Swept Away!

06/14/2018 10:41:17 PM

Photo from Cary Edmondson of USA Today Sports

Oh. Tapos na ang NBA Finals, mga tsong at tsang. At gaya ng inaasahan ng marami, nanalo ang Golden State Warriors.

Signs of an NBA Finals Bandwagoner

06/17/2015 04:52:35 PM

collectivelifestyle.com

Sa alinmang malalaking kaganapan sa larangan ng palakasan o sports, uso na rin ang makisali o makiuso sa mga bagay-bagay. Oo, mula Superbowl hanggang sa mga malalaking laban sa boxing hanggang sa matitinding bakbakan sa UFC at ultimo ang WrestleMania sa WWE.

At sa larangan ng basketball, maliban sa PBA, at maliban sa All-Star Game, ang NBA ay may malalaking serye na tinatawag na The Finals. Dito ang nagsisilbing hantungan sa mga naging matitibay na koponan sa Western at Eastern Conference. Isa sa kanila ang tatanghaling kampeon ng liga habang ang isa naman ay uuwing runner-up.

First Blood

6/7/2015 11:57:23 AM

Well, as per historical books, that leaves the Golden State Warriors drawing first blood to end their four-decade long title drought. And with them making a comeback from a 14-point deficit to take the first game of the NBA Championship series at their homecourt? That was a magical one.

The Pre-take: 2015 NBA Finals (Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers)

06/03/2015 06:56:37 PM

Photo credits: Sportskeeda.com

So, it's that wonderful time of the year, as the old holiday jingle goes. East meets west once again, like Stephen Curry's date with LeBron James; or should we say... Golden State Warriors with a last dance — and a big one — with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Scene Around: 2015 PBA Philippine Cup Finals Game 7

1/22/2015 2:43:31 PM

Looks like that ­­Wednesday evening was the wildest so far. Well, you couldn’t blame me for bragging that one out since it’s just the start of the year yet.

Especially at the local pro basketball scene where two teams went over the limit in one of the most historic finishers in the league we know as the Philippine Basketball Association.

The scene was set at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum, and 22,511 attendants (including yours truly) and millions of watching spectators via TV broadcast coverages and live streaming on the internet, witnessed Game 7 unfold in their eyes.

Basketbrawl Finals

1/11/2015 3:49:01 PM

Masyadong mainit. Masaydong piskal. Masyadong matindi lang.

Wow. Grabe ang laban noong nakaraang Biyernes ng gabi. 

Hindi mabilang na mga matitinding foul, mula technical hanggang flagrant ang tawagan. Walong tao ang sangkot, karamihan ay mga manlalaro, at sabit ultimo ang ballboy. Ayos!

NBA Finals Na! Eh Ano Ngayon? (v. 2014)

6/8/2014 11:03:32 AM

It’s that time of the year-slash-season again. NBA Finals na naman! I mean, for the 67th (?) time. At sa pagkakataong ito, rematch ang NBA Finals, dahil ang muling magtutuos sa hardcourt ay ang dalwang koponan na naglaban din sa NBA Finals last year. Tama, ang Miami Heat at ang San Antonio Spurs. Ang isa dyan na nagmula sa Eastern Conference Southeast Division ay nanaig at tinanghal na NBA Champions sa taon na rin na iyun; samantalang ang isa naman na nagmula sa Western Conference at Southwest Division ay naging runner-up sa liga matapos ang pukpukan sa Game 7 ng serye na ito.

The Finale Rematch

6/7/2014 10:57:36 AM

It’s on again, like an Alicia Keys and Kendrick Lamar soundtrack, as after one exhilarating season accompanied by tune-up changes in roster and several off-court controversies as well as shifting of records, statistical averages and awards garnered, it all comes down to one grand finale—two teams squaring off against each other once again.

Blaming Game?

10/15/2013 2:49:44 PM

Okay. So olats ang mga Tigre, nang dahil sa kapalpakan ng isang manlalaro nila? Ang daling husgahan ang mga pangyayari no?

Sabagay, ikaw ba naman kasi ang magkaroon ng dalawang malaking pagkakamali sa mga huling minuto ng laro e. Ikaw na nagmintis ng tira sa duluhang bahagi ng fourth quarter kaya umabot sa overtime. E libre ang bine-buwenas na si Jeric Tengpara i-panalo ang laban. At ikaw din ang nagbato ng isa sa mga pasa na hindi nasalo ng kakampi niya sa huling mga segundo ng overtime.

At ikaw rin ang maging subject ng mga ganito: ang sigaw ng pagkadismaya ng coach mo, ang pagkabadtrip ng crowd ng mga Tomasino sa iyo, at ang maging subject sa pangbabash nila sa Twitter.

The King's Ascension To The Throne.

