Tigers take first blood!

image courtesy of pba.ph

          Woot! The Tigers showed a potent outside game and defeated bitter rivals Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 111-103, to start it's season with a bang.

          In the 1st half, the Tigers were shooting the lights out as they poured on 3-point shots one after another with Macapagal and Ritualo showing their prowess from the outside. Gary David was his usual self with penetrations and acrobatic reverse shots. Sean Anthony played with a mask and guarded opposing ace guard Solomon Mercado. A bulked-up Will Antonio returns after a 2-year lay-off and played as a big man for the Tigers. Rob Reyes started at center and played really well, including dishing a neat touch-pass to a moving David underneath the basket for a lay-up.

          Well, while the Tigers were "shooting the lights out", our lights (and electricity) suddenly 'went out' as well while I was watching the game in the 2nd quarter (with Powerade leading 50-41). I was really furious since I've been waiting for days to watch the Tigers again only to be ruined by a goddamn brown-out! Well, to cut the story short, power came back more than an hour later. The game was already done with Powerade winning. Good thing they won, or my day would have been awful.

          Gary David led the pack with 25 points in 11/16 shooting. Mark Macapagal added 19 points in 4/6 shooting from beyond the arc. Rookie Sean Anthony, who I'd like to call 'the Sol stopper' from now on, scored 6 points, but more importantly, grabbed 12 boards for the undersized Tigers. Starters Rob Reyes and Chico Lanete scored 10 points apiece. Come-backing forward William Antonio scored 10 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. As a team, the Tigers shot 11/23 (48 %) from the 3-point area.

Nice start for the Tigers, next up --- the Barangay Ginebra Kings! Let's get it on!

Roar out!

Meet the Tiger Cubs

Sean Micheal Anthony

Position: Forward/Swingman
Birthday: 1/26/86
Height: 6'4''
Weight: 200 lbs
Strengths: strong, athletic, an excellent defender, has a tremendous upside
Weaknesses: needs to improve shooting and ability to create own shots
School: McGill University (Canada)
Facts: Finished as 4th all-time leading scorer in McGill University.... Averaged 15.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.7 steals and 34.1 minutes as a Senior.... Finished his collegiate career with 1,834 career points, 82 double-figure games and 21 double-doubles in 152 total outings.





Jose Antonio (Jai) Reyes
 
Position: Point Guard
Birthday: 2/25/87
Height: 5'7''
Weight: 140 lbs
Strengths: good leadership skills, a clutch shooter
Weaknesses: undersized, may struggle against bigger guards
School: Ateneo
Facts: Nephew of former tigers coach Chot Reyes.... 2007 UAAP rookie of the year.... Played a key role in Ateneo's back-to-back title in 2008-09... 2009 PCCL MVP.



Robert "Rob" Reyes

Position: Forward/Center
Birthday: 3/16/83
Height: 6'5''
Weight: 225 lbs
Strengths: strong & physical, an energy guy
Weaknesses: scoring in the post, lacks a go-to-move down low
School: Flaglier College
Facts: Former PBL mythical second team member... PBA 2008 4th over-all pick... a strong and physical defender in the post... averaged 5.26 pts, 5 rebs in 24 minutes last season for Barako Bull.

End of the Asi Taulava Era.

Man, this is depressing.

You may have known by now that Asi "the Rock" Taulava, has been traded to Meralco. Powerade also released Ken Bono to the Barako Bull. The tigers acquired Rob Reyes and Barako's 2013 2nd round pick.

It can be argued that the tigers continued to struggle even with the arrival of Asi, but when he came to Coke via trade with Talk n' Text, he brought in new life and grit to what have been a seemingly lifeless franchise. Asi would then become the team's new leader for the next couple of years. Too bad he never had enough support to carry the tigers to the next level.

Oh well, there's always an end for everything. The glorious championship years, the Peek-Arigo led transition period, the gloomy dynasty of Binky Favis and now, the Asi Taulava era.

A cliche, but the team now has to move on. No single player can replace Asi's contributions to the team so several guys will have to step up.

