FINALS: Powerade Tigers 1 - 3 Talk N Text Tropang Texters
 
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IF there is one team that badly needs this holiday break prior to the coming PBA Philippine Cup semifinals, it’s no less than the defending champion itself, Talk `N Text. 

Although the Tropang Texters salvaged a twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs by finishing as the second ranked team at the end of the eliminations, they hobbled for the most part of their 14-game campaign as key players were saddled with injuries one after the other. 

The casualties include the team’s backcourt of Jimmy Alapag, Jayson Castro, Jarred Dilinger and Ryan Reyes, together with big men Ranidel de Ocampo, Aaron Aban and Ali Peek.


 
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CAN’T really blame the Powerade Tigers if they’ll make the most out of their stint in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series. 

The Tigers haven’t been this deep into the playoffs since the 2004 Fiesta Conference, when the team was then still known as Coca-Cola and their star player, hotshot Gary David, was about to embark yet on a colorful pro career. 

Curiously, it was David, picked 10th overall by the Tigers during that season’s Rookie Draft, who’s chiefly responsible for all of this.


 
Norman Black and Frankie Lim will cement their highly-successful coaching campaign in the recent season as they are set to receive the UAAP and NCAA Coach of the Year awards during the Collegiate Basketball Awards on January 21 at the Gateway Suites in Quezon City.

Black steered Ateneo to its fourth straight conquest of the UAAP while Lim powered the Red Lions to their fifth crown in six years making them the hands-down choices for the award to be presented by the UAAP-NCAA Press Corps and SMART.

Black and Lim will share the limelight with Mythical Five members Calvin Abueva of San Sebastian, Bobby Ray Parks of National University, Greg Slaughter and Kiefer Ravena of Ateneo and Garvo Lanete of San Beda.


 
This is your new blogGinebra playing coach Robert Jaworski gets up close and personal with Pepsi center Abet Guidaben. We suspect they’re not reminiscing fondly about the old Toyota-Crispa days. See Picture Inside...

 
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Calvin Abueva of San Sebastian and Ray Parks of National University top the list of this year’s Mythical Five in the Collegiate Basketball Awards presented by the UAAP-NCAA Press Corps and SMART to be held January 21 at the Gateway Suites in Cubao, Quezon City.

Abueva and Parks, the Most Valuable Players of the NCAA and UAAP respectively, join Ateneo’s Greg Slaughter and Kiefer Ravena and Garvo Lanete of San Beda on the list for their notable performances this season.

The Mythical Five is one of the major awards in the yearly event presented by scribes from broadsheets, tabloids and online publications covering the collegiate hoops beat.


 
LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose all shined as the NBA tipped off in style on Christmas Day with some sparkling action putting aside memories of the five month long lockout.

The Miami Heat immediately showed why they are title favorites by beating last season’s champions the Dallas Mavericks, while the New York Knicks enjoyed a surprise victory over the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden and the Chicago Bulls produced a great comeback to beat the Los Angeles Lakers.

The games were part of a five-game opening day to the delayed and reduced 66-game regular season after the dispute between players and owners over a new collective contract ended earlier this month.

 
LOS ANGELES — Derrick Rose scored the go-ahead basket with 4.8 seconds remaining as the Chicago Bulls opened their new NBA season with an 88-87 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.

While Rose provided the finishing scoring touch, teammate Luol Deng gave the Bulls the fourth-quarter spark they needed to come from behind in front of a Christmas Day crowd of 18,997 at Staples Center arena.

“We showed fight,” said Rose. “We don’t want to be in a situation like that but we got it done.”

Deng scored nine points in the final quarter and intercepted a Kobe Bryant pass then quickly got the ball to Rose who drove to the basket before pulling up and draining a short one-handed lob.

 
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GARY David never backs down from any challenge, especially one directed at the Powerade team which considers him as its leader. 

David showcased this in the week that was, coming up with back-to-back 30-plus games that not only lifted the Tigers over a dreaded foe and into the semifinals of the PBA Philippine Cup, but also another Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week citation for himself. 

It was the third such honor given for David in the season-opening conference and he became the scribes' hands-down choice after he averaged an astounding 34.5 points in the two-game quarterfinals duel with top seed B-MEG.


 
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“It was a championship feeling,” said Powerade governor JB Baylon. “You won’t believe what we are going through.”

Behind the sizzling hands of Gary David, the Powerade Tigers turned what appeared to be another forgettable campaign into one that would be etched in people’s minds, becoming just the third No. 8 seed to topple a top-ranked team in the PBA quarterfinals. With two victories over the heavily-favored B-MEG Llamados, Powerade made it to the semifinals of a PBA tournament for the first time since 2004.

And the Tigers did it in style, rallying back from 17 points down to defeat B-MEG in an overtime thriller in the second game of the series.


 
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DESPITE what he deemed as an affront to his team Gary David seemed intent on just coasting along Sunday evening. 

Then came an incident that banished a teammate and fired him up for good. 

The result was David exploding for 37 points, lifting Powerade past B-MEG for the second straight game 131-123 in overtime to crash the semifinals of the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.  

David scattered 23 of his points in the fourth period and overtime to lead the Tigers' charge from being No. 8 at the end of eliminations and past the top-seeded Lllamados to arrange a best-of-seven semis duel with either Barangay Ginebra or Rain or Shine.



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