Air 21 Exec confirms sale of team to NLEX

 

Air 21 Executive Lito Alvarez confirms that their team is up for sale to the NLEX Road Warriors. The team executive mentioned that it was NLEX who went to them and they gave them their asking price. 

Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, which bankrolls the NLEX Road Warriors lead by Manny V. Pangilinan earlier confirmed that they do not intend to join the team as a part of the expansion group (KIA and Blackwater did) and they want to bring their winning tradition from the D-League with their players intact unlike the concessions and dispersal draft to be given to them.

Any team sale would require the approval of two-thirds of the PBA Board of Governors. Alvarez mentions nothing is final unless the NLEX Group announces their purchase of the team. No purchase, Air 21 would still be around for the 40th Season of the PBA.

The interest of the NLEX Road Warriors to Air 21 maybe because of their emergence this season, with Asi Taulava just second behind Junemar Fajardo in the MVP race as well as their semifinal finish in the Commissioner's Cup. 

If the sale pushes through, do we see Franz Pumaren and Asi Taulava somewhere else? 

(Photo owned by Paul Ryan Tan and of the PBA).

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PBA Thursday: Twice-to-beat Playoff Games Results

Thursday, December 13, 2012 is the twice-to-beat playdate when the #1 seed and defending champions Talk and Text Tropang Texters play the #8 seed Air 21 Express and the #2 seed San Mig Coffee Mixers take on #7 seed Petron Blaze Boosters. Talk and Text and San Mig Coffee enjoy a twice to beat advantage over their opponents.

1st Game: Talk and Text (no. 1) vs. Air 21 Express (no. 8) - Talk and Text eliminates Air 21, 105-100
Capitalizing on the end game mistakes of Air 21, Talk and Text pull of a victory to eliminate their opponents 105-100. Ranidel De Ocampo's clutch three pointer helped the cause and with Jimmy Alapag and Jayson Castro shooting on their free throws, it was enough to keep the Express off for them to gain the first semifinal seat of the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup Playoffs.

It was a night that shown Mike Cortez of the Air 21 Express play his best game at 21 points.

The scores:
TALK N’ TEXT 105 – Reyes 16, Fonacier 16, Castro 15, De Ocampo 13, Alapag 13, Aban 10, Dillinger 8, Peek 8, Williams 4, Carey 2, Raymundo 0.
AIR21 100 – Canaleta 25, Cortez 21, Isip 18, Ritualo 14, Baclao 10, Custodio 9, Arboleda 3, Sena 0, Wilson 0, Reyes 0.
Quarterscores: 25-23, 51-47, 85-79, 105-100


2nd Game: San Mig Coffee Mixers (no. 2) vs. Petron Blaze Boosters (no. 7) - San Mig Coffee eliminates Petron, 92-87 (OT)

It took another 5 minutes to decide this game which showed Mark Andy Barroca rising to the test. With Jonas Villanueva out with fever, The Coffee Prince showed that he can be Tim Cone's best guard scoring 15 points on extended shooting. San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone described him as "Wolverine" and truly, his game really proved that.

San Mig Coffee had to face the comebacking Marcio Lassiter who was able to the spread the floor with his 3-point shooting until the 5:51 mark where he had a bad fall. He had to be taken out of the venue in a stretcher.

Talk and Text awaits for the winner of the Alaska - Meralco series (Alaska leads 1-0) and San Mig Coffee waits for the winner of the Rain or Shine - Ginebra series (ROS leads 1-0). Game 2 will be Friday (December 14) on the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Photo: PBA - Nuki Sabio [pba.ph]

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Did Rob Reyes get away with the penalty?

After meeting with the Commissioner, Rob Reyes was fined for P10,000 for hitting and taunting Alaska's top rookie Calvin Abueva.

Let the attached video speak for itself. No foul was called, but eventually PBA Commissioner Chito Salud upgraded the call to F1.

The sanction given to Reyes was for "trash-talking".

Earlier, The PBA office has already suspended Jimmy Mariano for missing the Reyes foul. Incidentally, Jimmy Mariano was a PBA Referee of the Year back in 2010-2011.

Be the judge, did Rob Reyes get away with a P10K penalty? Will this be a cause of concern for the Alaska franchise?

