(From Manila Bulletin)
Game Friday (Ynares Sports Arena)
6 p.m. — RP Patriots vs Satria Muda BritAma
The Philippines and Indonesia try to highlight their brewing basketball rivalry in the region when the Patriots and Satria Muda BritAma start their best-of-five title series this Friday in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The RP Patriots, who topped the eliminations at 11-4, are heavy favorites having beaten the Indons in all three meetings during the preliminaries.
But team officials are not ready to cool the champagne at this point. Co-team owner Mikee Romero and coach Louie Alas believe the situation is different this time with so much at stake.
"The finals series is totally different from the elimination, so I expect an exciting showdown," said Romero, owner of the Harbour Centre franchise that won seven straight title in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL).
Romero also believes that a totally different Satria Muda BritAma will show up today.
For his part, Alas likes the team’s chances.
“It’s going to boil down to defense. We have to improve what we did defensively in our last three games to win the championship,” said Alas, who has won titles in the defunct MBA, the NCAA and a gold medal in the 1999 Southeast Asian Games.
Both countries are no strangers when it comes to Southeast Asian basketball, particularly Romero and the Jakarta-based squad owned by SEABA president Erick Thohir.
The Philippine team funded by Romero's Harbour Centre won a hard-fought championship in the 2007 SEABA Champions Cup but BritAma won in the 2008 edition of the event after the organizers disallowed San Beda star Sam Ekwe to play for the RP side.
The SEABA organizers asked Ekwe to produce a clearance from the Nigerian basketball association which the 6-foot-9 center failed to get due to time constraint.
But all eyes will be on the teams' respective imports as Gabe Freeman and Jason Dixon will go head-to-head with BritAma's duo of Alex Hartman, a member of the Indons' 2008 SEABA Champions Cup squad, and lanky Nakiea Miller.
Freeman has predicted a sweep of the series although the high-scoring Hartman thinks that his team has what it takes to upset the Patriots.
Game Friday (Ynares Sports Arena)
6 p.m. — RP Patriots vs Satria Muda BritAma
The Philippines and Indonesia try to highlight their brewing basketball rivalry in the region when the Patriots and Satria Muda BritAma start their best-of-five title series this Friday in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The RP Patriots, who topped the eliminations at 11-4, are heavy favorites having beaten the Indons in all three meetings during the preliminaries.
But team officials are not ready to cool the champagne at this point. Co-team owner Mikee Romero and coach Louie Alas believe the situation is different this time with so much at stake.
"The finals series is totally different from the elimination, so I expect an exciting showdown," said Romero, owner of the Harbour Centre franchise that won seven straight title in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL).
Romero also believes that a totally different Satria Muda BritAma will show up today.
For his part, Alas likes the team’s chances.
“It’s going to boil down to defense. We have to improve what we did defensively in our last three games to win the championship,” said Alas, who has won titles in the defunct MBA, the NCAA and a gold medal in the 1999 Southeast Asian Games.
Both countries are no strangers when it comes to Southeast Asian basketball, particularly Romero and the Jakarta-based squad owned by SEABA president Erick Thohir.
The Philippine team funded by Romero's Harbour Centre won a hard-fought championship in the 2007 SEABA Champions Cup but BritAma won in the 2008 edition of the event after the organizers disallowed San Beda star Sam Ekwe to play for the RP side.
The SEABA organizers asked Ekwe to produce a clearance from the Nigerian basketball association which the 6-foot-9 center failed to get due to time constraint.
But all eyes will be on the teams' respective imports as Gabe Freeman and Jason Dixon will go head-to-head with BritAma's duo of Alex Hartman, a member of the Indons' 2008 SEABA Champions Cup squad, and lanky Nakiea Miller.
Freeman has predicted a sweep of the series although the high-scoring Hartman thinks that his team has what it takes to upset the Patriots.
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