FOULEDOUT!

The Ateneo Blue Eagles drew first blood against the rival De La Salle Green Archers in their opening game of the season. Veteran guard Chris Tiu captained the Blue Eagles and led his team for the 79-73 win over the Green Archers. Tiu led the game with 26 points including 17-19 from the free-throw line.

The prized rookie of Ateneo, Ryan Buenafe, scored only 8 points for his new team while Rabeh Al-Hussaini and Eric Salamat each had ten.

Coming off an injury, JV Casio led the Green and White squad with 19 points while Rico Maierhofer contributed 16 points and eight rebounds. James Mangahas chipped in 13 points and rookies Joshua Webb and Hyram Bagatsing added 7 and 4 points respectively.

Head coaches of both teams were slapped with technical fouls due to violation of new UAAP rules. La Salle head coach Franz Pumaren got the technical before the tip-off because he was “not wearing his ID”. Tiu drained the two technical free-throws before the start of the game giving them a 2-0 advantage even before the game started. Ateneo coach Norman Black was assessed with a technical in the third period after “complaining too much”. The UAAP apparently established new rules for the game that the two coaches were not aware of.

ANIMO LA SALLE!

-fouledout

The Boston Celtics are once again the NBA World Champions. After going through an intense playoff battles all the way back from the first round, the Celtics finally captured their gold. Truth to be told, I’m not really a fan of Celtics and I was rooting for the L.A. Lakers to win it all. I’m not a Lakers fan at heart, but I wanted them to win because I didn’t believe in the Celtics. I didn’t want to buy the idea that they are a championship caliber team because of their Big 3. Through the playoffs, Lakers looked poised to win it all while the Celtics struggled to win away from home. But after the grueling 26 playoff games, the Green Machine eventually emerged as the champs.

After watching game 6, I thought the Celts deserved to win. They showed heart, courage and determination. They were in the zone while the Lakers looked dazed and confused. The Green Machine was well oiled and every cog was running smoothly. Everybody in the team wanted to win the gold and everyone contributed something. Lakers, on the other hand, lacked the intensity and aggressiveness which eventually cost them the Larry O’Brien trophy.

After the game, I checked the stats of the game and it showed why the Celtics finished on top. Here are the stats for game 6:

Rebounds

Lakers 29 (2 offensive)

Celtics 48 (14 offensive)

Assists

Lakers 16

Celtics 33

Steals

Lakers 4

Celtics 18

Blocks

Lakers 0

Celtics 4

Turnovers

Lakers 19

Celtics 7

With those numbers posted on the box score, it wasn’t really surprising to see the Celtics finish on top. The Lakers were totally dominated by the Celtics in the game considering the fact that they are supposed to be more experienced, especially Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Phil Jackson. The Celtics just showed more hunger and determination than the Lakers to win the gold and they eventually got their prize. Props to the both teams for reaching the NBA finals and much respect for the Boston Celtics. Cheers!

-fouledout

Boston Celtics‘ road game woes continued when the were beaten by Cleveland Cavaliers 88-77 in game 4 of their second round series. The series is tied at 2-2.

Though struggling, LeBron James’s stats were still across the board. He finished with 21 points (7-20 shooting), 6 rebounds and 13 assists. He also had 3 steals and 2 blocks in 44 minutes of action. James also jammed a thunderous dunk on Garnett in the final two minutes of the game, which became the highlight of the game.

Cavs sharpshooters Wally Szczerbiak and Daniel Gibson added 14 points each while reserve big man Andy Varejao chipped in 12 points and 6 rebounds. Zydrunas Ilgauskas struggled in the game and only had 9 points (3-10 shooting) and 7 rebounds.

The Celts had a balanced offensive output. Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett all finished with 15 points. Garnett, who was selected as NBA All-Defensive First Team, also grabbed 10 boards. Paul Pierce, who missed all his 3-point attempts, added 13 points on 6-17 shooting.

The game was an up-and-down battle for the first three quarter, but the Cavs clamped on the Celtics in the fourth and held them to just 12 points.

The Celtics haven’t won a single game away from home this post-season and clearly they suck on the road when it really matters. It’ll will be a relief for the Boston squad when the series heads back to Beantown for game 5 on May 14^th.

-fouledout