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.