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CRUNCHTIME: PBL SEMIFINALS ON
(January 23, 2009)

Harbour Centre, Hapee Toothpaste, Magnolia Pure Water, Bacchus Energy Drink, one of them will become the 2008 – 2009 PBL PG Flex Cup champion. Among the four teams only Bacchus has not won a PBL championship in recent memory. Harbour Centre is of course the hands-down favorite being champion in the last five PBL tournaments. They may no longer have the star-studded lineup of tournaments past but they are still the best team in the league.

Head coach Jorge Gallent still has a deep and talented roster with the Batang Pier that has bought into his system lock, stock and barrel. Rico Maeirhofer is arguably the most talented and productive frontline player in the PBL outside of Jervy Cruz. Maeirhofer is among the league leaders in both rebounds and blocks. Unlike other forwards and centers who rely more on bulk and strength, at a long 6-foot-5 he uses his speed and springs to great effect to collar tough caroms and reach after shots.

Reed Juntilla, the star-crossed 6-foot-1 Cebu recruit, spreads the floor with his incredible perimeter shooting. Juntilla is among the league leaders from three-point range. Running the show is 5-foot-9 FEU star pointguard Mark Barroca. Barroca may not have the eye-popping statistics but he does have the patience and discipline to keep his team running smoothly. Speaking of FEU, other Tamaraws have done very well with the Batang Pier including 6-foot guard Benedict Fernandez, 6-foot-4 swingman JR Cawaling, 6-foot-5 power forward Riel Cervantes and 6-foot-6 center Aldrech Ramos.

Veteran holdovers Jerwin Gaco and Edwin Asoro have also been vital cogs in the Harbour Centre cause. Both are broad-shouldered 6-foot-3 power forwards who crash the boards, play excellent low post defense and provide much-needed toughness to keep the opposition honest. Gaco – described by PBL Chair and team owner Dr Mikee Romero as his “franchise player” – is among the league leaders in field goals.

When they go up against the Lamoiyan franchise in the semis though, the Batang Pier need to bring their “A” game. Hapee has been bridesmaid to Harbour Centre in the last two PBL championships and the Complete Protectors understandably want to exact some payback. Cruz is arguably the best center in the PBL today and is pretty familiar with Maeirhofer, Gaco, Asoro and the FEU boys of Gallent. They saw plenty of each other in the UAAP wars. Cruz is obviously not quite at his listed height of 6-foot-5; he may be just a shade over 6-foot-3. He does however have large, powerful hands, is very quick off his feet and incredibly strong underneath. He gets all those rebounds through smart and solid positioning and exploding into the air quickly using his underrated strength. He will have very interesting and very exciting battles in this series versus the highly-touted Batang Pier frontline.

Head coach Gee Abanilla’s Complete Protectors had a hell of an elimination campaign, getting themselves extended to a rubber match by the Pharex Generix – a team that lost all of its games in the first round of eliminations – in the quarterfinals. They were the last team to complete the Final 4 cast, very uncharacteristic for a squad that made the last two PBL Finals. Their backcourt has been suspect in this conference, unable to compete consistently against the other guards in the league.

5-foot-11 sentinel Chris Tiu, fresh off a UAAP championship with Ateneo, should help remedy that situation. He already showed how valuable he can be for Hapee as his on-court intelligence, recognition and vision helped get the Complete Protectors past the stubborn Generix in their do-or-die quarterfinal match. Tiu should help keep the likes of Barroca, Fernandez and 5-foot-7 Boyet Bautista very busy. If Tiu can get 6-foot-1 Lance Convento and 6-foot-3 Josh Vanlandingham even more involved, that will open things up for Cruz and 6-foot-3 forward Jim Viray. Harbour Centre better be ready because Tiu is a much better guard on and off the ball compared to Hapee residents like 5-foot-7 Earn Saguindel and 5-foot-8 Ely Olarte.

In the other semifinal match, the Magnolia Pure Water Wizards were mostly holding on to second spot throughout the eliminations and are facing the unpredictable Bacchus Energy Warriors. Magnolia last won a PBL championship in 2005 when they still had reigning PBA most valuable player Kelly Williams, and two-time UAAP champion and MVP award winner Arwind Santos. Head coach Koy Banal would like to bring the glory back to the San Miguel PBL franchise. Defense will be critical for the Wizards because the Energy Warriors can pile up points in a hurry.

