ABL Finals Game 2: A reader’s post-game analysis
Contributed by reader Nards
‘What’s going on?’ Satria Muda’s American import Nakiea Miller had no clue on how to crack the Patriots’ solid defense in San Juan City. The regular top scorer for Satria Muda managed only 11 points behind local cager Rony Gunawan (15 points) and fellow import Alex Hartman (12 points). (Photo © Red Hoops file photo)
Game 2 of the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) finals between Philippines’ best amateur/collegiate players and Indonesia’s best professional local cagers, along with their respective top-scoring import reinforcements, saw the dynamic defensive effort from the hosts Philippine Patriots bruising the offensive confidence of Satria Muda BritAma of Indonesia.
Not to be denied were the battle of tacticians respected in their own right – “Ace coach” Luis Alas from the Philippines and the legendary Fictor Roring from Indonesia. With both teams coached by their respective local coaches, this has made the competition twice as sweet and gives a glimpse of what the ABL has envisioned for the region.
The Patriots started with Cebu Ninos’ Warren Ybanez, Mandaue Landmasters’ JP Alcaraz, Trace-Laguna Stallions’ Gerwin Gaco, San Miguel Beermen’s Gabe Freeman along with American import Jason Dixon.
Satria Muda started with their dynamic American duo of Alex Hartman and Nakiea Miller alongside their experienced locals Youbel Sondakh, Rony Gunawan and Garuda Bandung Fenix’s Mario Wuysang.
The first quarter was an intense affair where the locals of both teams were evenly matched as their imports were having a hard time finding their rhythm. The Indonesians were all-out in their assault though Gabe Freeman eventually managed to sink nine points to put the home team 19-13 ahead at the end of the first period.
The second quarter witnessed a turning point in the game when Alas had no choice but to bench Freeman after the American received his third personal foul and had to sit out with 13 points.
Seizing the moment, Rob Wainwright started hitting the boards for the Filipino outfit while Satria Muda found a lone heroic ranger in Rony Gunawan, who wreaked havoc in the shaded area for the Indonesian outfit all night.
Patriot Baclao then entered the fray for Gaco, and the 6’ 5’’ enforcer along with Elmer Espiritu executed effective defense, limiting Satria Muda’s overall score to just 13 points in the second quarter.
Rob Wainwright dutifully hit home a treble of 3-pointers, while Satria Muda’s imports continued to struggle with Nakiea Miller sinking in only one of four free throws and an ineffective Hartman was rested. The Patriots held a 15-point, 41-26 lead at half-time.
The third quarter, however, was a definitive moment for the visiting Satria Muda as they seemed to rise from the dead to outscore the Patriots 17–11 through the combined efforts of the local cagers Gunawan, Sondakh and Wuysang at the beginning of the third period. Playing as a cohesive unit, Satria Muda were able to wrong foot the Patriots’ defense on several occasions to make the baskets.
Coach Alas was sensing blood and he promptly released the foul-troubled Gabe Freeman back into the game at the 5:00 mark of the quarter. Hartman, harassed all night by the physicality of Wainwright and Baclao, was visibly disturbed, and this allowed Freeman to wander and keep the visitors at bay. Patriots held on to lead 52-43 going into the fourth period.
The final period was a battle of attrition where physicality trumped finesse as Jason Dixon continually muscled his way to the basket and Miller reciprocated. There were moments of brilliance from Hartman but they were altogether overshadowed by the incredibly sharp and sturdy Patriots defense that frustrated Satria Muda’s imports all night. With a persistent Coronel harassing Wuysang right through to the final period, it was apparent that Satria Muda’s offensive confidence was dealt a blow.
It was a close fight at the start of the final period, with a lease of hope for a last-minute turnaround for the visitors, but once the Freeman show started along with Dixon springing to life and lorded over under the basket, the hosts were unstoppable.
With less than three minutes on the clock, for good measure, coach Roring benched his starting five while coach Alas fielded an all-local line-up to complete the victory march as the Patriots took the second game 72-53 to lead 2-0 in the best-of-five finals series.
Trivia: This win of the Patriots coincided with the 4-0 sweep of the Barangay Ginebra Kings by the Alaska Aces in the PBA. Alaska advances to the finals.
Editor’s Note: If you would also like to share your review and analysis with the other Red Hoops readers, send your story to jan@redhoops.com.