More specifically, these 5 guys:

1. Gary David - David will now have to take the role of being the leader of this squad. Opponents will be expected to focus their defense on Gary now that Asi is no longer around. Hopefully, Mr. Pure Energy is up to the task.

2. Dennis Espino - With Asi gone, Dennis is now the tiger's main (and perhaps only) option at the post. In scoring, there's no doubt that Espino is capable of replacing Asi's numbers, but will he be able to replace Asi's leadership and 11 rebs/game last season?

3. Rob Reyes - well, he's the big man that Powerade got in return, so he will essentially be replacing Asi. He is still unproven, but he's still young and is known to be a hardworker and a hustle guy. If he turns out to become a Pingris-type of player, then this trade might not look that bad after all. But that's a big If...

4. Sean Anthony - Anthony is a natural wingman, but with Powerade's current hole in the frontline, we could be seeing him play some minutes at the '4' spot ala Rudy Hatfield. Anthony could help replace Asi's rebounding numbers.

5. Ren-Ren Ritualo - Powerade will lose a huge chunk of their offense with Asi's departure. Not only can Asi provide inside scoring, he also attracts double-teams, often freeing up Coke's shooters. Without Asi, opponents will now be committed to the shooters of Powerade without having to worry on double-teaming in the post. That's bad news for guys like Macapagal, Allera and Gonzales, but for someone like Ritualo who's known to be capable of shooting even with a hand on his face, it shouldn't be that much of a problem. That's if, Ren-Ren gets his old game back.. and that's another big 'if'.

-------------------------

So there goes the tigers' leader, there goes the heart and soul of our team, and there goes "the Rock"..

Goodbye Asi... and thank you for playing for the tigers.  It was good while it lasted. Hopefully, you win another title before you call it quits, you deserve one as much as any other player in the league.

Guess I will have to change this blog's header art as well. *sigh*



Roar.... out.

Goodbye Larry, Hello Eddie.

Hi Powerade fans, it's less than 3 weeks away from the start of the 36th season of the PBA. Are you guys excited already? Cause I sure am!

Powerade's season debut will be on October 6, 5pm,  against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. Yep, the same team that has been a scourge for the Tigers this past season, eliminating Coke in a do-or-die wildcard match in both conferences.

The Powerade Tigers isn't finished retooling yet, as they engaged into yet another deal. This time sending workhorse forward Larry Rodriguez to Rain or Shine in exchange for veteran Eddie Laure and Rain or Shine's 1st round pick in next year.

Wow! This is actually the first time I've seen the Tigers acquire a 1st round pick in a trade deal! We all know that most of the time, it is us that have been giving away1st rounders to other teams. This is a nice improvement.

Well, personally, I hate to see Rodriguez go. I became a fan when I saw his performance in last season's Philippine Cup. He is a bit undersized for a power forward, but he sure knows how to pick his spots and he's got a pretty decent offensive game. He averaged about 10 points and 7 rebounds while starting for the Tigers. Unfortunately, the team rarely played him in the 2nd conference.

Eddie Laure, on the other hand, is another undersized power forward, standing at 6'3''. While L-Rod is an inside operator, Laure is more of a perimeter player. He can hit mid-range jumpers and his range extends way up to the 3 point line. There is a chance that he will be playing mainly as a small forward in Powerade, and could compete with rookie Sean Anthony for a starting spot. The only downside though, is that Laure is already 33 years old (6 years older than Larry), and he'll be joining forces with a 37 year-old Asi and a 36 year-old Espino in the frontline. Yikes!

This would've been a really bad trade if not for the 2011 1st round pick that Powerade acquired as part of the deal. Powerade now has 2 first round picks next year, including their own. This is good, since we could be seeing an influx of fil-fors and local talents in next year's draft.

So for next season, not only will I be rooting for Powerade, but I will be rooting against Rain or Shine as well, and hope that they end up in the cellar to give us a better position in next year's draft. Haha!


Roar out!

Rookie Initiation? You tell me.

I am just an ordinary fan, and I find coach Bo's ways really hard to comprehend.

Just 2 days after the Tigers acquired fil-canadian cager Sean Anthony on draft day, coach Bo is already talking about his willingness to trade Sean.

