By the Associated Press

After blowing several late leads to lose games, the Chicago Bulls were able to flip the script Saturday night.

Zach LaVine scored 31 points and converted a decisive three-point play in the Bulls’ 109-106 victory over the short-handed and weary Los Angeles Clippers.

Chicago trailed by five points with less than two minutes to go. Tied at 106, the Bulls inbounded with 5.4 seconds left. LaVine got the ball near the 3-point line, drove to his right and was fouled by Montrezl Harrell as he scored with 2 seconds left.

Paul George then missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“We made big plays,” LaVine said. “I think that’s what it comes down to, making plays.

“We’ve been playing good, but we just haven’t been able to get that win in the last two minutes, three minutes of the game. Hopefully, we can start stringing some together.”

Lauri Markkanen had 13 points and 17 rebounds, Thaddeus Young scored 17 points, and Denzel Valentine had 16 for the Bulls.

Harrell had 30 points and George had 27 for Los Angeles. The Clippers had won four in a row.

Besides playing for the third time in four days at the end of a six-game trip, the Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard (injury management, left knee soreness), Lou Williams (right calf), Patrick Beverly (concussion) and JaMychal Green (tailbone contusion).

This was the eighth game Leonard has missed. He scored 42 points Friday night at Minnesota.

George was asked if the poor finish was a result of fatigue. “Not necessarily,” he said. “This isn’t new. We just got outplayed tonight.”

Los Angeles led by 15 points midway through the second quarter before Chicago closed the first half with a 19-6 run to pull to 57-55.

The Bulls continued the surge early in the third, scoring 17 straight points for a 75-61 lead. The 75 points were two more than Chicago scored Friday night in an 83-73 home loss to Charlotte.

The Clippers answered with a 12-1 run to trim the deficit to 76-73 and pulled to 81-79 in the final minute of the third on a three-point play by Harrell. LaVine then hit a 3-pointer to give Chicago an 84-79 lead entering the fourth.

In the final three minutes, George hit a pair of free throws to break a tie at 98 and Landry Shamet hit a 3-pointer for a 103-98 Clippers lead with 2 1/2 minutes remaining. With LA up by five a minute later, LaVine and Valentine hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions — sandwiched around one of two free throws by George — for a tie at 106 with 47.9 seconds left.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

Giannis Antetokounmpo displayed his remarkable skills early and often as the Milwaukee Bucks continued their quest to break a franchise record that has stood for nearly half a century.

The reigning MVP sank a 3-pointer for his first points of the game, then followed with a spinning layup, a wide-open dunk and a step-through slam for nine quick points to give Milwaukee an early lead.

And when the Cleveland Cavaliers made it close in the second quarter, Antetokounmpo streaked down the court, received a feed from Donte DiVincenzo and threw down a one-handed dunk as the Bucks began to pull away.

Antetokounmpo and the Bucks went on to beat Cleveland 125-108 Saturday night, their 18th consecutive win.

“You can try to game plan for Giannis and you can try to game plan for a team like that, but they’re very long, they can shoot the ball and they can play inside out,” Cavaliers forward Kevin Love said. “They are on a major winning streak right now and they’re playing some of the best, if not the best, basketball in the NBA.”

The Bucks have won 22 of their last 23 and improved to 24-3, one-half game ahead of the idle Los Angeles Lakers for the best record in the league. The Bucks have not lost since Nov. 8 at Utah.

The streak is the second longest in franchise history. The Bucks won 20 consecutive games in the 1970-71 season on the way to winning their lone NBA championship.

“When we run and our pace is really fast, everyone gets easy ones, and everyone gets open shots,” Antetokounmpo said. “It just makes the game fun. And when the game is fun, I think everyone defends, also.”

Kevin Porter Jr. had 15 points and Jordan Clarkson scored 13 for the Cavaliers, who grabbed a brief lead in the second quarter on a jumper by Clarkson but were then outscored 34-14 to close the period.

The Bucks’ lead grew to as many as 28 points in the third quarter, and they cruised the rest of the way for their 13th straight win at home.

“They’re explosive in offensive transition,” Cleveland coach John Beilein said. “We have to do a better job there collectively. That lead can explode on you in a minute.”

Cleveland, which had ended an eight-game losing streak with an overtime win over San Antonio on Thursday night, committed 18 turnovers that the Bucks converted into 21 points.

“Our turnovers are killing us right now,” Beilein said.

Love had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Cleveland.

Antetokounmpo, who missed his first game of the season Wednesday night against New Orleans, played just 24 minutes, while Middleton, who had 26 points on Friday night, played 23.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

A Dallas crowd stunned by Luka Doncic’s ankle injury and the big deficit that followed was standing with the Mavericks in position to win late.

Still, a huge comeback without the young phenom came up short.

Doncic left in the opening minutes with a sprained ankle and the Mavericks rallied from 24 points down to take a lead into the final minute of regulation before falling to the Miami Heat 122-118 in overtime Saturday night.

