2011 SMART Gilas Wish list

Photo by SI.com

As we welcome the New Year, I’m sure basketball junkies all over the country are already thinking about our chances in this year’s FIBA Asia Championships that would serve as the qualifier for the London Olympics. This is the tournament that the SMART Gilas program (that started 3 years ago) was preparing for all this time and depending on whom you ask; expectations vary from winning it all to not even cracking the top 6.

The Gilas program is the first real national team program since the NCC days in the early 80’s, and while we had a lot of success then it was evident that this program will not share the same level of success early on. We can talk about all the drama that engulfed SMART Gilas program another day. In the meantime, I’d like to discuss all the adjustments (from reasonable to improbable) the Gilas program should make in my own humble opinion.

2010 NBA Finals Preview

By Bong Paredes:

In the next few hours, game 1 of the 2010 NBA Finals will be underway and for the last few days all I hear from people everywhere is how the Lakers are a lock to win the title because of the upgrades they’ve made the last couple of years since losing to these same Celtics in the 2008 Finals. While I don’t disagree with the aforementioned statement, to think that the Lakers have a better chance of winning the championship than the C’s is just absurd because like the Lakers-Celtics rivalries in the 80’s, there are no favorites in this series. This is as evenly matched as it gets.  With that being said, let’s have some fun and try to figure how things will unfold based on how each team matches up against the other.

Centers and Power Forwards:

When the Celtics beat the Lakers for the title 2 years ago Kevin Garnett was a monster down low. He (along with PJ Brown) bullied and terrorized Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom on defense while anchoring their offense in the mid and low post. Perkins and Leon Powe were running rings around the Laker bigs mainly due to the attention KG was drawing.

Love for accessories turns into business

Love for accessories turns into business

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Come on Manny, say it ain’t so and fight Floyd already

Photo by ESPN.com

By Bong Paredes:

After soundly beating one of the toughest welterweights of this era in Miguel Cotto, Manny Pacquiao not only cemented his claim as the pound for pound king he’s now also widely considered as one of the top 20 boxers (top 10 or 15 depending on who you ask) of all time. He also set the stage for perhaps the biggest grossing event in prizefighting history should he and Floyd Mayweather Jr. push through with their proposed mega fight sometime in May.

UFC 104 Predictions

By Bong Paredes:

UFC 104 Predictions:

Tonight is going to be the first time we’ll see UFC Heavyweight Champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida in action after he won the title against Rashad Evans last May and I have no doubt that this will be one hell of a fight as Shogun will surely bring it. But before we talk about the main event, I’ll try to break down a couple other fights in the card.

Mayweather vs. Marquez Prediction

By Bong Paredes:

In less than 24 hours we will finally get to see if Marquez has what it takes to compete and perhaps beat the best boxer for the last 10 years in Floyd Mayweather Jr. As a guy that never met a fight he didn’t like, Marquez is going to in the ring for the first time where he isn’t pegged as the better and faster counterpuncher, and seeing that those are the main attributes that allowed him to give Manny Pacquiao fits the outlook is not so bright for the Mexican great. A lot of fans believe he has a good chance of beating Floyd and I am not in a position to say he doesn’t because he is an excellent fighter, I just don’t see it happening. These same people will allude to Mayweather’s inactivity as the possible reason for his “0” to go. They also said that even if he is consistently working out while he was retired, being in gym shape and in boxing shape are two totally different things and I agree. Because even the great Michael Jordan was not able to instantly reclaim his throne after and 1 month layoff. All of those things are true but there’s a big difference in that analogy that they failed to take into consideration. Basketball is a team sport while boxing is not. There are a lot of match-ups aside from Michael Jordan and Penny Hardaway that made the difference, that’s something Floyd will never need to worry about.

UFC 103 Predictions

By Bong Paredes:

This Sunday’s UFC card might not be as stacked as the previous ones but there are a few fights that are really interesting and as Mike Goldberg would say, “And here we go!”

UFC 102 Predictions and Results

By Bong Paredes:

A few hours from now, 2 of the greatest heavyweights of all time will square off to find out who still has it or who needs to hang it up. This might not have that type of stipulation but it certainly seems like it. But before we talk about the main event, let’s talk about some of the fights that I find intriguing. Without further ado, here they are:

Mark Muñoz vs. Nick Catone (Middleweights)

The sole reason why I writing about this fight is because Mark is a fellow Filipino and I got to give some love to a brother.  I’m not implying that this fight is not interesting; it’s just that I don’t see how Catone can even keep this competitive and entertaining. Catone is primarily a wrestler and with Muñoz being a former NCAA Wrestling Champ in 2001 totally cancels out his only chance of an upset. By the way, have you seen Mark lately? He looks totally different from the guy that got knocked out by Matt Hamill at UFC 96. His move down in weight made him look like a monster. I never thought he can be that ripped, and I guess that’s exactly what he’ll do to Catone.

Prediction:  Muñoz wins by shutout 3 rounds to none in a decision

Result: Munoz wins by split decision 29-28

Philippine Boxing Paradigm Shift

Gerry Peñalosa is perhaps the most well rounded boxer the Philippines has produced

By Bong Paredes:

If you are a young and aspiring Filipino boxer, chances are, you pattern your fight game after Manny Pacquiao and to a lesser extent some might say they look at guys like Gerry Penalosa, Nonito Donaire and Brian Viloria for inspiration. But about ninety nine percent of them will almost always look at Pacquiao as the fighter they will try to emulate. After all, who wouldn’t want to be like Pacquiao?  The guy is the best pound for pound boxer in the world today. These days, if a fighter is in the 135-147 lb. neighborhood, and they just got off a big win, they call out Pacquiao because not only is he the best boxer but one of the top draws as well. So it’s completely understandable for an aspiring Filipino boxer to look up to him, look at what he’s accomplished and think that if he can do it, I can as well.

FIBA Asia Quarterfinals (RP vs. Jordan)

Guys like Gabe Norwood would have to do what Sun Yue wasn't able to. Contain Rasheim Wright

Photo from FIBA.com

By Bong Paredes:

This is it! If there’s anything up our sleeves, now is the time to pull them all out because it’s “win or go home” time for Powerade Team Pilipinas. Losing this game against Jordan means kissing our opportunity to play in the World Basketball Championships in Turkey goodbye, so if there’s a time for us to play our perfect game, it’s now.

Keep in mind that should we not qualify for the Worlds, this could be the last time we’ll see the PBA in the international stage as they already reneged on sending a team after 2010, and since this is the last major basketball tournament for that time period, this should be their last hurray unless of course the PBA board will have a change of heart and consider what Coach Yeng (and Coach Chot before him) suggested which is to have a pool of the best PBA players train together whenever the PBA schedule would allow them to so we won’t be starting from scratch every single tournament like this one. But that’s something we should talk about another time.