Well, the story was that the Barangay Ginebra Kings was rumored to have offered a package of players possibly including Celino Cruz, Sunday Salavacion and Junthy Valenzuela to Powerade in exchange for the 6'4'' forward Anthony. Coach Bo immediately denied that such offer was made and that he wasn't interested in any of those players offered. Good.

But..

...coach Bo made an informal counter-offer that he would be willing to give up Anthony for Ginebra's JC Intal.

Oh C'mon.

Sean Anthony hasn't even played a single game yet and here comes coach Bo saying that he's willing to trade him. Reality check, I've got nothing against Intal but Sean Anthony is younger, bigger, a better defender, and more versatile (capable of playing the 2, 3, and 4 spot while Intal is a 2-3 swingman).

Well, fortunately (for us fans), Ginebra didn't bite and Anthony is reportedly set to sign a contract with Powerade.

End of story? hell no! there's more!

Barangay Ginebra recently released 3 guys from their platoon of guards, namely Sunday Salvacion, Junthy Valenzuela, and Celino Cruz (yep! exactly the same set of guys that was reportedly offered to Powerade for Anthony. Very sneaky.. Ginebra).

Now, according to Snow Badua, a well-loved sports reporter and insider, coach Bo was interested in Celino Cruz after all, but found it unfortunate that they already signed the rookie Jai Reyes. 

WHAT THE HECK?!? (trying real hard not to curse here).

Wow. Do you really have to say that Bo? Jai probably wouldn't be happy to hear that he would have been displaced had Celino Cruz been available earlier. Coach Bo could have simply said that "We would love to have Celino, but our roster is already full". Period. No need to mention the rookie guard. Or better, he could have said "We would love to have Celino, but Paolo Mendoza is still under contract".. hah!!

So in only a week's time after acquiring his rookies, coach Bo already managed to dangle Sean Anthony's name in trade talks and then implied, albeit subtle, that he would have had Celino Cruz instead if Jai Reyes wasn't signed yet. Not really the best way to build-up your rookies' confidence is it?

Then again, could this be coach Bo's way of "initiating" his rookies into the business? How will I to know? I'm just an ordinary fan trying really hard to comprehend coach Bo's ways.




Roar Out.

Anthony's Game defined by Hard Work

"It's another step. If I've learned anything, it's that you can never settle, once you think you're at the top of your game, there's always another level to get to. A lot of it [comes down to] hard work." ~ Sean Anthony

While a lot of basketball players have become stars because of pure talent, for Powerade rookie Sean Anthony, it's all about hard work. And it was through hard work that Anthony was able to turn into a basketball star at McGill University.

Sean Anthony, 24, is actually a nephew of President Noynoy Aquino. He decided to take his talents to the Philippines after playing college basketball in Canada. During the week-long rookie camp, Anthony impressed several scouts and coaches because of his tenacity and hustle despite having to wear a mask because of a broken nose. Mock drafts had him rated to as high as the 3rd over-all pick. On draft day, the Air21 Express used their 6th over-all pick to draft Anthony. Anthony was subsequently traded to the Powerade Tigers, a team that could really use a strong and athletic forward like him. 

When the Coca-Cola Tigers won 2 championships and had 4 finals appearances during its first 2 years in the league, a vital piece in the line-up was Rudy Hatfield, a 6'4'' workhorse forward. Nicknamed "the H-Bomb", Hatfield brought toughness to the Tigers despite playing as an undersized power forward. When Hatfield left Coke, the Tigers never made it to the semis again. 

Will Sean Anthony be the new Rudy Hatfield?

In his first practice with the Powerade Tigers, coach Bo Perasol was immediately impressed by the young cager.


"Hindi naman automatic na magiging PBA star because offensively, medyo hindi pa skillful at hindi pa masyadong malayo ang range," Perasol said.

"But he is a good defender, a hard worker. What’s more, maganda ang attitude at iyun ang pinaka-importante. Kapag willing mag-trabaho, siguradong mag-i-improve talaga."

