NBA Finals – Celtics vs Lakers: Who’s your pick?

May 31, 2010 | 12:22 pm | By |

Get ready for another exciting NBA Finals as the two most storied franchises collide for the ultimate basketball championship. This will be the 12th time that the Celtics and Lakers will face-off in the finals. Boston has won 9 of the previous 11 championship match-ups against Los Angeles with the last one being two years ago. Will it be championship number 18 for the C’s or a sweet 16th title for the purple and gold?

Who’s your pick? Vote below

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F50 adiZero, the Lightest, Fastest adidas Boot in History

May 31, 2010 | 12:19 pm | By |
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Today, adidas football superstars Leo Messi and David Villa proudly presented the F50 adiZero, adidas’ lightest ever football boot, during a speed-themed event at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. The revolutionary new boot weighs an astonishing 165 grams* and features industry-leading technologies, making it the lightest and fastest adidas football boot ever made.

Lionel Messi will be the first player to wear the distinctive chameleon purple, white, and electricity colorway during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. The FIFA World Player of the Year says, “I am amazed at how light the new F50 is. I can barely feel them on my feet. Speed on the pitch is a really important part of my game and wearing the world’s lightest boot will hopefully make me faster and enhance my performance during the most important games of the year!”

David Villa, who will wear the black and sun version, added, “Speed is such an important part of my game and I am so excited about being even faster when I’m playing in South Africa against the best in the world in just a few weeks time.”

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No excuses for Green Archers’ Friday loss

May 25, 2010 | 12:26 pm | By |

I agree, no excuses. We lost last Friday, because the team didn’t play well enough to beat the opponents.

I’m not the coach, so I don’t know what the objective of joining this pre-season tournament is. But let’s take a look at 2 scenarios and see what the possible implications are:

1) The objective is to win this tournament – If so, then expect the coaches to play all out to win as many games to get to the playoffs, then prepare specifically for each game to try to win the title. This assumes that the coaches already have a core team in mind. The best players will see the most action, so the rotation will be short, maybe a maximum of 10 players. Those outside the rotation will probably see floor time only during garbage time, when the game is out of reach either way, or in the last few meaningless seconds of a quarter, or when they need a body to foul an opponent and don’t want the rotation players to sacrifice a foul. Our rotation players will probably improve, but our bench will effectively be a lot shallower because the bench players won’t get much exposure.

2) The objective is to maximize the exposure of the players in preparation for a strong showing in the UAAP – If this is the case, winning the tournament will be secondary to preparing for the UAAP wars. We’ll see a lot of experimentation and rotation of players, to give them more confidence and allow them to become more familiar with each other and the patterns designed by the coaches. The downside is that the team may lose some “winnable” games against teams perceived as weaker.

It all depends on the objectives of the coaches. We may want the team to win every game, but if the coaches “must have” is to prepare for the UAAP, then winning might just be a “nice to have”. The proper pacing of the preparations has always been a trademark of past Archer champion teams. Pre-season tournament championships are nice, but the real prize is the UAAP championship trophy. The team will peak sometime around the end of the first round of the UAAP, and by then we’ll know whether this team has what it takes to go all the way.

One possible concern if the team goes all-out in the pre-season is the risk of possible injuries that may affect a player’s performance in the UAAP. Remember that last year, Arvie was never 100% in the UAAP due to a groin injury he was nursing in the pre-season.

One of Stephen Covey’s 7 habits is “begin with the end in mind”. Our coaches have their end objective. How they get the team there might be inferred from how the team is performing today.

Tags: De La Salle Green Archers, Fil-oil Flying V Invitational.

Archers fall to Altas. Was it just Jetlag?

May 21, 2010 | 8:15 pm | By |

With the Green Archers’ shocking 56-71 loss to the UPHDS Altas today, many are beginning to think that maybe the 2-week Chicago training does the team more harm than good. It’s too early to tell, but for some, they fear the team’s breakdown in 2009 will repeat itself.

Last year the Green Archers had a great start in both the Fil-Oil and Nike preseason tournaments before they left overseas. When they returned, the team’s fortunes for the rest of the year took a turn for the worse. The Archers suffered a series of setbacks that eventually took them out of contention in the preseason. The bad luck carried over into the UAAP wherein the Archers finished 6th and failed to reach the Final 4 for the first time. The postseason was no different as they got knocked out immediately by a short-handed Letran squad in the first round of the PCCL.

