 and so on.

Game 1: June 05
Game 2: June 08
Game 3: June 10
Game 4: June 12
Game 5: June 15
Game 6: June 17
Game 7: June 19 

After two rounds in the playoffs, 4 teams have advance in the Eastern and Western Conference finals. In the West, Los Angeles Lakers against the defending champs, San Antonio Spurs and in the East Boston Celtics against Detriot Pistons. In the 2nd round in the playoffs, the Los Angeles beat the Utah Jazz in the second round with a 4-2 standing, San Antonio beat New Orleans Hornets with a crucial series that ended in 7 games, the same with Celtics and Cavs while Detroit won over Orlando Magic with the standing of 4-1. Its getting hotter and hotter as the teams battle in their respective conference. In this stage, I’m with the Los Angeles Lakers since the both Dallas and Cleveland didn’t make it to the top.

After the first round of action in the NBA playoffs, here are the teams that advance to the second round. Its getting hotter and you can expect a physical and close games. Let me show you the 2nd round picture. Its sad that Dallas Mavericks didn’t make it. Well see yah next year!.. For now, GO CLEAVELAND CAVALIERS!..

My favorite team in NBA the Dallas Mavericks didn’t make it. They only won 1 game againts the young team New Orleans Hornets. I really expect that Dallas would win this series because they have the experience and also they have great players like Nowitzki. I really feel sorry for the team because its the second time straight that they didn’t advance to the second round in playoffs. Well i wish goodluck for them and also to the New Orleans.

The regular season is over and here comes the NBA playoff. Here is the Playoff picture of the first round. GO DALLAS!..GO DALLAS!..hehe (Nba.com)

After 4 years the unfinished business has ended and as expected it was a good and one of the best fight of both fighters. The fight lasted for 12 rounds and you’ll be excited in every round cause it is an exchange of punches and a battle of strategy. Juan Manuel Marquez had a good start, it is on the 1st and 2nd round, but Manny Pacquiao exploded in the third that made Marquez knocked down. But Marquez bounced back in the 5 to 8 round which results to a cut of both of their eyebrow. In the 10th round Manny took over until the end of the fight. It was a split descision and was in favor of the Philippine hero Manny "PACMAN" Pacquiao. Two judges scored it 115 -112 in favor for each of them and the last judge gave 114 - 113 which made Paquiao as the new WBC Super Featherweight Champion. Pacquiao now is the first Filipino to bag 3 championships in one weight category. This was not easy a fight for Pacquiao, he invested hard work, discipline and courage and for exchanged is a victory not just for him but as well for his countrymen.

When Pacquiao was asked whether he wanted a third fight against Marquez instead of a scheduled June 28 fight to try to take World Boxing Council lightweight champion David Diaz’s belt, the Filipino said, "I don’t think so. This business is over." (http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-boxing16mar16,1,3706010.story)

Another thing Ive noticed while watching is that GMA Network was so abusive to the event. Their coverage lasted for about one and a half hour for just the main event. It was full of repeating and non-sense ads that would really bored the televiewers and the replays were out of place. I really wish that next time GMA would be more considerate with the televiewers. I’m sorry to say this, all this time, GMA did not ever gave a nice boxing coverage to the viewers.