Blades to get cutting edge over the rest

The Batangas Blades have barely recovered from the hangover of their first MBA national championship but seem ready to set out on a mission no other team in the league has accomplished – a title repeat.

And for good reason.

With tough rivals Andok’s San Juan and FedEx Laguna out of the league and with the team likely to keep the core of its champion lineup, the future absolutely looks good for the Blades.

"We have an intact lineup next year and this would give us an edge in our bid to win the title again," said LBC Batangas owner Santi Araneta.

Araneta felt the only potential problem in their title defense is the possible departure of ace slotman Romel Adducul, who is reportedly contemplating on jumping over to the PBA next year.

"Romel and I did not talk about it last night (Wednesday) but he has a year left with us," said Araneta. "We’re not trying to hold him down to the contract but should he decide to jump to the other league, we have the last say because of the contract."

Youthful LBC Batangas coach Nash Racela, for his part, is not a bit worried over Adducul’s possible departure.

"Romel is one of the major reasons why we reached this far," said Racela. "But basketball is a team game, and we have enough players as talented and determined as Romel to carry the team to another title."

In deed, the 2001 MBA national championship was not all about Adducul.

Adducul, in fact, was practically relegated to a bit role with teammate Tony Boy Espinosa stealing the show in the best-of-five finals. The peppery pointguard out of La Salle was named the finals MVP.

It was Espinosa who carried the torch for the Blades in Game Four when he erupted for 17 of his 21 points in the first two quarters, setting the tone for a ghastly 94-75 rout that silenced the hostile home crowd in Bacolod.

It was also the former Archer who emerged the Blades’ savior when the team was pushed to the limit in Games One and Two. Espinosa was the fire that kept the Blades aglow in the short best-of-five series although he had a poor performance in Game Three in Bacolod when he played with a bruised right knee. But Espinosa did not want to take all the credit. He said: "We won the title because we played as a team and credit should go to everybody."