All the chemistry, passion and drama one could hope for are in this dream title rematch – a year in the making which finally comes off the wraps with the series opener today at the Araneta Coliseum.
The La Salle Taft campus and the Ateneo Loyola compound may virtually come to a standstill with the Big Dome set to overflow with a sea of people in green and blue as the Archers and the Eagles renew their rivalry in a title duel at 4 p.m.
It’s a short best-of-three series which is likely to go down-the-wire if coaches of both teams and other gurus and scholars of the game were to be believed.
They all agreed both teams have what it takes to win the championship and it might just boil down to a question of who wants it more.
There’s La Salle at one side, hoping to keep its dynasty and stay on track to possibly match one of the most revered records in the league, and Ateneo on the other, looking not only to frustrate its archrival but also satisfy its hunger for championship.
"Forget our run in the elims. This is an entirely different ballgame. I think we’re even man for man. It’s going to be tight and it will boil down to who wants it more," said coach Franz Pumaren, whose Archers are seeking a fifth straight title – two short of the league record written by the UE Warriors in the 60s.
"They know they can beat us and they know we can beat them. They have finals experience and we have PBL finals experience. So it’s really an even matchup," said coach Joel Banal, whose Eagles are out to end their 14-year title drought in the league.
Pumaren thinks the key for La Salle to win is execution while Banal believes his reserves have to step up their game to win the series.
"If we’ll just stick to our plan, which is to execute well both on defense and offense, the goal is easier to achieve," said Pumaren.
Banal expects the starting units of both squads to cancel each other out, thus he hopes to get a lift from his shock troopers, including Wesley Gonzales, Andrew Cruz, Chris Quimpo and Sonny Tadeo.
Gonzales, Cruz, Quimpo and Tadeo, back from a game suspension, have proven they can rise to the occasion in the absence of their starters, but for how far they can go is the big question.
And it’s interesting to see how the volatile Gonzales would handle Mark Cardona, who has gotten a lot of players’ ire on his hard-nosed style of play.
Jeck Chia, who became an instant hit at Ateneo after draining the deciding basket in their semis knockout game versus University of the East, is expected to be a marked man for La Salle, so are Larry Fonacier, Rich Alvarez, LA Tenorio and Enrico Villanueva.
Coaches Boyzie Zamar of UE, Coy Banal of FEU and Aric del Rosario of UST all expected the series to go the full route. Zamar, Del Rosario and Adamson’s Luigi Trillo thought La Salle has the slight edge.