11:54:22 PM | 6/24/2013 | Monday

It was for all the marbles. It’s more known as the do-or-die match, or sudden death, or much simpler term, “the decider.” This is the Game 7 of the Championship series of the National Basketball Association between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. The very last game of the 2012-2013 NBA season. One last game to play. One last game to watch. To witness the last two teams standing at that point.

One will rise and one will fall. One will earn a legitimate bragging right, one will lose it. One will rise in the history, while the other falls and will end their season on a broken note, as both legacies will be on the line. There’s no such thing as “records,” “statistics,” and even the so-called “winning tradition.”

Clutch Game

11:49:29 PM | 6/20/2013 | Thursday

Of all the games that went on for this year’s NBA Finals, this seems that the Game 6 was the best of them all so far.

Look, Tim Duncan played the first half as if he was not on his 37-year-old self. How about a 25-point and 8-rebound effort, for the 15 year veteran? And that stat was before halftime, by the way.

Second half, we saw the old LeBron, the more energized one, the one that really carried the team on his shoulders like the way he did on his stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers? He scored more than 20 of his 32 points came on the second half and overtime, despite committing huge mistakes down the stretch. He had a triple double to accompany his usual large number of markers.

Vintage: Manu Ginobili

3:11:37 PM | 6/17/2013 | Monday

Dwyane Wade’s a la ’06 effort was matched up well with Manu Ginobili’s epic act during the 2005 Finals.

He struggled on his shooting during the previous playoff games. And he’s on very usual off-the-bench roles. More than that, he’s been a huge disappointment for some of the fans, just 34 percent on his shooting and averaged just 7.5 points prior to the fifth contest.

That went on until Greg Poppovich adjusted something that went into the Argentinean’s favor.

Vintage: Dwyane Wade

2:30:51 PM | 6/17/2013| Monday

Vintage – that is the word to describe Dwyane Wade’s epic performances against the Spurs in Game 5. And for the third time though, it appeared to be another blowout game after the other for the NBA Finals as the Heat leveled their series to 2 apiece after that 106-93 victory at the Alamo city.

3s for Game 3

2:13:41 PM | 6/12/2013 | Wednesday

How did San Antonio won Game 3 of the 2013 NBA Finals? Check out this video.

So, there you go. 16 long distance shots made by the San Antonio Spurs in this third game against the Miami Heat in the championship series. That’s already a wrecking record, as they broke the previous mark of 15 3-point shots set by 3 teams before them. And take note, they’re making those shots quite accurately, as they’re shooting 50 percent from there (16-of-32). How about that? You always hearing the guys like Mike Breen of ESPN goes “Green from downtown! Bang, that’s good!”

First Blood On A Cool Clutch Shot

6:31:53 PM | 6/7/2013 | Friday

All eyes were on the Game 1 of the 2013 National Basketball Association championship series between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. What went wrong for the defending champions, and how did the Spurs steal the opener at the opponent’s home court? What the Heat have to adjust next outing and how should Spurs sustain their play?

The Heat’s players were doing well in offensive end. You talked about their shooting, rebounding and their ball movement. However, defence was definitely a huge factor on this one. Consider this thing, during the first twelve minutes of action. Miami shot well from the field but still can’t get away from the Spurs’ tempo. It may be fast, but still it was close fight between them. And it was still the game’s pace all the way until fourth quarter.

And I think the way the game played by the Spurs in the fourth canto spelled the fate of both teams. I’m talking about better plays, and capitalizing Miami’s clutch turnovers, with a few and notable of them belonged to the MVP LeBron James.

Three Quarters

12:01:15 AM | 5/26/2013 | Monday

This is how the Alaska Aces won the championship of the Philippine Basketball Association’s second conference of its 38^th season, more known as the Commissioner’s Cup: They started the game strong, and finished the game strong. And I am not talking about those dazzling crossovers that starts the run of a basketball highlighted reel, and emphatic slam dunks that are more known to the sports commentators as “finishes strong,” huh?

Three games are quite enough to win it all, but believe me – three quarters in that same number of contests really dictated the series’ tempo, all in the favor of the Uytengsu franchise.

Gatas O Gin? (Just My Opinion: 2013 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals)

11:42:30 AM | 5/15/2013 | Wednesday

Gatas o Gin? Ito ang matimbang na tanong sa ngayon, dahil Game 1 na ng PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals ngayong gabi sa Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Ayos. Parang classic rivalry noong 90s lang ha? Noong panahon na nagkaroon ng Grandslam ang Alaska at ang kaharap nito ay ang.... *drumroll, please?* ang crowd favourite na Ginebra, may mala-Twin Tower na line-up sa pamamagitan nila EJ Feihl at Marlou Aquino. Mantakin mong ang isa sa mga mas matayog ang lipad nun ay si Johnny Abarrientos?

