Philippine Basketball Team News – Team Pilipinas

Trigger, trigger, trigger.

In one word, that’s how basketball legend Glen Rice summed up the gathering of past and present stars from the Philippine Basketball Association and the National Basketball League Friday night at the Big Dome.

And The Triggerman, Allan Caidic made a believer out of the former NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player and three-point king.

Rice watched the 6-foot-2 lefty deadshot beat him in their shootout battle at the break, then saw Caidic torched the hoops for 14 triples to power the Red Team to a smashing 177-167 triumph over the White Team in the NBA Asia Challenge 2010.
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Philippine Basketball Team News – Team Pilipinas

Buoyed by the excellent showing of a depleted Smart Gilas Pilipinas five in the recent Fiba Asia Stankovic Cup in Beirut, national coach Rajko Toroman plans to request the PBA for two key players to join Kelly Williams in the Asian Games lineup.

In an interview with the Inquirer after a two-hour practice Thursday at the Ynares Center, Toroman said he would like to strengthen the team with shooting star James Yap, this year’s PBA Most Valuable Player, and Coca-Cola big man Asi Taulava, a last-minute reinforcement for the RP five in the Stankovic Cup.

Williams’ place in the RP five was secured early this year when he was traded to Talk ‘N Text by Sta. Lucia.

Talk ‘N Text is owned by business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan, who is also the president of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, which bankrolls the campaign of Smart Gilas.
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Philippine Basketball Team News – Regional Section

Top seed ML Kwarta Padala-Cebu tries to complete the semis cast in the Tournament of the Philippines (TOP) when it battles Manny Pacquiao’s MP Gensan today at the New Cebu Coliseum in Cebu City.

Aside from having the deepest bench and perhaps the most experienced players in the tournament, the Niños are also armed with a twice-to-beat advantage over the eight-seeded Warriors for making it to the top four after the nine-leg elimination series.

A win by the Niños in their 6 p.m. showdown will enable the multi-titled squad to join Treston-Laguna, Ascof Lagundi and Misamis Oriental in the next phase of the tournament jointly organized by the Philippine Basketball League and Liga Pilipinas.

The winner in the Cebu-Gensan series battles Laguna in the semis, which will be a best-of-three affair. Clashing in the other semis pair are Ascof Lagundi and Misamis Oriental.
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Philippine Basketball Team News – Team Pilipinas

With the 3-on-3 basketball turning out to be a huge success in the first Youth Olympic Games here, plans are already afoot to firm up the format with the Olympics as a long-term goal.

No less than International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has been impressed with the three-a-side game hailed as a success by players, coaches, officials and spectators alike.

“It’s a very exciting event,” said Rogge. “I like the format very much, you know it’s an extrapolation of how basketball is played in the inner cities and backyards.”

He added: “The rules are clear, there is suspense and the 33-point rule is a very good one because it brings it to a climax and obviously the players love it.”
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Philippine Basketball Team News – Team Pilipinas

The Philippines knocked down Iran with a much-improved shooting and solid teamwork, fashioning out a 28-19 victory to move within a win of clinching ninth place in the 3-on-3 basketball competitions of the first Youth Olympic Games at the Scape Youth Space court here yesterday.

Everything they did right against Central African Republic Saturday they did again versus the Iranians with the Filipinos adding the three-point shooting to their arsenal to blast their taller, heftier rivals and stay on course for a best finish after they were unceremoniously booted out of the quarterfinal race.

The RP cagers actually needed one big run in the first of two five-minute periods to scuttle the Iranians, scoring 11 unanswered points and spending the rest of the contest outfoxing their rivals in rebound plays while knocking down threes to keep them at bay.
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Philippine Basketball Team News – PBA Section

Air21 coach Yeng Guiao said they will get Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Noy Baclao and most likely another big man in exercising their rights on the first three picks in the 2010 PBA Rookie Draft set Sunday at the Market! Market! Place in Taguig.

Guiao said there’s no question this early that Al-Hussaini and Baclao, backbones of the Ateneo champion teams in 2008 and 2009, will be the first two picks.

The third pick, also according to Guiao, will depend on the next transactions of the team management.

“I understand (former Air21 team manager) Mr. Lito Alvarez has commitments that we have to honor. I don’t know the situations of Billy Mamaril and Renren Ritualo. I think they’re going somewhere,” said Guiao.
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Philippine Basketball Team News – Team Pilipinas

Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas lost anew to Qatar Basketball Team, 80-75, in the Bronze medal match of FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup 2010. The Filipinos, who managed to bag a respectable fourth place finish, were led by Mac Baracael with 21 markers and Marcio Lassiter who chipped-in 16 points. PBA all-star veteran Asi Taulava, did not make any point in the game but hauled down 11 rebounds. Team Pilipinas led for most of the game but lost composure late in the third quarter, where they failed to wrest the lead back until the dying minutes.