For box scores and related story:
Patriots beat Satria Muda again to go 2-0 up in ABL finals
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ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
the Patriots is not composed of Philippine’s best collegiate players . the RP’s best collegiate players plays in PBA and Smart Gilas.
I know for sure that Daa, Andaya, Mirza, Espiritu, Baclao and Sta. Maria were excellent standouts in the NCAA/UAAP and without them how can Letran in the NCAA or Ateneo in the UAAP win any championship trophies, or UE and UST will be if without these players who do their roles…
I admit that Smart Gilas is composed of the best collegiate players in the Philippines but the Patriots were also composed of very same players that contributed for the success of the mother teams of the Gilas players.
sad to say but Gilas thrashed the patriots 87 – 68 without imports
question: if Daa, Andaya, Mirza, Espiritu, Baclao and Sta. Maria are the best in the college ball what do you call those who are included in the gilas program? best of the best?
@nards-Who will be the next candidate for phililippine naturalization in the short list of coach toroman? How strong is vietnam if they will join in abl, ive heard about their three locals who are playing in europe and 1 in univ of hawII?
@Jack: Yes, I’ve heard that some of their locals played in NCAA II and in some european universities but the Vietnamese contingent that was sent to compete in the 2nd ASEAN-CBO in Pinggou, China were swept by China U-21, Taiwan, and the Mis-Or Meteors and defeated Myanmar and Singapore and Laos.
Toroman’s list is not shown and the Imports presented at TeamPilipinas.info were not final candidates and Sampson is just too damn lazy to work and demands for a large amount of cash.
about Vietnam, I can expect them to be a bit quicker than Malaysia then add 2 imports and they’re ready for one hell of a show.
@3 stars, why would Toroman create a pool of selected players from the collegiate ranks to compete outside RP if they are not the best of best? concerning the Patriot’s players, they are good at what they do and Coach Alas emphasizes defensive-oriented players if you can see their local line-up: neither of them are the leading scorers in their teams but have the ability to score should the need arise
@jack: Vietnam is a bit quicker than Malaysia but were unsuccessful in their campaign in the 2nd ASEAN-CBA invitational tourney in China in which the Liga Contingent from Mis-Or won the championship over a Chinese semi-pro squad
I think it is fair to say that there is a huge pool of talents at the collegiate leagues and guys in Patriots do belong to that pool.
Say like Baclao (Ateneo) and Espiritu (University of the East) were featured in just last year’s UAAP finals isn’t it? Unless there is a huge difference in standard between UAAP and NCAA?
I’m obviously not Filipino but I’m finding these collegiate leagues so interesting because over the course of covering ABL, the Filipino coaches talk a lot about it and I get to learn heaps : )
Good point by Nards. I remember Alas saying that he was scouting for defensive-oriented players from the collegiate to beef up Patriots because the scoring load are expected to be on the imports anyway.
Espiritu was the 2009 UAAP defensive player of the year or something!
@nards.. ei im with you on that
dont get me wrong but im just trying to let them know that while we give them a taste of the best college players with the likes of baclao and espiritu they still havnt seen the much bigger stars of our college ball..
@jan. Actually, there’s not much difference between UAAP and NCAA. Although, the UAAP seems to claim the upper hand over NCAA because UAAP schoos had claimed the Philippine Collegiate Championships (or National Championships) since its inception in 2002.
It also just happens that there’s more glamour in UAAP because of the rich private schools (no offense to their alumni) like De La Salle and Ateneo de Manila, and the rivalry that’s been going on between them for decades.
NCAA high school teams would always beat the UAAP high school teams.
It is the opposite in the collegiate ranks. As the best NCAA juniors move to the UAAP schools.
They said that a La Salle-Ateneo game holds the record number of spectators in Araneta Coliseum (23,000 plus)
@nards-thank you! What will be the effect to the other ASEAN countries if the Philippine smart gilas will win the nxt year fibasia and will qualify for the 2012 london olympics? how can they benefited from it?
Ah I see.
So UAAP is more like private schools (ivy leagueish?) and NCAA is more like the public schools? I’ve also heard about some NCAA-UAAP All-Star game or something! That gotta be mouth-watering to the max!
@jan: actually both public and private schools can participate in the UAAP/NCAA as long as they have the requirements to join. Most of them are private schools anyway but there are a few public schools like the University of the Philippines in the UAAP. There is also the CESAFI league in Cebu which is just a tier below the UAAP/NCAA leagues in terms of basketball level.
and my apologies again to you.
