Championship basketball everywhere
GIVEN how global the NBA is and the Filipinos’ passion for basketball, the Golden State Warriors-Cleveland Cavaliers title showdown is being passionately awaited.
Two teams that have already been in the championship but in different generations and circumstances are facing each other.
The Warriors won their only title when the world had token television coverage and no Internet. The Cavaliers are in it anew, again with LeBron James and are hoping that this time around there will be a title to celebrate in this rock-‘n-roll town.
Let’s simplify the analysis.
For the Warriors, there are two questions: What happens if the three-point shots that have carried them to the Finals desert them when they need them the most? What do they do to try and stop James from taking over the series?
For the Cavaliers: What happens if LeBron can’t deliver for whatever reason? Who else in the supporting cast can step forward for the Cavs?
The first two games are always telling: Both teams will go to their strengths in Game 1 and will tinker with the broken parts come Game 2. Huge parts of the answers to the questions posed above will be answered in the first two games.
The team that adjusts quickly and finds a great player in the way Kawhi Leonard emerged for the Spurs last year should have the edge in what looks like a six- or seven-game series.
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In our basketball corner, the upstart FilSports Basketball Association (FBA) will quietly play its one and only championship game this Saturday in a still-to-be-finalized location in Pampanga.
Emerging as the top two teams after the classification and semifinal rounds were the Pampanga Foton Tornadoes and the Quezon City UP Maroons.
At the Oreta Sports Center in Malabon last Saturday, Pampanga ran over Antipolo Wangs, 99-83, and QC UP stopped Metro Racal, 63-54, in the semifinals.
League commissioner Vince Hizon wanted a US NCAA Final Four-type of semifinals in which the winners would advance to the finals after knockout games. This, of course, runs counter to familiar best-of-three series or twice-to-beat formats.
Pampanga is the team to beat with veterans like sweet shooting Levi Hernandez, who is already being eyed by the pros. Hernandez used to play for Arellano in the NCAA and has shot the lights out with a variety of moves in the FBA.
Other vital cogs for the Tornadoes, most of whom carry PBA D-League experience, are Jerald Bautista, Marlon Gomez, Ed Rivera and Cedric Ablaza.
QC UP is really preparing for the forthcoming collegiate leagues and its game is getting honed by playing in the FBA and the Flying V preseason tournament.
Players like guards Diego Dario, Henry Asilum, Paul Desiderio and bigs Christopher Vito, JR Galarza and Mark Jurua are already gaining more spurs dueling with more experienced players.
All that matters for Filipinos is that there’s an eternity—as the late Joe Cantada used to say—and an abundance of basketball to analyze, dissect and enjoy. It could be the “World Championship” as the NBA used to call their title or even the FBA First Conference crown.