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A Review of the Philippine Cup Format

An inter-intra format clusters the Air21 Express, Meralco Bolts, Petron Blaze Boosters, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings, and San Mig Coffee Mixers (formerly B-Meg) in Group A, and the Alaska Aces, Barako Bull Energy Cola, Global Port Batang Pier, Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, and the defending champion Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters in Group B.

Teams in each group will meet the other twice (10 games) and members of the other group once (4), completing the elimination phase. Fans will therefore be treated with the spectacle of crowd heavy Ginebra squaring off with Petron and San Mig Coffee twice while tangling with TNT, Alaska and Rain or Shine once and vice versa.

The top eight teams based on their cumulative win-loss records advance to the quarterfinals, while the 9th- and 10th-ranked teams get dropped from contention.

Rewarding the top two quarterfinalists with twice-to-beat advantage, QF1 has the No. 1 team battling No. 8 and No. 2 tangling with No. 7 in QF2.

A wringer awaits the four other qualifiers: No. 3 takes on No. 6 (QF3) and No. 4 faces No. 5 (QF4), both via best-of-three playoffs.

The four emerging playoff winners then move to the best-of-7 semifinal series under this matchup: QF1 winner vs. QF4 winner and QF2 winner vs. QF3 winner.

The championship series will also be a best-of-7 showdown.

Reposted: http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/sports/38486-pba-unveils-format-for-philippine-cup

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Trade Sealed: Mike Cortez reunites with Franz Pumaren at Air 21, Yousif Taha to Ginebra

Photo: INTERAKTV

 

Coach Franz Pumaren is definitely the happiest coach right now getting his wish before Christmas, a dependable point guard in Mike Cortez. Mike would come from a trade to Ginebra in exchange for a reliable rookie, Yousif Taha which is Ginebra's call to their thin front line.

Ginebra would be missing the services of Dylan Ababou (ACL) for 6 months, Allein Maliksi, Jayjay Helterbrand and Kerby Raymundo would be coming from sick bay. Yousif would be great as proven to his play in the first few games, but has seen limited playing time to Rob Reyes, who played excellently last game against his former team Petron Blaze

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PBA Trade: Who got the most of it? Air 21, Petron or Ginebra?

KG Canaleta goes to Air 21 in a 3 team 7 man player trade

The PBA on Thursday morning approved the proposed trade featuring seven players and two draft picks among Air 21, Ginebra, and Petron.

In the deal, the Express will receive Petron big men Noy Baclao and Rob Reyes and Ginebra wingmen KG Canaleta and John Wilson; Petron will receive center Magi Sison, guard Paolo Hubalde, and a 2014 second round pick from Air 21; and Ginebra will receive Elmer Espiritu and Air 21′s first round pick in 2013.

Who got the most of the trade? I assume it is Air 21: http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/pba-approves-seven-player-deal-among-air-21-ginebra-petron

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Rey Francis Guevarra, Twitter and the Future of the Powerade Tigers

When you talk about Powerade, the first thing that would come to your mind is Gary "El Granada" David or Omar Sneed. But for a moment today, it was Rey Guevarra who made a trend in Twitter and currently ruled the talk over social networking sites.

Rey Guevarra backed when he was donning the jersey of Petron Blaze with the author

Rey Guevarra, a former Letran standout and 2010 3rd Pick of the Air 21 Express (behind former team mate Noy Baclao and 2010 Rookie of the Year Rabeh Al Hussaini), managed to put up a career high 15 points helping Powerade to a victory against the Alaska Aces Friday.

Guevarra is now on his third team in his 2 year PBA career: He played for Air 21 Express and for the Petron Blaze Boosters until last conference. He was dealt to the Tigers in a 5 man trade along with Rabeh Al Hussaini and Lordy Tugade for then Powerade's Super Rookie Marcio Lassiter and Celino Cruz (now with Barako).

Given this opportunity, News Bits Online notes that Rey, a hardcourt hottie is not anymore a benchwarmer but can be a Best Player.

The scores:
POWERADE 114 - David 31, Guevarra 15, Sneed 13, Al-Hussaini 13, Casio 13, Salvador 12, Vanlandingham 7, Martinez 4, Anthony 4, Antonio 2, Allera 0.

ALASKA 97 - Forte 25, Baguio 16, Espinas 10, Thoss 10, Jazul 8, Dela Cruz 8, Eman 6, Custodio 5, Baracael 4, Tenorio 4, Cablay 1, Gelig 0.

Quarterscores: 24-20, 50-42, 86-64, 114-97

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