It’s with a heavy heart that I discuss this matter. Being a die-hard Ginebra fan, of course, a part of me still weeps as they were beaten out of the playoffs series earlier than expected by the team that later on bagged the conference title, the Alaska Aces.
ALASKA WHO?
There are a lot of points that are worth discussing in that win. First, at the beginning of this conference, no one really thought that it could boil down into this. A lot of people were actually talking of how strong the revamped Talk n’ Text lineup is. After the acquisition of Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes earlier on the eliminations, TNT rallied a 14-game win stretch that gave them the first outright semis berth into the playoffs. Meanwhile, defending Fiesta Conference champions San Miguel Beermen were also on the spotlight as they have re-acquired their winning import, Gabe Freeman backed up by some of the league’s best players, shooters and defenders. The SMB franchise did not disappoint as they went all the way to achieve the second semis berth and eventually, graced the finals series once again to defend their crown. There are a lot of notable teams that battled it out into the playoffs as well. The Rain or Shine Elastopainters, who gained the wildcard spot gave their all as they tried to snatch the semifinals slot from the B-meg Derby Ace Llamados. Probably the most controversial team of the conference, what with the personal grievances of their star player, James Yap. But the team also lost their thunder from the Beermen. The Barangay Ginebra Kings brought controversies as well, as the team acquired a lot of the best players in the league to play along with an already talented lineup, but the problem is that they couldn’t work on the chemistry of the team. They got Willie Miller, Mike Cortez and Yancy de Ocampo but all in all, it was a fail. All those trades resulted to nothing but sorrow, especially to the dismay of the fans.
It was a different story though with the TNT franchise. After a long break, they were toppled by the Alaska Aces in just a snap. It was evident that Chot Reyes and his boys weren’t able to contain the momentum that favored Alaska’s wins. Alaska had its share of complications as well. Every team in the PBA was actually affected with the bout of players traded from one team to another. Alaska lost their top gun Willie Miller to the Ginebra Kings in exchange for Finals MVP-to-be Cyrus Baguio. The trade gave out better results in favor of the Aces as they found a new “Ace” player in Baguio.
THE ROAD TO THE FINALS
Before facing TNT, Alaska came from a highly momentous and epic battle at the quarterfinals series with the Barangay Ginebra Kings. It was a do-or-die match on both teams, and obviously, the Aces were the better team.
So, the Aces and the Beermen, two of the winningest teams in the PBA went head-to-head to get the conference title that easily went to the Aces in just six games. Finals MVP was awarded to LA Tenorio and Cyrus Baguio. The Aces are now the second winningest team in the PBA, tied to the Crispa Redmanizers of the yesteryears. Incidentally, it is also the 100th PBA finals game and the last for “The Jet” Jeffrey Cariaso.
ALL-"NEW" PBA
The next season is just around the corner, which will start with the PBA Draft Pick with former Atenean and Smart Gilas stalwart, Rabeh Al-Husseini leading the pack of hungry PBA wannabes. Aside from the rookies to watch out for, we shall be enthralled with the new system of the PBA, as a regular season will have three conferences just like what it did before. We will also be witnessing the emergence of two new teams in the league, from Meralco (formerly the Sta. Lucia Realtors) and Petron (formerly the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados) along with its new coaching staff and probably players as well.
And so the countdown begins…
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