By: Anthony Don T. Marca
Stylish performances
and graphical multimedia effects stun the audience as the 38th
season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) officially opened last
Sept. 30 at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.
Right after the singing
of the national anthem and the prayer, Commissioner Chito Salud gave the
opening remarks saying what kind of PBA the people want.
“We want a PBA that
will offer the best class of sports entertainment. We want a PBA that is
competitive. We want a PBA that is successful in live attendance and game
proceeds, together with commercial success. We want a PBA that is keenly up to
it, to its responsibility to the society, specifically, to its responsibility
as a role model for the youth,” Salud said.
He also said that the
league aims to make the games tougher and harder, without eliciting
unsportsmanlike behavior.
“The competitiveness of
our league is very evident now. The core values must be embedded more in our
games particularly in our rookies who will be carrying the torch of the PBA in
the years to come.”
After Salud’s message,
the governors of each team were introduced along with the parading of their
respective muses who awed the sellout crowd of 18,901. Among these muses are
actresses Anne Curtis for San Mig Coffee, Alice Dixson forTalk n’ Text, and
model Georgina Wilson for Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
Each team entered the
hardwood from the lower box sections of the dome, as they were introduced by
the rap group Salbakuta.
PBA’s new chairman and
Ginebra governor Robert Non led the official opening of the season.
SMART-Gilas Pilipinas,
which is mostly composed of players from different teams in the PBA and the
country’s national team, was also acknowledged for its recent domination on the
34th William Jones Cup and 4th place finish in the FIBA
Asia Cup.
Unpleasant
debut for Batang Pier
The opening ceremonies
were followed by a game, in which crowd-favoriteGinebra defeated rookie team
Global Port Batang Pier, 110-90.
Ginebra showed
dominance all throughout the game by leading as high as 24 points, spearheaded
by last season’s MVP, Mark Caguioa, with 18 points. Their offense was
orchestrated by the newly-acquired playmaker L.A. Tenorio, who only made a
single field goal but dished out 10 assists along with an impressive nine
rebounds.
The
two guards were reinforced by their rookies Chris Ellis and Keith Jensen, who
both wowed the pro-Ginebra crowd by their stunning debut performances, scoring
12 and 13 points respectively.
After
spending more time on the bench than on the hardwood last season due to injury,
Rico Maierhofer wisely spent the minutes given to him by listing a
double-double performance of 14 points and 11 rebounds, also giving Ginebra a
lift.
Willie
Miller led all players with his 26 points, carrying his new team on his
shoulders after their main man, Gary David, was limited to scoring only nine
points with 1-of-10 field goal shooting.
David’s sole field goal was the
three-pointer he sunk in during their run in the 4th quarter cutting
their deficit to just eight, 94-86, giving their opponent a scare.
But
Maierhofer scored back-to-back baskets to lead a counter blitz by Ginebra.
Two
other Global Port guards Rudy Lingganay and rookie AJ Mandani, helped Miller
carry the team with their 14 and 13 markers, respectively, while former
D-League MVP Vic Manuel failed to bring his A-game.
Ginebra’s
win is a good sign of a promising title run by the team after a consistent runner-up
finish in the last season, while on Global Port’s side, the loss serves as an
eye-opener for the rookie team and its rookie coach, Glenn Capacio.
GINEBRA (110)
– Caguioa 18, Maierhofer 14, Mamaril 14, Jensen 13, Ellis 12, Hatfield 11,
Raymundo 8, Maliksi 7, Helterbrand 5, Cortez 4, Tenorio 2, Wilson 2
GLOBAL PORT (90)
– Miller 26, Lingganay 14, Mandani 13, David 9, Vanlandingham 7, Salvador 7,
Al-Hussaini 4, Raymundo 2, Manuel 2, Deutchman 2, Guevarra 2, Yee 2, Adducul 0,
Cruz 0
Quarterscores: 26-20, 55-39, 86-64, 110-90
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