It only took one practice session for Anthony to show his ultimate weapon, hard work. And with the attitude he's showing, there's little doubt that he's got what it takes to bring the wounded Tigers back to basketball glory.






Roar Out.

Enter The Rainman

           In a draft-night trade that netted the Tigers a Fil-Canadian forward Sean Anthony, the Tigers also acquired sweet-shooting Ren-Ren Ritualo, a 6'1'' veteran guard who can virtually shoot the lights out of Araneta.

Last season, my biggest rant was how badly the team needed a steady scoring support for ace guard Gary David. Asi, who although was still a beast in the boards, was no longer putting up huge numbers offensively. Mark Macapagal is capable of having strong scoring nights, but lacks consistency. So it was basically Gary David from start to finish. Which is the reason why at some games, David seems to lose power at the end part of the ballgame. He needed support. He badly needed support.

Enter the Rainman.

Drafted 8th over-all in the 2002 draft by the Fedex Express (now Air21), Ritualo put up solid numbers in his rookie year, averaging 12.3 points and hitting 58 3-pointers en route to being named as Rookie of the Year. He also won as Sixth Man of the Year and Mr. Quality Minutes in the same year. Because of his amazing shooting prowess from behind-the-arc, people started labeling him as the 2nd coming of Allan Caidic, who is arguably the best shooter in Philippine basketball history.

Renren Ritualo reached the peak of his career in the 2005-2006 season, wherein he averaged 18.4 points, and scored 40 points in a 2006 semifinal game against Purefoods. Ritualo, was also the first local player in PBA history to have four games in a career with at least eight three pointers in each of those games.

He was then traded to the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals, where his role was reduced from being the main man to that of a designated shooter off the bench, playing behind rising star and fellow DLSU alumnus, Mac Cardona. It was in Talk N' Text that Ritualo eventually won his 1st PBA title. Just last year, he was traded again back to the team that drafted him, the Air21 Express, where he then played behind another rising star and former Tiger prodigy, Ronjay Buenafe.

Now, Ren-Ren will be joining the Powerade Tigers, and will be reunited with coach Bo Perasol, who handled Ren-Ren before in Air21 and knows his abilities and strengths. Ren-Ren may be playing behind Gary David this time, who ironically was his back-up back in their Air21 days, but expect Ritualo to have a significant role in the team's campaign for next season. He will be providing a much needed firepower off the bench, something that the team sorely needed last season. He can also serve as a shooting mentor to Powerade's younger shooters, Francis Allera, Jai Reyes, and RJ Rizada.

Gary David now have a reliable aid in scoring, and we can expect Powerade's roar to be much more louder next season.

Welcome the newest Tiger, Ren-Ren "The Rainman" Ritualo!



Roar Out.

New Logo is Awesome.

       With the name change, is of course, a new team logo. The first time I saw the new logo for the Powerade Tigers, I was amazed! There's this ferocious blue tiger that is a real refreshing change from the oh-so-ordinary-looking orange tiger from the previous logo. People have already been saying that this is probably the best team logo in the PBA today! How about that! Well, I could only hope that this cool logo will bring a brand new swagger to a team that has been struggling in the past 6 years.

So, what can you say?



Roar Out!!

Site Revamp!!!

          Ok, we all know by now that our beloved(?) Coca-Cola Tigers have decided to carry a new team name. They made a transition from beverage to sports drink and will be known as the Powerade Tigers from now on.        

I too, decided to implement a major (major) change in this blog site as well. Unlike the previous format, I will be keeping the site much more simple this time. I will go away from the stats-and-results-copy-and-paste-format (which is pretty demanding by the way).. from now on, the only things that will be posted here are my own personal rants, raves and ramblings about everything Powerade (tigers). Yes, I will no longer be putting game schedules, game results, and game reports, since those things are posted at PBA sites anyway.

Also, I might be posting random things here too, some of those doesn't even have something to do with the Powerade Tigers, so beware, you've been warned. :-)

By the way, if anyone cares to bother, heh, you can address me by the name "flint". There's a chatbox at the side where you can post messages, opinions or express your disgust for me, my poor writing ability and the team I'm writing about.

Til then, Roar Out.