A pair of very experienced 6-foot-5 forward-center types will lead Magnolia: Al Magpayo, who won an NCAA championship with St Benilde, and former PBA draft pick Neil Raneses from Cebu. Magpayo and Raneses are practically identical not only in terms of size and position but in playing styles. While both are natural post players who swing between the 4 and 5 positions, they also have well-developed perimeter shots and passing skills. So while they crash the boards and defend the low blocks, they can also shoot all the way out to the three-point arc and find open teammates.

Up front there is another exciting duo of doppelganger players, a pair of multi-skilled and highly versatile 6-foot-4 forwards in Dylan Ababou out of the Santo Tomas Tigers, and another prized provincial recruit and one-time FEU Tamaraw Eder Saldua. Both can play the 3 and 4 spots with equal aplomb with their ability to put the ball down on the floor and create off the dribble, post up at the high and low blocks, get rebounds, run in transition and act as trap guys on defense. Saldua however is the better defender, since Ababou is still a matador-type defender at this stage of his career. Ababou however is a better scorer with a middle game that is rare for players of this generation.

In the backcourt, Magnolia will lean on the leadership of former Letran star JP Alcaraz, a 5-foot-10 pointguard who can set the table as easily as he can look for his own score. Alcaraz will have former Ateneo pointguard 5-foot-9 Yuri Escueta and 5-foot-7 Leomer Losentes out of St Francis of Assisi backing him up or playing alongside him. Escueta is known for pushing a breakneck pace at every opportunity and is a dogged defender who picks up his guy three-quarters court. Losentes, unlike Escueta and Alcaraz, is more along the mold of the tough guy guard who likes to play physical in the backcourt.

Bacchus head coach Lawrence Chongson will lean on the core of the UE Red Warriors plus some prize recruits form the collegiate circuit and should give the Wizards the fight of their lives. If Magnolia is trying to relive championship glory, Bacchus is trying to get their first PBL championship. Bacchus had a sub-.500 first round in their elimination campaign but got going in the second round. No one quite figured them to be in the Final 4, and hopefully they will not adopt the “just happy to be here” attitude.

Leading the Energy Warriors is 6-foot guard Paul Lee, the tournament’s leading scorer who averaged over 16 points per game. In the first round of eliminations, Lee was also the leader in steals, proving to all and sundry that he has the complete game. Lee is joined in the explosive Bacchus backcourt by several familiar faces: 5-foot-7 guard James Martinez, 5-foot-7 pointguard Rudy Lingganay and 6-foot-2 swingman Val Acuna, all three of whom are teammates of his over at UE.

Martinez is a dead-eye gunner with incredible range who can string up three-pointers in a hurry. Perhaps no other player makes use of the staggered screens with more effectiveness than Martinez. He can shoot off the dribble, on the hand-off or on the kick-out. Lingganay is perhaps the most underrated pointguard in the Final 4. He does not quite have the trigger of Martinez but his handles allow him to move around very well in setting up the offense and to get opportunistic baskets. Acuna, who was in the UE doghouse the last couple of UAAP seasons, has provided a lot of scoring from the perimeter and with incursions into the lane and at the wings. He was used very sparingly in the UAAP but has made quite a name for himself as a very good swingman in the PBL.

Up front the UE duo of 6-foot-5 forward Hans Thiele and 6-foot-4 center Pari Llagas are unspectacular but effective. Thiele has great springs and has an incredible fade-away jumper that is beyond any player’s blocking range. With his length, leap and quickness he has gotten a lot of mileage with that fade-away. Llagas on the other hand has been very strong off both boards and going box to box, using his big strong body to maximum effect in the lane. These two will have their hands full against the talented pair of Magpayo and Raneses, but they won’t be any slouch. Bacchus will have an X Factor up front however in 6-foot-4 power forward Orlando Daroya out of Arellano University, the hardcore hoops circuit legend. Daroya can nail the three-pointer and drive as easily as he can post up. A lot of PBL veterans took him for granted and he has made them pay.

In the end however it looks like depth and talent will win out. As big a fight as Hapee and Bacchus can provide for their semifinal opponents, they simply cannot match up in terms of depth of roster. Both Harbour Centre and Magnolia simply have too many weapons and too many players who can produce. It should be a Finals showdown between the Wizards and the Batang Pier in the PG Flex Cup.

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