The loss was totally unexpected. Many were hoping that the team would perform much better after their training. The Green Archers were simply out-of-sync with only two players scoring in double digits. The boys’ intensity on both ends was evidently lacking as they allowed the Altas to score at will.

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Tags: De La Salle Green Archers, Fil-oil Flying V Invitational.

Green Archers learned a lot of new things in Chicago

May 21, 2010 | 12:07 am | By |

Photo courtesy of Martin Reyes

When some of the players were asked how they sum up their training abroad, they have this to say:

Sam Marata
“Great experience. We definitely learned a lot of new things. We also grew as a team.”

Ferdinand
“We had fun and learned a lot of new things.. great experience..”

Nico Elorde:
“We learned a lot of new things and we also had the chance to know each other more.”

Okay so it’s clear that they learned a lot of new things in their two-week stay in Chicago but the development seems to go way beyond the basketball court. Aside from all the drill sessions, the trip gave the team the chance to relax and bond with one another. For this young team, it’s important to develop chemistry on and off the court.

Tags: De La Salle Green Archers, Ferdinand, Nico Elorde

Green Archers return from Chicago

May 19, 2010 | 10:16 am | By |

Photo courtesy of david64 (archerpride.com)

The Green Archers returned from their 2-week training in Chicago early this week. They will resume their preseason campaign this Friday as they go up against the UPHDS Altas. They will face San Beda and Arellano in their succeeding matches in the eliminations. We hope that this experience will make them become a more competitive team in this year’s college wars.

From david64 of Archerpride.com last May14:

We played our second game here last Wednesday, against basically the same team, with a couple of additions, both big men. We took the first half, 46 to 34, but were not able to maintain our lead. They took over in the second half and beat us by 8, 91-83.

The fifth quarter was another interesting match, with Norbert doing well against their big men. Score at the end was 113-106.

Vosotros paced our scoring with 19, Webb had 17, Andrada had 12 and Ferdie had 11 markers. Everyone scored except one player, whose name will not be revealed, hehe. Marata did not play, and Gab had a bad fall, while Luigi sprained an ankle.

Overall, Coach Dindo was pleased with our play, except for a few minor lapses. The boys have adapted to the cold spell we had, with temperatures in the high 30s in the AM and low 50s even at midday. The cold temp started last Saturday and lasted all the way to Wednesday. Its very pleasant now, with temperature hovering in the 60s and low 70s. The team leaves in two days, grateful for the experience and knowledge gained from the time spent here. Tim Grover was with us all the way this time, as Kobe did not need him. He was hands-on with the team and the trainers, and spent time last night with the coaches, too.

Tags: De La Salle Green Archers

More updates from the Green Archers in Chicago

May 14, 2010 | 1:19 pm | By |

As we can see here, the Green Archers have made a pledge to their coach that they will strictly follow the proper free throw shooting grip and form taught to them. Oh yeah!

Here are more updates from david64 of Archerpride.com:

Well, today we finished the first week at Attack Athletics. We did that with a game against a team that Tim Grover hand-picked, the Chicago D & R Hoopings. They were an all black team, very athletic, and their point guard plays in the Asean Basketball League as an import.

The game was close throughout, with the Archers starting red-hot, courtesy of Marata who punctured the hoop with impunity in the 1st quarter, from downtown and with drives to the basket. We took a 3 point lead, but lost that in the 2nd quarter when the Chicago team used their muscle to score close to the basket. The half ended with the Green Archers trailing, 50 to 57.

The second half Webb started to score on drives and Marata continued his hot shooting to tie the game at 88 all after 4 quarters. We actually had a chance to win it outright with 10 seconds to go, but we failed to come up with a decent shot. A 5th quarter was played, with Norbert getting to play the entire quarter after sitting out the first 4. We played an all rookie five, with Martin, Oda, Vosotros, Luigi, Nico and Papot being used in the 5th, and we trailed the whole way, eventually losing, 115-99.

Gab and Yutien were used sparingly in the 1st half, and were allowed to dress up in the second as both were not feeling well. Actually, Gab, Yutien were feverish while Joshua had a stomach problem yesterday and did not practice. I think the steak dinner that Coach Dindo hosted last night cured him outright. Josh was scoring a lot!

