Leo Najorda Shines As Red Bull Grabs Third Straight Third Place

As expected, the Magnolia Beverage Masters squad that battled for third place lacks the armory and ammunitions needed to win the battle for third place. Being heavily handicapped with the loss of import Amal McCaskill due to knee injury, the team relied on its All-Filipino lineup in waging war against the Barakos. The import's loss was felt heavily with Adam Parada dominating the paint and scoring at will.

Nevertheless, it was a better conference as compared to the All-FIlipino Cup where the team finished fifth, having back then other stars like Enrico Villanueva, LA Tenorio, and Larry Fonacier. Ken Bono showed a lot of promise leading the Magnolia Beverage Masters offensive thrust. Samigue Eman, on the other hand, showed a lot of turnovers - something that he need to work on to improve next season.

For the overachieving Red Bull Barako basketball team - Congratulations!

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THIRD STRAIGHT THIRD PLACE FOR RED BULL Barakos get consolation second runner-up honors in win over Magnolia

Source: Philippine Basketball Association
Wednesday, August 6, 2008

ADAM Parada finally came up with the kind of basketball gamme expected of him Wednesday night. Too bad it came too late for Red Bull.

Still, the Barakos drew strength from Parada's personal conference-high 33 points to beat the Magnolia Beverage Masters, 102-90, for third place in the Smart PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.

Parada, who averaged only 16.3 points in the semifinals where Red Bull was swept in four gammes by Barangay Ginebra, also wound up with 11 rebounds, four assists and as many blocked shots while Leo Najorda added a career-high 22.

Together with Cyrus Baguio's 15 points, the Barakos clinched a third straight third place finish that was last achieved by Sta. Lucia Realty (the 1997 Commissioner's Cup to the '98 All-Filipino).

“Best consolation na ito. After our shutout basketball series with Ginebra the least we can do is try and win third,” said Barakos coach Yeng Guiao. “This makes us consistent with our finishes the whole season and it's not bad for a team like ours. Okay na rin ito.”

The victory is made extra special since Magnolia Beverage Masters, formerly known as San Miguel Beer, is the league's winningest with 17 titles and also has the most second runner-up honors with 14.

A 15th was denied, despite Kenneth Bono's career gamme of 15 points and 11 rebounds that led four other Magnolia Beverage Masters who chipped in at least 10 points each.

A very big factor for the Barakos was Magnolia Beverage Masters import Amal McCaskill seeing very limited action due to reported injuries on both knees. He started the gamme but was taken out after only first five minutes, contributing nothing.

Guiao said it is now a matter of renewing the basketball contracts of most of their seven players with expiring pacts and looking forward to their preparations for the coming season that starts October 4.

Guiao revealed that the basketball contracts of Baguio, Mike Hrabak, Topex Robinson, Warren Ybanez and Carlo Sharma are sure to be renewed.

“They're already done deals in principle,” he said. “But first, we have to study the basketball draft prospects because we have a first round pick,” said Guiao, whose basketball team picks ninth overall.

Helping Parada the most in the third period was Baguio's 10 points and Celino Cruz's six which allowed the Barakos to outscore the Beveerage Masters 37-27 to go up by 85-70.

Parada already had 18 points and eight rebounds and Najorda 15 in the first half as Red Bull tried to impose its will in the early goings against a Magnolia Beverage Masters squad that showed a lot of grit despite playing all-Filipino for majority of the basketball gamme.

In fact, the Magnolia Beverage Masters managed to hold their own against the Barakos and even came clambering back from a 70-86 deficit to make it a very manageable 82-86, still plenty of time left.

Behind Parada's steady basketball play and significant contributions from Kiko Adriano, Red Bull quickly re-organized and countered with an 8-0 surge to make it a more comfortable 94-82 count, still 6:14 to go.

Magnolia Beverage Masters would come no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

It was a much tighter contest in the first half, where the Magnolia Beverage Masters jumped the gun on the Barakos for two nine-point leads and kept within striking distance 43-48 at the half.

Mike Cortez and Danny Seigle each had eight points after the first two quarters.

Even rookie Jonas Villanueva chipped in five points in the second quarter, all coming during an 8-2 run that gave Magnolia Beverage Masters its second nine-point lead of the gamme 33-24, 10:21 to go before the break.

But Red Bull simply would not be denied and applied more pressure in the latter part of the quarter and throughout most of the third.

Before Magnolia Beverage Masters knew it, Red Bull had stretched its halftime lead to 15 and to its biggest at 86-70 at the start of the payoff period.

The high emotions riding on the gamme was typified by Sharma, who was ejected with 9:20 left in the fourth period after showing his displeasure on a non-call by throwing the ball on a referee with his basketball team ahead 86-74.