The Qataris, who are doubted by the basketball community to be fielding Africans in the tourney, made a defensive wall throughout the game with a combined eight team shotblocks.

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Philippine Basketball Team News – Team Pilipinas

Lebanon NT stuffs a dagger into the title hunt of Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas, 81-80, as they escaped anew their do-or-die rematch against the resilient Filipinos in FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup 2010 semifinals. Team Pilipinas breathed down the necks of Lebanon NT up until the dying seconds of the nerve wracking showdown.

It was a review of the boiling rivalry between the powerhouse Middle East team and the dark horse South East Asian dynamo. Nobody expected Lebanon to walk past Team Pilipinas in the semifinals. In fact, their own coach affirmed the fears of the Lebanese squad opposite their Asian counterpart. Coach Thomas Baldwin of Lebanon stated before the semifinals rematch against Smart Gilas, “They are a tough team. If you’d given me a chance to pick my opponents, it definitely wouldn’t have been the Philippines”.

Marcio Lasitter led the losing cause for Smart Gilas with 25 big points, 21 coming from beyond the rainbow arc. JV Casio and Chris Tiu provided support with 17 and 16 points apiece. Meanwhile, PBA All-Star Asi Taulava hauled down 7 caroms in the rebounds department. For Lebanon, resident All-Star Fadi El-Khatib waxed hot with 25 big points while naturalized American Jackson Vroman chipped-in 23 markers.
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Philippine Basketball Team News – Team Pilipinas

Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas bulldozed past perennial Asian rival Iran NT, 79-67, in the seminifinals qualifier of Stankovic Cup FIBA Asia 2010. Mac Baracael chipped-in 18 markers while Chris Tiu and Asi Taulava added 14 and 10 respectively. Iranian ace player Kardoust contributed 24 for the Iranian cause. The Philippine Basketball Team may face either Lebanon or Kazakhstan in the semifinals showdown.

Scores:

Smart Gilas Pilipinas 79:
BAROCA 0, TIU 15, CASIO 14, ABABOU 6, AGUILAR 2, TAULAVA 10, BARACAEL 18, BALLESTEROS 0, GUEVARRA 0, JAZUL 0, LASSITER 14

Iran NT 67:
ATASHI 11, ZAREEI 0, ASLANI 4, DAVOUDICHEG 0, DAVARPANAH 12, JAMSHIDI 0, BAHERAN 9, HASSANZADEH 2, KARDOUST 24, NABIPOOR 5, EBRAHIMI 0, ARGHAVAN 0

by Andrew Punzalan

Philippine Basketball Team News – Team Pilipinas

Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas came up short of a rare three consecutive game wins as they went down in fighting form against a better prepared Qatar Basketball Team, 66-61, in the continuation of the FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup 2010. Qatar marquee cager Ngombo lifted his team with 29 points while Chris Tiu and Marcio Lassiter chipped-in 11 points apiece for RP five. PBA all-star veteran Asi Taulava, visibly tired from the past few games, only managed to give Gilas five points.

Scores:

Smart Gilas Pilipinas 61:
BAROCA 4, TIU 11, CASIO 8, ABABOU 6, AGUILAR 6, TAULAVA 5, BARACAEL 10, BALLESTEROS 0, GUEVARRA 0, JAZUL 0, LASSITER 11

Qatar NT 66:
NGOMBO 29, NDIAYE 2, ALI 0, DAOUD 8, ABDI 0, ALI 12, MOHAMED 0, SAEED 0, NDOUR 7, ALI 8, AL-KHANJI 0, SALEM 0

by Andrew Punzalan

Philippine Basketball Team News – Team Pilipinas

Qatar ascertained their dominance early in the game, and then cruised along, albeit at time in tumultuous waters, for a 66-61 win over Philippines in Group B on Tuesday.

The win put Qatar on top of the standings as the first team to win all their three outings so far in the competition. Philippines wound up their Group B engagements with a 2-2 record.

Targuy Ngombo, for the third game running returned a game-high with 29 points.

Ngombo, who had scored a tournament-high 39 points against Syria and a game-high 24 against Jordan, went for another impressive 60% field record (11/15 on the paint and 1/5 from the perimeter) and 67% (4/6) from the foul-line.

Ngombo also pulled down nine rebounds to add value to his presence.

Qatar pulled ahead with a 14-0 rally with Ngombo scoring nine points in that spree to close the first quarter 21-6.
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