Thanks Jonathan for expounding on their differences.
@jan
not really. UP is the only state-run school member of either league. the UAAP and NCAA have schools with established sports programs that are very intensive on BOTH player recruitment and training. it’s those schools which have that pressure from their hardcore alumni and their generous donors to win every single game (sending the whole team to the US for training, purchasing NASA-like fitness equipment, hiring ex-PBA coaches/assistants to coach their team). a champion basketball team gives the school a better reason to be proud of themselves. in the UAAP, it’s ADMU and DLSU. in the NCAA, it’s SBC.
people expect them to win not just because they’re well-funded, but also because they do have reputations to uphold as institutions.
some schools might not have as much resources for their sports programs as those 3, but they manage to be as competitive. there are so many talented young Filipino players and becoming a great team can only take a class of fine players who play well together for a fine coach (UAAP: UST, FEU, UE. NCAA: SSC, Letran, JRU).
the rest either don’t have that expectation to win, or they’re just too far behind talent-wise and personnel wise (despite having enough resources to build a good team).
@Sinigang: oh I stand corrected then.
I would say this write-up is way way much better then that of Stella Oo’s articles. (though I’m a bit bothered by the patriots college players and the SMB professional players comparison).
Nifty work, Nards? Can you do this more often?
Thanks.
sorry for the typos.. he he he. I dozed off on my keyboard…
@Jerby: I hope so. concerning the comparison. I only spoke of the facts and it is up to the readers to decide afterwards to give them the luxury of doubt and inquiry.
Todate, no articles from ABL staff (Malaysia) regarding the new entry teams.
Is there any need for RP to send another team? Officially/business or entertainment,yes.. But as whole, NO. Philipine team will gain nothing in this league, not unless ABL allow the teams from Taiwan & Australia which earlier express to join the league,but declined.
hey anyone interested? there is this article on TeamPilipinas concerning the PBL and the rise of this stellar player who could have been an effective player on the Patriot’s roster or even an Import outside RP:
http://teampilipinas.info/2010/02/lee-shines-as-cobra-stings-addmix-in.html
Paul Lee, from the link posted by Nards, is a guard Smart-Gilas is trying to recruit. He will certainly be an asset to any team in the ABL.
Paul Lee might choose to play in PBA, perhaps same story with Jason Castro
nah Paul Lee did not accept Smart Gilas am sure even in the ABL.His dream is to play in the PBA…forget about him..
RP gilas recruiting Lutz,Lassiter and pringle for guard position?
Dubai inv placed only 3rd place, todate, gilas showing very poor performance. Its more economical to recruit new or hottest team in US NCAA as import,forget NBA veteran (too expensive),maybe with experience but for sure already injured.
Hanoi,
Dubai Invitational 3rd place finish by GILAS is not a very poor performance.
GILAS played without import in beating Middle East teams parading national team players and with American imports. It even lead CJ GIles’ team 74-65 in the fourth quarter in the knockout semifinal game.
Opposing teams were amazed by Gilas performance. All of their opponents in that tournament can beat all the ABL teams.
Please be reminded that the final four of the FIBA Asia championships, 3 are from Middle East and the exception is China.
Middle east was never a power house basketball in asia,only big in Lebanon.
There are tenths of teams in PBA,UAAP, etc,there are thousand of coaches in Philippines,what is the use of Toroman in this team?
SBP just wasting money,time & effort.
@Hanoi-Dalat: most Filipino coaches were never exposed to the European system HANDS ON and that they are using the same set of strategies over and over again. personally I approve of Coach Toroman’s desire to coach Gilas because WE NEED A SYSTEM and not just a style of pick-ups that got booted out every tourney. It is either we adopt a new system or risk being left behind.
Isa ka ring utak TALANGKA ano?
@hanoi, how can you say middle east is never a powerhouse in basketball, try researching who are the asian champions in both the men’s and club championships
@Hanoi-Dalat:I think u are one of those PBA funboys who dont know anything about international game.0nly good in the PBA but in the international?Nahh,forget it.I hate to talk about it.c”,).Damn those pride thing.I hate those filipino coaches who think they know about international games…
hi abl, why don’t you allow a team from taiwan/ australia to join the league? i would really appreciate if you could add more team from other asian country.. it’s the only way each team from it’s respective country to improve and expose their talents in basketball and it will make also a very excited games…
@hanoi..iran won the championship over china.. try researching on the web..or better yet try polishing your poor english first maybe english articles is too much for you..bobo
Oil rich country like iran,UAE,Qatar,kuwait,saudi arabia,most teen ager usually have 2 words.
