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An upset win and an upset player

On 22 April 2014, day 2 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Quarterfinals, the match-ups between the first and second seeds, Talk ‘N Text and San Miguel Beer, and the seventh and eighth seeds, Air 21 and Ginebra, were scheduled at the Araneta Coliseum.

The higher seeds enjoy the twice-to-beat advantage in both match-ups.  SMB and Air 21 went at it first, and most thought it would be one and done, with the Beermen prevailing and entering the Semis.  The Express, though, entered the showdown believing they matched up well with San Miguel and could beat them at least once, then if they did, maybe twice.

I had the privilege of commentating for the television coverage of the SMB-Air 21 contest, with PBA great Ali Peek by my side, and Rizza Diaz by the court.  Prior to the game, Ali and I recalled that the teams had just played last week, and that Air 21 led most of the way, before faltering late in the third quarter into the fourth, losing an 18-point lead, and bowing down in defeat by 8 points.

ALSO READ: Air 21 forces San Miguel Beer to a do-or-die game

We agreed that Air 21 did match up well with SMB, with big man Asi Taulava able to clog the middle and give San Miguel giant June Mar Fajardo a difficult time.  We thought the game would be a close, grind-it-out one, as playoff games usually are, and that breaks and composure would determine the winner in the end.  We were mistaken.

Air 21 came out fighting, attacking early and often, with rookie guard Eloy Poligrates and veteran Taulava setting the tone.  The Express scrapped on defense, battled under the boards, and anticipated much of what San Miguel wanted to do and stopped it.  The Beermen struggled for points, went down by double digits very early in the game, and, despite closing the gap a few times in the second half, never caught up.  They never looked in sync throughout the game and Ali kept wondering what kind of plays they were trying to run because it seemed they were just going through the motions on offense.



There were many local heroes for Coach Franz Pumaren, as his import Wesley Witherspoon struggled from the field but facilitated, and the total team effort of Air 21 on both ends allowed them to live another game day, maybe more.  Taulava, Poligrates, Joseph Yeo, Mark Cardona, Aldrech Ramos, Mark Borboran, Mike Burtscher, Jonas Villanueva – name the player, he helped out.  We named Air 21 forward Sean Anthony as Best Player of the Game, as he scored 25 points on a variety of shots, including a 3-pointer off the glass, as he scored most of his points while his team protected its lead in the late third and early fourth.

The knockout match is scheduled on Friday, 25 April 2014.  As Ali said, in a knockout match, previous stats do not matter.  Air 21 did almost everything right and sustained it for forty-eight minutes to come up with the upset in Game 1.  Let’s see if it can come up with another one in Game 2.

In the second game for the night, top seed TNT faced crowd favorite Ginebra.  Despite a perfect elimination round record, the Texters were wary of the last place playoff qualifier simply because Ginebra is very unpredictable.  Despite low seedings in the past, Ginebra has pulled off unthinkable victories, largely due to the fighting hearts of its players and its “homecourt advantage.”

Unfortunately for all the Ginebra hopefuls, if the Air 21 win over San Miguel earlier was quite lopsided, this was a massacre in favor of Norman Black’s powerhouse lineup, which, despite the strength of its parts, is even stronger as a unit.  Ten wins without a loss so far in the tournament, TNT allowed Ginebra to stay in the game only until halftime, but started the second half on a different level, leaving the Gin Kings far behind.

ALSO READ: Talk 'N Text sends Ginebra to early vacation

The radio coverage team of Chiqui Reyes and Jolly Escobar described a picture of gloom for the Ginebra side.  They apologized to the listeners, clarifying that they were just telling it like it was, not merely maligning the Gin Kings.  The lopsided score backed their position.

Questions abounded all over social media throughout the second half of the TNT-Ginebra game, and proliferated postgame, as fans questioned the heart and spirit, or lack thereof, that this current Ginebra team exhibited, not just in this game, but for this entire tournament.

Considering the team’s rich history of playing until the very end, fighting until the buzzer sounds, hence the “Never Say Die” motto, the performance versus TNT made the experience for Ginebra fans, and even general basketball fans, all the more painful.  My Yahoo Philippines Sports colleague Carlo Pamintuan said on Twitter, “I have watched past Ginebra teams lose but those teams went down swinging. This team is playing like they have the twice-to-beat advantage.” He followed that up with a strong statement directed at the team itself: “Losing is acceptable but not like this. This is like a slap in the face of the people who have supported you for so long.”  He’s right, you know.

The strongest tirade, however, came from the player considered the soul of this current Ginebra team, the man who has embodied the “Ginebra of old” since he came into the league more than a decade ago – Mark “The Spark” Caguioa.

ALSO READ: Caguioa blasts teammates on Twitter

Early in the morning after the massacre, he went on a five-tweet attack, questioning his teammates’ attitudes, the lack of respect for Ginebra teams and players of the past, seemingly taking a shot at management for just “promoting” certain players, and even declaring that even the great NBA Coach Phil Jackson could not win with this current Ginebra lineup because the players do not play with the heart it takes to win.


Caguioa’s tweets drew many replies and responses, most agreeing with him and expressing how the team underperformed as a whole and how certain players do not seem to fit with the team, and the apparent lack of a system on offense.  There were also direct hits questioning the decision-making of both Ginebra management and the coaching staff.  Through it all, it seems, nobody called Caguioa out and indicated that he is part of the “problem.”

That is why Caguioa will always be remembered as the face of Ginebra during his time in the PBA.  At certain times, he was not able to deliver.  Sometimes, he was a step slow or was injured and could not perform at the highest level.  But nobody has questioned Caguioa’s heart.  He may have been hampered at times, but he always tried.  That’s how I see him, how his fans see him, how even the anti-Ginebras see him, I think.



From his tweets, obviously he is upset, angry, and frustrated.  Twitter has been a way for Caguioa to voice out his disgust a number of times in the past few PBA conferences, and most of the time, his messages resounded, then united and moved the team to perform.

The fans knew Ginebra was the underdog versus TNT, but Caguioa, and the diehards, hoped to come up with at least a Game 1 upset, to duplicate what Air 21 had done to SMB, but it just could not happen.  What will result from Caguioa’s statements?  Could there be a shake-up coming?  Will players, coaches and/or management acknowledge their shortcomings and man-up?  With Ginebra, you either love them or hate them, but we all must admit, the league does get more interesting when the team performs better than it did in the current tournament.

Some changes need to happen, I suppose.  Everybody loves the underdog, but perhaps not the one that just rolls over.

You can follow Charlie on Twitter @CharlieC.