Contrasting NBA predictions

Former PBA import Tony Lang, who was in Manila last weekend, predicted Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers to advance to the NBA Finals. 

“That’s how the NBA wants it,” said Lang. “My heart tells me the Lakers will win but my head tells me it’s Boston.”

Lang, 36, is now an assistant coach with the Nagoya Dolphins in the Japanese league. He played 143 games for Phoenix, Cleveland, Miami, Toronto and Philadelphia in the NBA from 1994 to 2000. In 2001, the former Duke star led Red Bull to the PBA Commissioner’s Cup title and won Best Import honors. The next year, he was back to play two conferences for the Barakos. 

Lang played on two NCAA championship teams and was Phoenix’ second round pick in the 1994 draft where the top three choices were Glenn Robinson, Jason Kidd and Grant Hill. The valedictorian at LeFlore High in Mobile, Alabama, Lang teamed up with another former PBA import Ron Hale five years for Nagoya then retired to coach. He now lives eight months of the year in Japan with his family. Last season, Nagoya’s imports were Jerald Honeycutt and Johnnie Taylor, both ex-PBA imports.

“I’ll always have fond memories of the PBA,” said Lang despite being unceremoniously cut in the middle of the 2002 Commissioner’s Cup Finals. 

Lang, who is now at least 10 pounds over his playing weight, said he hung up his sneakers after injuring his knee in Japan. His long-time import partner Hale is still active but is sidelined with an injury at the moment.

A player who’s begging to come back to the PBA is Honeycutt. “He’s still going strong,” said Lang. “He told me he’s ready to play in the PBA again.”

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In contrast, former Coca-Cola import George (Gee) Gervin Jr. picked Detroit and San Antonio to play in the Finals.

“Boston’s too banged up from playing two seven-game series,” said Gervin. “I like Detroit because that’s where I’m from. But I also like San Antonio because that’s where I live. In the end, it’ll be San Antonio winning the title.”

Gervin is torn between Detroit and San Antonio. He was born in Detroit and played for the Detroit Dogs when the team won the American Basketball Association (ABA) title with his father George Sr. (the Iceman) as coach in 2001.

Gervin said he joins the Spurs training camp every summer and has become good friends with the coaching staff, including Chip Engelland. His father was a long-time San Antonio star and lives in a 30-acre ranch just outside the city. The Iceman played 12 years for San Antonio, three in the ABA and nine in the NBA. He once shot 33 points in a single quarter and led the NBA in scoring in four seasons.

Gervin played seven games for the Tigers and was served his walking papers last Sunday when coach Binky Favis’ original choice as Jason Dixon’s partner became available. Gervin is scheduled to leave Manila for Sweden, where he has played the last four years, this morning. His replacement Donald Copeland will suit up against Red Bull today.

A bachelor, the 31-year-old Gervin has a girlfriend from Belarus waiting for him in Sweden.

By the way, the Boston-Detroit and Los Angeles-San Antonio series and the looming NBA Finals will be shown live on C/S-RPN with same-day, prime-time replays on Global Destiny cable’s BTV (Basketball TV) channel. The NBA games, from this point on, will be aired exclusively by Solar.

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Liga Pilipinas will be introduced to fans and media at a “soft” opening in Cebu and Taguig this weekend.

Liga president Noli Eala said a four-day preseason tournament for southern teams will be held in Cebu starting tomorrow. A similar four-day affair will be staged for northern squads in Taguig starting Sunday. 

Teams will be allowed to use players of their choice without getting clearance from Liga officials. But once the regular season begins on June 11, each team will be required to enlist at least eight homegrown players in a 14-man roster.

“The preseason games will be a gauge of how ready we are,” said Eala. “It’s our dry-run. We’ll also test our pool of referees under Perry Martinez’ supervision. We’ve hired 28 referees for the south and 18 for the north.”

Eala said NBN will be the carrying network for the preseason games, providing air time and production. Two networks will likely be tapped for the regular season – NBN and possibly, IBC. “We’ll be using broadband transmission, not microwave facilities, so we expect to be more efficient,” he added.