The incident seemed to spark Magnolia Beverage Masters uprising even more as it closed to within four points on a charity split by Dorian Pena. (NCo)

The scores:

Red Bull 102 - Parada 33, Najorda 22, Baguio 15, Adriano 7, Cruz 6, Membrere 5, Bugia 4, Alvarez 4, Duncil 2, Sharma 2, Ybanez 1, Robinson 1, Hrabak 0.

Magnolia 90 - Bono 15, Cortez 13, Tugade 12, Seigle 12, Villanueva 10, Pena 9, Racela 8, Pingris 4, Tolomia 4, Gonzales 2, Eman 1, McCaskill 0, Calaguio 0.

Quarterscores: 22-28, 48-43, 85-70, 102-90.

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Red Bull Barako Battles Magnolia For Third Place

My observation on San Miguel Beermen/Magnolia Beverage Masters not competing for third place was invalidated by the news below with the team garnering 14 third-place tropies - all since 1975. Well, that was just an observation for the past few years. Nevertheless, its still nice to watch and support our basketball team for the last time around this season.

Aside from the being winningest team in league history with 17 championships, the San Miguel franchise also has the most number of third-place trophies with 14 – all since 1975.

I do hope that Danny Seigle will play more minutes tonight for him to raise his morale going in the off-season. I also would like to see players who were frequently benched to get substantial minutes to see if they deserve a spot in the team for the next season.

Red Bull on the other hand, will be raring to exact revenge on Magnolia Beverage Masters' sister team Barangay Ginebra Kings to what they have done to them - a sweep of the best-of-seven semifinals series.



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WAR OF A REMATCH FOR THIRD PLACE Red Bull, Magnolia battle prior to Game 1 of Finals

Source: Philippine Basketball Association
Tuesday, August 5, 2008

IT is quite understandable the limelight is all on the upcoming Air21-Barangay Ginebra Finals for the 2008 Smart PBA Fiesta Conference title. The crowd-favorite Kings are making basketball tickets selling like hotcakes even as Express fans are imagining a king-sized upset in the making.

But there’s one more battle to be fought before Game 1 of the best-of-7 title war begins Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum and that’s the one-gamme battle for third place between semifinal losers Red Bull and Magnolia Beverage Masters.

The No. 2 basketball team after the eliminations which meant an outright berth to the best-of-seven semifinals, the Barakos were surprisingly swept by Barangay Ginebra. It came almost 16 years after head coach Yeng Guiao had engineered the last known best-of-seven sweep in basketball league history which happened when his then Swift basketball team, led by a high-scoring import named Tony Harris, applied the broom on Seven-Up to win the 1992 Third Conference title, the first of five PBA basketball titles under Guiao’s belt.

Magnolia Beverage Masters, on the other hand, lost to Air21 in their best-of-seven semis basketball series, 4-2, despite winning the basketball series opener.

Unknown to many, the Barakos and the Magnolia Beverage Masters also figured against each other in the battle for the second runner-up trophy in last season’s Fiesta Conference with Red Bull, then with James Penny as import, prevailing 103-96 over a Galen Young-led Magnolia Beverage Masters squad.

Curiously, both teams will battle it out for third in the two Fiesta Conferences which followed right after their title triumphs in the previous two – San Miguel Beer in 2005 and Red Bull in 2006.

The Barakos also took third-place honors in the Philippine Cup early this year which means they are actually gunning for a third straight third place-finish.

No basketball team has won third place honors three in a row in the basketball league in the last 10 years or since Sta. Lucia did so starting in the 1997 Commissioner’s Cup.

Red Bull will be looking to take the third-place trophy against a Magnolia Beverage Masters team that will have its best finish this season. The Magnolia Beverage Masters only finished fifth in the Philippine Cup.

“It’s still important to us,” says Magnolia Beverage Masters head coach Siot Tanquingcen. “Besides every gamme is our way of paying respect to the basketball gamme that has given us so much… by playing hard everytime whether its an actual gamme or just practice.”

The Barakos, who have matched their longest losing streak in the basketball conference, are also looking to avoid their longest losing streak in the last three years. Red Bull has not lost five in a row since ending the 2004-05 Philippine Cup with a 6-gamme losing run.

Win or lose on Red Bull will have its fewest number of wins in a season since 2001. The Barakos tote a 28-22 slate for the season, which will mean it will not finish with at least 30 wins for the first time in the last six seasons.

Finishing third or fourth, however, will still be considered an overachievement for a Red Bull team that has lost the likes of Rico Villanueva, Lordy Tugade, Larry Foncier and Junthy Valenzuela one after the other since last year to other basketball teams by way of trades.

Win or lose, Magnolia Beverage Masters, which is 24-23 so far this season, will fall short of its 35-27 record last season but will still be better than its 22-23 two seasons ago.

Aside from the being winningest team in league history with 17 championships, the San Miguel franchise also has the most number of third-place basketball trophies with 14 – all since 1975. (FM)

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