Pero fast forward tayo sa 2013.

Finals beat

Finals beat
By n.d. a.k.a. nestor / slick master
06/24/2011
09:47 a.m.

I used to remember taking to the dean Quinito Henson through Facebook regarding what are his insights about the 2011 National basketball Association Finals match-up between the Miami Heat and the Eventual Champion Dallas Mavericks.

The Miami Heat had been somehow part of the NBA’s spotlight for most of the time the previous season after luring superstars LeBron James and Chris Bosh to their team. With perhaps the media-hype out of the three was James, whom had aired his decision to move out of Cleveland to Join his friend Dwyane Wade in the South Florida beach on the television channel ESPN. And thus, it led to major disappointment of his former franchise, whom apparently GM Danny ferry had cursed out that they may grab the championship first before LeBron does. Despite consistency on the team’s performances, the Heat still made it to the playoffs and winning over their perennial opponents by surprise.

On the other hand, the Dallas Mavericks had been performing really good in the regular season only to ran out of luck in the postseason party. Labeled as choker since their first face-off in 2006, Dirk Nowitzki shrugged off the criticism despite his team being an inconsistent on its runs on the late April. And it paid off after upsetting the three-peat seeking Los Angeles Lakers, and pulling off improbable comeback games against Oklahoma City Thunder. Now they are also a surprise team in the playoffs either.

The series went underway and Lebron and Wade combined forces to take Game 1 at home, 92-84. Then Dallas pulled off another comeback game thanks to 24 points by Dirk Nowitzki, hitting the last 9 points for the Mavs and that includes the game-winning bucket with almost 3 seconds to go. Result? The visitors, 95 and the home team, 93.

Series shifted then to Texas, and both team went toe-to-toe down the stretch but like Game 2, Miami still has control of the game but Dallas again staged its own run and Chris bosh whom had been way down for most of the game, nails the clincher basket with less than 40 seconds remaining. Dirk on the other hand, misses the jumper that could have sent the game into overtime and Miami heat hold on to take step #2, 88-86. however, game 4 went Dallas’ way in another bunch of déjà vu and winning this time, by 3 points, 86-83. James’ had lost his 4th quarter plays thru the defensive clamps that the Mavericks placed on him. And Tyson Chandler, despite getting hit dunk rejected by the Flash, had shown some hustle with 16 rebounds under his name.

Game 5 came and still LeBron had barely lost his aggressiveness to the rim. That may be the main factor aside from Wade hitting the wall early in that game. But somehow, Dwayne Wade still carried the team back until Jason Kidd hits the clutch shot and also Jason terry joining the party with the rainbow dagger over the King. Dirk remained the best player as Dallas took a step closer to the title, 112-103.

Game 6 was set at the South Florida beach, but the hungry guys from Texas however completed its redemption when Dallas took a run in the second quarter and got that back again in the second half. Perhaps the Udonis Haslem and DeShawn Stevenson clash during the timeout really spelled the difference as Miami had quickly lost its momentum after Eddie House hit the trey that leads to a Dallas Timeout then. Jason Terry paced the Mavs hitting near-perfect on field goal percentage. And the Dallas Mavericks was crowned NBA Champions to the tune of 95-85 at Miami’s home floor. Suddenly, Miami’s big run ended up on a three-game losing streak. And critics blame the usual suspect fro them, LeBron James for having 4th quarter meltdowns in almost all of its 6 games of this final series.

Now, the main factors for the Dallas why did they won that NBA title? I don’t know. Maybe the bench. They had a lot of players capable of scoring and playmaking. Forget Caron Butler’s injury, that may helped out the most for Dallas but they had won that even without him on the playing court and just on the bench. They got a deeper bench.

Next, teamwork. Similar to Kevin Garnett’s ad. Basketball is Brotherhood. They shared a lot. Miami had done the same, but let’s face it. Individually speaking on the Heat, Wade and James shared the rock to their teammates. However, they ended up holding it out later either. Unlike to these guys, everyone’s contributing.

Lastly, maybe. Killer instinct. These guys have it. And maybe critics will tell that LeBron doesn’t have it. Despite being down for most of their games, the Mavs had staged its own run as if like they’re even leading throughout the game. And Miami had shown theirs last game 3, but to no avail at the next few.

Dirk’s offense follows even if as he’s struggling. Jason terry was there to backed him up, so was Jason Kidd, Tyson Chandler, Shawn Marion, DeShawn Stevenson and even Jose Juan Barea. And they deserve to be crowned for such. As for Miami Heat, as the most scrutinized team for the season, they had shown what they are really capable of, and they can get better by next season. Watch out if once they made another run.

© 2011 september twenty-eight productions.