1. car
2.football
basketball was never part of their life.
Iran,Lebanon,jordan qatar only arouse for the last 3-4 fiba meetings,does this means they will consider already a power house? compare to China and korea with a long history?
@hanoi..isnt it amazing that even if they dont play basketball they can still dominate asia? how can you explain that
and most teenager there usually have 2 words?? tanga ka talaga sa english pre pinapahiya mo pinoy
I live in middle east for 7 years,you cannot find basketball court in any desert country, yet they beat Philipines?
@aje.
I don’t think the ABL will admit teams from outside Southeast Asia in the next few years. May be after five years or so because of two reasons: One, to promote the sport of basketball within Southeast Asia and discover local talents, and probably the financial overhead might end up as a burden for (some of) the team owners.
The ABL is aiming to promote basketball in Southeast Asia and develop local talents around the region as well. So far and as we all know, Philippines is the only country in the region that has a very long tradition when it come basketball. While the rest are more into football.
Philippines also has a rich history that can compete with teams outside Southeast Asia when it comes to Asian competitions either in the club or national level. Talent level wise, Filipinos are still superior (some say by ten years or so) in the ASEAN region.
Just look at the past national team tournaments in SEABA and SEA Games. The last two SEABA competitions, the Philippines, represented by PBA players, beat every team by a mile (at least 20) — this led to an uproar from fans, coaches, and officials that sending a PBA team is an “overkill.” While in the SEA Games in 2007, the Philippines beat (Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand) by at least 40 points, and the team was bannered by future PBA players like Gabe Norwood.
In recent years, Indonesia, along with Satria Muda, had shown some sort of promise that they too can compete against the best in Asia — thanks to the IBL. They just need to sustain it.
No offense to our ASEAN friends, but as long as the ABL is here and have a huge faith, there’s certainly the likelihood of being competitive in the national level.
On a financial standpoint, it might not be feasible at this time. As most of us know, the Singapore Slingers opted out of the NBL (Australian pro-league) due to travel costs. Datu Sri Tony Fernandes and company are very careful when it comes to expanding the league outside the region because they wanted to make sure that financially it wouldn’t be a burden. Keep in mind, that travel cost isn’t the only reason. There are more overhead costs that we don’t know about, which needs to be considered. This is to make sure that it wouldn’t be a burden to the team owners.
For me, as long as those two points will be satisfied (talent development and financial capabilities), the expansion of the ABL outside Southeast Asia is possible. However, not in the next five years, may be more.
@Hanoi. Basketball might not be popular in the middle east, but they have a domestic league, a very sound program, and of course the financial capability. Those ingredients made them very competitive, if not dominant.
Just like 3stars said, read some articles or go to Asian basketball websites like asia-basket.com. The middle eastern teams have not only caught with the traditional powerhouse, but they’re beating them soundly.
with the presence and contineous system of PBA, RP will have a hard time to regain as one of asias basketball supremacy and to play again in olympics.
PBA better to adapt the FIBA rules.
@hanoi,
There are basketball courts in the Middle East.
PBA teams haven’t beat the Qatar national team in about 4 years.
2007 and 2009 FIBA Asia, the All-PBA National team is unable to win againtst Jordan and Lebanon.
Lebanon (or was it Jordan) thrashed the All-PBA National team by 30 points in the last Jones Cup.
Middle eastern team knows the capability of filipinos cagers with a respect and they take it seriously. If RP team cannot beat mideast team,before they become fulltime powerhouse,RP will only contented to place 8th in any fiba asia.
Iran appears last in 1948 before 2008.
@mart. It was Jordan that trashed the RP Team in 2009 in the Jones Cup.
I think the 2007 team has a better success against Lebanon. If I am not mistaken, the Chot Reyes led team only lost to the Lebanese team once, and it was a lucky shot at the buzzer in the Jones Cup in Taipei in 2007.
However, the Philippines and Lebanon national teams had never faced each other at the FIBA-Asia Championships.