Blog Posts by Patricia Bermudez-Hizon

By Patricia Bermudez-Hizon
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia

The Beermen were able to get their backs off the wall and managed to claw, elbow, kick, and punch their way out of their 0-2 Best of 7 hole and won back-to-back games to tie the finals series against Talk 'N Text. "The pressure's on them," said head coach Ato Agustin.

Newly crowned best player of the conference Jay Washington had his best performance in this series with 25 points and six rebounds, and a whole lot of manhandling that went with it. He was a force to reckon with and when pushed came to shove, he shoved.

But more than their young guns' energy, the Beermen leaned on the steadiness of their old reliables. Danny Ildefonso was again the best player of the game with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes of play. Agustin commeded Ildefonso for stepping up. "Even if his numbers were down the first two games, he was able to recover."

The night also had great high light moments for the retiring Olsen Racela. Not

Photo by Nuki Sabio, PBA

By Patricia Bermudez-Hizon
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia

In the 36 years of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), there had only been six teams that have overcome a 0-2 series deficit.  Unfortunately for Coach Chot Reyes, two of those six teams who squandered their 2-0 lead in a best of 7 series were under him.  It happened when he was coaching San Miguel in the 2006-2007 Philippine Cup finals against Bgy. Ginebra, and in the 2003 All Filipino when he was with Coke and they were in the finals against Talk 'N Text.

He does not want history to repeat and share the distinction with his fellow head Coach Tim Cone who's squandered a 2-0 series lead three times in his career, the last time being in the 2008-2009 Philippine Cup Finals against Talk 'N Text.

Funny how paths are interwoven in the PBA.  But Coach Chot isn't laughing.

He is quite displeased with his team's response, or lack thereof, to San Miguel's pressure and psy-war.

He says there are many things that they haven't been able

Photo by Nuki Sabio, PBA

By Patricia Bermudez-Hizon
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia

Only a handful of elite Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) players have gotten back-to-back best player of the conference nods.  San Miguel Beer's Jay Washington is the most recent cager to join the list of basketball greats that include former MVPs Danny Ildefonso, Vergel Meneses, and Eric Menk, who last achieved it more than half a decade ago.

Washington won over the other candidates convincingly with his 1,393 points coming from his statistical marks, and votes from the PBA community.  Other candidates were Harvey Carey who came in second with 728, Arwind Santos with 497, Joe Devance with  479, and Ali Peek with 310.

Despite this individual honor, his eyes are still on the prize.  After a stellar game 4 performance in front of a mammoth Sunday crowd, the Beermen have evened out the finals series and are now just two wins away from the All-Filipino Title.

"It's all about the championship," Washington said.  More than his

Photo by AP/Wally Santana

By Patricia Bermudez-Hizon
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia

Yahoo! Southeast Asia got to pick the brains of the Azkals' Phil Younghusband. He talks about their chances of winning and the big decisions he needs to make.

How different is the team under Coach Weiss?

Coach is new and pretty much sees the same core players.  He hasn't seen lots of us, so he doesn't really know what he can bring from the outside.  He's probably only seen a few games where he's seen the 11 players play, so he'll probably use the same players.

The last couple of weeks, we've had a lot of people coming in to try out to see what they can do but it's difficult  for people to try out when its only training and you need to see them in real games.

It's pretty much the same, Not a lot will change.  The way the coach wants us to play in terms of strategy may change, but with the actual players involved, I think it would pretty much be the same team.

What do you expect from Mongolia?

The only thing I know about Mongolia is

Olsen Racela together Comm. Chito Salud, SMB Team Manager Hector Calma, SMB Coach Ato Agustin, and Rain or Shine’s Board Governor and Vice Chairman Atty. Mamerto Mondragon. (Photo by Nuki Sabio)

No one in the San Miguel franchise would ever don jersey number 17 after this conference.  It's an honor that's bestowed on Olsen Racela who is playing his final games in the PBA after a celebrated 18 year career. "I would never ever play for another team apart from San Miguel," Racela said.

Racela was given a tribute before game 3 of the All Filipino finals and he took the opportunity to thank those who made left an imprint in his career.

"I'm just fortunate na hanggang ngayong naglalaro ako and I'm going to end my career with San Miguel", shared Racela on center court. He then went on to thank the driving forces behind the team, Mr. Danding Cojuangco, Mr. Ramon Ang, and Mr. Robert Non.

Racela also expressed gratitude for the coaches that helped shaped his career.  "From Coach Chot Reyeshanggang kay Coach Ato Agustin.  Coach Tim Cone, whom I played for in the national team. Of course, Coach Siot Tanquincen and Coach Jong Uichico. We've won so many championships together, and may

Ryan Reyes looking to pick up the loose ball from Jay Washington. (Photo by Nuki Sabio)

By Patricia Bermudez-Hizon
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia

Their up-tempo game imposing, their pressing defense suffocating. These are things the San Miguel Beermen have not been able to overcome.  Talk 'N Text is now just two games away from winning this season's prestigious All-Filipino crown.

Coach Chot Reyes emphasized that they need to "attack and attack" to clinch the series, as what they've done in the first two games.  Though Jay Washington was in a better condition in Game 2, his tremendous efforts churning up 20 points still wasn't enough to overcome TNT's live wire team character on the floor.

Even though it was close throughout the first two quarters with only 2 points separating the team, TNT built up 13 point leads in the 2^nd half specially when Larry Fonacier got his game going and helped with the team's 10-0 run.  TNT stood tall in the end with a score of 110-102.

The Tropang Texters managed to have a 48 percent shooting clip at the Cuneta Astrodome with a 10 of 21 shooting

Patricia Bermudez-Hizon
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia

The premier basketball amateur league that has harnessed the brightest hard court talents of the land is making a comeback after a couple of years of absence.

The Philippine Basketball League (PBL) is set to begin on March 5 and will be handled by Sports Vision Marketing Group, the creators of the Shakey's V-League.

The six confirmed teams are PBL returnees Cobra, Pharex, Excel Roof, Ani-FCA, and newcomers Marikina Food Corporations' Hobe Bihon and Café France, formerly known as Deli France which was acquired from Jollibee.

The team owners will be meeting on February 1, to go over the eligibility rules, draft procedures and schedules. Tentatively, it will be a triple round robin elimination format with a best of three semifinals and finals which will end around the last week of May, just before school starts.

Sports Vision would like to have just one venue for all the games to establish familiarity with the fans.  The top two venue

Photo shows Kelly Williams, Jay Washington, Danny Ildefonso, Ranidel De Ocampo, and Ryan Reyes. (Photo by Nuki Sabio)

By Patricia Bermudez-Hizon
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia

The Tropang Texters saw victory in Victorias City after a hard-fought, bone crunching first chapter of the epic war against the formidable San Miguel Beermen.  But, as Coach Chot Reyes said, "This is far from over.  All it means is a one-zero lead."

Never mind that the trend that has majority of the teams that draw first blood going on to win the title.  Throw that out the door, as Talk and Text has.  They still do not see any huge advantages against a team that is so loaded and experienced.  Although Coach Ato Agustin was outwitted by his nemesis last Saturday, not being able to adjust specially with Jay Washington sidelined due to cramps for most part of the second half, he got his team all the way to the finals in his first conference as a head coach, and he's not about to waste this opportunity to be part of history.   An honor that Coach Chot achieved in his PBA debut back in 1993 with Purefoods.

Jason Castro was a force to