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Tags: De La Salle Green Archers

Lady Archers on a roll in the preseason

May 11, 2010 | 7:51 pm | By |

It’s been almost 8 years since the DLSU Lady Archers last won the Women’s basketball championship. Led by wonder twins Jessica and Jessamyn Manalo, the Lady Archers scored a 4-peat during the early 2000s but fell out of contention in the seasons that followed. The team made significant strides last season as they finished third. With a solid core of Kady Wilson, Bernadin Yamamoto, Hannah Viterbo, last season’s ROY Miller Ong plus the addition of talented new recruits, the girls of coach Tyrone Bautista are aiming for nothing less than a shot at the crown this year.

As part of their preparation for the UAAP, the Lady Archers are currently participating in the Father Martin’s Cup. So far, the team is undefeated as they trounced OLFU, The RP Youth Team, UST and just today, NU.

Below are their remaining elimination round assignments:

May 18, 9:30am – SBC Gym – vs CSB

May 25, 9:30am – SBC Gym – vs FEU

Jun 1, 11am – SBC Gym – vs AdU

Just like the Green Archers, the future looks bright as well for our lady dribblers.

Tags: Bernadin Yamamoto, Father Martin's Cup, Hannah Viterbo, Kady Wilson, Lady Archers, Miller Ong

Archers’ Chicago training updates

May 7, 2010 | 12:13 pm | By |

Here are some updates  and photos from the Green Archers’ training in Chicago from david64 of Archerpride.com:

This is the 3rd day of training and its been hard, but fun, according to the rookies. The first day we went out for lunch, but we’ve decided to just stay in the gym from now on. We bring in lunch so the boys have more time to rest afterwards. They’re all excited about shopping, and the Ipad and laptops seem to be the hottest things for the team.

Some of the NBA prospects here are expected to go in the first round, like Wesley Johnson (Syracuse) and Jerome Randall(Cal). The big guy from Kentucky also looks good, as do a couple of others whose names I did not catch. There is a 17 year old here, from Turkey who will be a freshman at Kentucky; 6’10″ tall and WIDE. Maybe 1 or 2 prospects like this is what we need. This Johnson guy can really go up high.

The shooting coach is Tim Sullivan. He’s been working with Maui and also the rest of the team, and there has been a marked improvement in the shooting department. After the two weeks here, our shooting %ages from the field and the free throw line should improve-hopefully. He is on youtube, under target sullivan, I believe. Check him out.

They do weights everyday, and are working on a few other muscles that they did not know they had! BTW, those padded foam figures are about 6’10″ tall, and they have their hands raised. They are used as screeners or defenders, during the shooting drills. Some of our boys are still not in top shape, but the two weeks here will get them there. 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon should do it for them. The staff here at Attack Athletics have worked with our Coaches even before we got here, to prepare a program geared for our team. Its conditioning and skills training, basically, and Coach Yulo and Gel are keeping tabs of all the drills, conditioning exercises, etc., that the boys are undergoing.

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A million possibilities with MI adidas

April 29, 2010 | 8:24 pm | By |
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adidas_04292010Actress Maja Salavador, singer Karylle, basketball star JC Intal, and champion coach Ryan Gregorio got creative with the mi adidas customization service available at adidas Originals Concept Store in Greenbelt 3.

Through mi adidas, a wide array of adidas shoes, such as the Predator PS, Barricade 5, Pro Model Team color, adizero ACE, Microbounce, TS Bounce Commander, BTB LT, and the TS Lightning Creator, can be customized to suit consumer’s preferences and personality.

Young star Maja Salvador chose the Microbounce, which she had rendered in a cool aqua for the upper mesh and mono pink for its laces. Evoking her love for entertaining, the Chinese character for dance was embroidered on the side while “Maja” was added to the tongue of the customized shoe. She said, “I felt like a kid with a coloring book because I got to chose whatever color I liked! Mi adidas is great because you get colors that are not available in the store.”

A running enthusiast, Karylle customized the mi adiZero Ace 2, suited for her high arch-stride. Metallic silver and new navy were the primary colors used in her shoes. “Most of my stuff are pink, even my old running shoes, so I wanted to try manlier colors. Maybe it will make me faster!” said Karylle. Adding a touch of fun, the iconic three stripes of adiZero were painted in acid buzz (neon green). Further personalizing her adiZero, “3HARI,” a contraction of her last name, Tatlonghari, was placed on the overlay.

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