China and Russia battle for third place at 7:30pm.

The big show, the men’s basketball finals, will feature World Champion Spain going up against the Redeem Team. The game starts live at 2:30pm tomorrow.

The two faced in the preliminaries and team USA had an emphatic 199-82 win. Could LeBron and company do it one more time? Can they make it to the top of the podium?

Lithuania and Argentina battle for the bronze prior to the gold medal matchup at 12nn.

Congratulations, Gin Kings!

James and Bryant, making his first Olympic appearance, will lead a U.S. team that hopes to capture the gold medal in Beijing in August after a third-place showing in Athens four years ago. They’ll have plenty of help.

Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd were among the 12 players placed on the team Monday. They were joined by Tayshaun Prince, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Michael Redd and Deron Williams.

Gametime is at 7:20 p.m. after the one-game playoff for third place between the Red Bull Barakos and the Magnolia Beverage Masters at 4:50 p.m.

Ginebra and Air21 are motivated to win the championship with the Kings even making two import changes and one major trade to bounce back from a shaky start to clinch the first finals berth behind an amazing 12-game streak.

Ronald Tubid will still be out of the playing court due to injury.

The Marnel Baracael conspiracy theory

For those who are not yet familiar, here is the back story.

Marnel “Mac” Baracael is a third year Far Eastern University men’s basketball team forward. After practice last week, he was shot outside of the FEU Gym while walking back to the campus with teammates Robert Kave and Ron Cabagnot.

Here is the rest of the blog post…

THERE won’t be a 14-game sweep of the elimination round this season.

Far Eastern University ended Ateneo de Manila’s quest to emulate the 2007 University of the East Red Warriors after scoring a come-from-behind 72-66 win in the 71st UAAP seniors basketball tournament last July 31, 2008 at the Araneta Coliseum.

FEU displayed remarkable endgame poise and leaned on the heroics of forward Aldrech Ramos and slotman Reil Cervantes to hand Ateneo its first loss and in the process share the top post together with its victims and defending champion De La Salle University at 5-1.

In doing so, the Tamaraws also rendered Ateneo big man Rabeh Al-Hussaini’s career-high 33 points academic. The ex-Philippine Christian University Baby Dolphin’s output was the highest since Adamson slotman Kenneth Bono recorded the same output in the elimination round two years ago.

“My big men struggle every time they face Ateneo because of Al-Hussaini. But in the endgame, we able to stop them,” said FEU coach Glen Capacio.

Al-Hussaini missed a crucial short jumper, which almost extend the Eagles’ 66-65 lead entering the final minute. Ramos, who had 12 points, scored the go-ahead jumper in the ensuing play to give FEU a 67-66 lead with 47 ticks to go.

FEU’s solid defense then prevented Chris Tiu from scoring the much-needed basket in the pivotal seconds, which cost Ateneo the game.

Asked if Mac Baracael, FEU’s fallen forward, was still the catalyst of the team’s strong play, Capacio said: “I don’t know what it is. Maybe it is the desire and the heart of the players who are working now.”

The Tamaraws have won two straight games since Baracael was shot by a still unknown assailant a week ago. According to Capacio, center Robert Kave has decided to leave the team to return to Papua New Guinea tomorrow.

Kave was with Baracael and Ron Cabagnot when the incident happened outside the FEU Gym along Morayta.

The Tams, despite not finding any answers to Al-Hussaini’s onslaught, still managed to claw back into the game thanks to solid guard play.

After Al-Hussaini scored on two free throws to hand the Blue Eagles a 60-57 lead at the 4:53 mark, FEU guards Andy Barroca and Benedict Fernandez combined to move FEU to move within a basket at 65-66, with 1:21 left.

The loss was painful, especially for the Katipunan faithful, who were celebrating the feast day of the founder of the Jesuit order, St. Ignatius. Ateneo seemed to have the game under control after erecting a 56-46 lead early in the fourth, where Al-Hussaini looked unstoppable in the shaded lane.

Reil Cervantes, who led the Tams with 14 points and 13 rebounds, put the finishing touches on his squad’s win with a two-handed slam in the dying seconds of the ballgame.

by Nelson Beltran

Barangay Ginebra is one win away from tying a league winning run but coach Jong Uichico says they’re more concerned with maintaining their form and winning attitude as they await either Magnolia or Air21 in the Smart PBA Fiesta Conference Finals.

Observers feel the Kings might be due to lose a game, having made an amazing 12-game romp dating back to the double-round elimination phase of the season-ending tourney. Others say the law of averages may finally catch up with the Kings in the best-of-seven finals starting either Sunday or Wednesday.

The Ginebra mentor, however, hardly entertains these thoughts, saying they’re focused on giving their best shots in every game. He doesn’t mind either that a win in the title playoff opener will enable them to tie the Alaska Milk’s 13-game romp established during its 1996 grand slam season.

The longest streak of 21 games, however, still belongs to Crispa which did the feat in the 1983 season. Three years earlier, Crispa also made a record of 19 straight victories in a conference — All-Filipino.

“We’re not thinking about the streak. Our job is to win as many games possible,” said Uichico, the fourth winningest coach in the league with seven titles tucked under his belt.

Ginebra is enjoying a respite after sweeping past Red Bull in the semifinals. The Kings are doing light workouts, not knowing which ball club they will be playing in the finals.

“The last time I was asked to pick which team I preferred to play, I got burned. The team I picked eventually beat us,” said Uichico.

Neither did he name the team he thought they would have a better match-up in the series. “I’m not good at that,” he said.

Uichico said the Kings are determined to win the crown that will make Ginebra the fifth most winningest team in the league after San Miguel (with 17 titles), Crispa (13), Alaska Milk (12) and Toyota (nine). At the moment, Ginebra shares the distinction with Purefoods with seven championships each.

He had won six crowns with San Miguel (now known as Magnolia), is looking for his second title in two seasons with the Kings.

Unbeaten dating back to the elims, the Kings have preserved their clean slate in the playoffs, blanking the Sta. Lucia Realtors in their best-of-three quarterfinals confrontation and shutting out the Bulls in four games in the semis.

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Another incident, the cager and his cruel wife are currently in the US. So the player called the mother to come to Manila to watch over the kids while they’re on vacation. Because of motherly love, the mother flew to Manila. Now, I was told that the cager is sending the mother back to the province even though they’re not in the country yet. The reason- the wife says so. Miserable mommy goes home at the end of the month. Clue: Since they’re in the US, it means they are not in the PBA semis. I wonder why he’s in US… shouldn’t he go to the Olympics 2008 venue instead since he’s origin is from there anyway?