First blood

I was at the Araneta Coliseum by 5:30 p.m. last Friday, 30 minutes ahead of the TV panel’s call time for Game 1 of the PBA Fiesta Conference finals. Less than three hours earlier, I was discharged from an overnight confinement at the Asian Hospital in Muntinlupa after a 1 1/2 hour surgery to realign my fractured forearm with five pins on the side of my left wrist and one on top of my hand.

I could’ve chosen to rest at home but I wanted to test myself. I thought I could be Superman and virtually go straight from the hospital to the Big Dome and work a game for 2 1/2 hours. I also didn’t want to let Solar TV down. For Game 1, the plan was to employ a three-man panel – an innovation that was introduced last conference to give due importance to the championship playoffs. I was assigned to do the game with anchorman Mico Halili and analyst Jason Webb. I looked forward to working with Mico and Jason as they always do a solid job on TV.

But as soon as I got out of the car to walk into the coliseum, I felt woozy. Maybe, the anesthesia I took that put me to sleep for about five hours the day before hadn’t worn off. When I got to the Solar lounge, I quickly sat down to clear my head. Mico and courtside reporter Patricia Hizon noticed something was wrong. Didn’t I just come out of surgery, they asked. I said yes. Then, Mico suggested to think twice about doing the game. “Don’t rush, if you feel up to it, then let’s do it,” he said. “You’ve got an hour left to decide.” Mico probably saw how pale I was and asked for the Solar staff to get me a Coke. Mico was reassuring. “It’s just Game 1 and this could be a long series,” he said.

I drank the Coke. I was still woozy. I decided it was useless to work the game. I wouldn’t do the finals justice if I forced myself to go on the air with less than half my normal energy level. The staff understood. As I walked out of the coliseum back to the car for the drive home, I bumped into Andy Jao and PBA media bureau chief Willie Marcial. No, I wasn’t staging a walkout, I explained. They both wished me well.

As soon as I entered the car, I texted Mico to say sorry I couldn’t do the game and how I would’ve enjoyed working on the three-man panel with him and Jason. “Don’t worry, el decano,” he said, calling me – as he likes to do on TV – The Dean in Spanish. “We’ll hold the fort. Your health/well-being is more important.”

I arrived at my daughter Cristina’s home in time to watch the panel introducing the game on TV. As usual, Mico and Jason did a superb job.

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I had prepared my usual Dean’s List for the coverage and watching on TV, tracked how the priorities were tackled during the game. For Alaska, my theme was Is Destiny Calling? I thought of it because Alaska was playing in the franchise’s 25th finals preparatory to its 25th anniversary in the PBA next season. For San Miguel Beer, my storyline was Depth Is Wealth, referring to the team’s awesome manpower complement.

My priorities for Alaska were Diamon Is Forever, Pressure on Freeman and Manage Possessions. I saw import Diamon Simpson as the key to Alaska’s success. He’s a tireless workhorse on the court and a valuable cog in coach Tim Cone’s system. Despite San Miguel’s depth, there really isn’t anyone in coach Siot Tanquingcen’s lineup able to lock horns with Simpson mano-a-mano since Gabe Freeman plays a different position. Perhaps, Mick Pennisi might work as a defender but as it turned out, he wasn’t sent in at all for Game 1 and Simpson was unstoppable with 28 points and 21 rebounds in 42 minutes.

I thought it was vital for Alaska to put pressure on Freeman, defensively and offensively. He has a tendency to get into foul trouble and the sooner the Aces are able to eliminate Freeman, the easier the job of beating the Beermen. Sure enough, Freeman picked up his fifth foul with over four minutes left in the third period. He wound up playing only 32 minutes but still scored 37 points. The problem was with his limited time, Freeman tried to do it all and never really got his teammates involved in the offense. He got away with 37 points but only one San Miguel local was in double figures compared to three for Alaska.

The Aces managed their possessions efficiently, creating more turnovers than committing them. Alaska had 13 errors to San Miguel’s 19. That also gave Alaska the extra possessions they lost in getting outrebounded and allowed the Aces to dictate tempo, slowing down the pace to negate San Miguel’s vaunted up-and-down style. Additionally, it took away Tanquingcen’s advantage in depth.

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For San Miguel, my priorities were Disrupt the Aces Execution, Dominate the Interior and Bench Firepower. The Beermen failed to stymie Alaska’s deliberate half-court game and allowed the Aces 20 assists to their 15. When Alaska finds the spacing for good looks out of the triangle and makes the extra pass, it’s tough to muzzle the Aces execution. In a close contest, the advantage is decisive as shown in Alaska’s field goal percentage of .422 to San Miguel’s .402.

The Beermen got the job done off the boards, grabbing more rebounds, 58-49, but couldn’t translate it into more possessions because they had six more turnovers. In the end, Alaska had even one more field goal attempt, 83 to 82. Regarding bench firepower, San Miguel had little to show as both teams scored identical 13 from their relievers. What a dramatic drop from the elimination game which San Miguel won over Alaska, 95-89, last April 11. In that contest, the Beermen drew 40 points from their bench and Alaska, only 10.

To recap, it’s easy to figure out why Alaska won Game 1, 89-83, last Friday. The Aces played smart and precise basketball, Diamon was an irrepressible force, Freeman strayed from staying loose because of foul trouble, they controlled the tempo, the Beermen had less assists and more turnovers (a suicidal combination) and Alaska found a way to neutralize San Miguel’s depth.

Alaska used only eight players with five logging 32 minutes or more but was more productive than San Miguel with 12 players sent in and only three checking in for at least 32 minutes. What the Aces showed in drawing first blood was quality, not quantity, is the difference maker.