 

Bam Adebayo put Miami in front for good on a put-back dunk with 1:15 remaining in overtime and finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his second triple-double in three games.

“Anytime you lose your best player, the way he’s been playing, it’s rough,” said guard J.J. Barea, a big part of the rally with 12 points in 13 minutes. “But yeah, I think we did a great job. Everybody that came in stepped up and we put in a great effort.”

Doncic’s right foot landed on the foot of Heat guard Kendrick Nunn on a drive less than two minutes into the game.

The reigning rookie of the year lost control of the ball for a turnover and limped off the court before going down behind the basket while play continued at the other end. He got up a short time later but went straight to the locker room. The team said X-rays were negative, but he didn’t return.

Doncic was playing two nights after the 20-year-old dazzled the crowd in Mexico City with a pre-game speech in Spanish before scoring 41 points with 12 rebounds and 11 assists in a 122-111 victory over Detroit. It was his NBA-leading eighth triple-double of the season.

The Slovenian guard entered the game averaging 30.4 points, 9.9 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game while leading the resurgent Mavericks to the Southwest Division lead.

While stressing it was just his opinion, Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said he doesn’t expect Doncic to play Monday at Milwaukee.

“If you play hard and do the right things for 48 minutes, you’re always going to have a chance in this league,” Carlisle said. “We got plenty on this roster to win a game like this, even with Luka out. We just got to do better.”

Without Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 18 of his 28 points in the second half to help Dallas rally, but was shut out in overtime.

Kristaps Porzingis, the other half of Dallas’ star European pairing with Doncic, had 22 points and 14 rebounds but couldn’t convert on two possessions late in the extra period. Then the 7-foot-3 Latvian gave up an offensive rebound after Jimmy Butler missed two free throws with nine seconds remaining.

With another chance after another foul, Butler made two free throws for a three-point lead, and Jalen Brunson missed a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

Butler led Miami with 27 points, and Tyler Herro scored 19 as the Heat again avoided back-to-back losses for the first time this season. It was Miami’s first win in five tries on the second night of a back-to-back, coming off a 113-110 loss to LeBron James and the Lakers at home.

“Obviously, the game looked totally different without Doncic there,” Heat coach Eric Spoelstra said. “But regardless, this team, the guys in that locker room, we needed a breakthrough. We’ve been playing horrible basketball on the second night of back-to-backs.”

The Mavericks trailed by four when Doncic went down and the deficit ballooned to 19 in about five minutes and reached 24 in the second quarter.

But Dallas wiped out a 23-point halftime deficit and the led twice in the fourth quarter, including 112-108 before the Heat scored the final four points of regulation.

Hardaway missed a runner in the final seconds of regulation before Butler misfired on a pull-up 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“It’s tough, especially winning on the road,” Butler said. “They’re a good team, even without Luka. My prayer’s out for him. I hate to see people go down, especially him and the year he’s having. I was looking forward to the matchup.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Game Sunday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
6:30 p.m. – TNT KaTropa vs Meralco
Game Monday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m. – NorthPort vs Ginebra
(NorthPort leads series 1-0)

NorthPort continued its impressive playoff run Saturday after stunning Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 124-90 in the start of their PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Import Michael Qualls dropped 38 points while adding 15 rebounds to lead the Batang Pier’s unexpected rout of a Ginebra team favored to win the best-of-five affair.

It was the fifth straight victory for the Batang Pier dating back to when they were in danger of missing the playoffs with a 3-6 record.

Coach Pido Jarencio’s wards kept their surge after becoming the fourth No. 8 team to beat a top seed in the quarterfinals by defeating NLEX twice.

The Batang Pier go for a commanding 2-0 lead Monday night at the same venue.

Garvo Lanete scored 24 points while Christian Standhardinger added 16 points and 15 rebounds in his first game since helping Gilas Pilipinas win the gold in the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

His SEA Games teammates from Ginebra struggled to give their pro team a winning start to the series.
Stanley Pringle did provide 21 points but Japeth Aguilar, Greg Slaughter and LA Tenorio combined for 15.

Import Justin Brownlee finished with 24 points, 19 rebounds and six assists.

Ginebra got to within three 65-62 in the third but NorthPort closed the period on a 13-6 run, with Standhardinger accounting for six for a 78-68 lead.

Lanete would hit 16 in the fourth as the Batang Pier increased their hold on the lead to a sizeable margin that left Cone and the Kings wondering what hit them.

The scores:

NORTHPORT 124 — Qualls 38, Lanete 24, Standhardinger 16, Mercado 14, Anthony 11, Escoto 7, Taha 5, Elorde 5, Cruz 2, King 2.

GINEBRA 90 — Brownlee 24, Pringle 21, Aguilar 8, Chan 8, Thompson 7, Dillinger 5, Dela Cruz 4, Slaughter 4, Mariano 4, Tenorio 3, Caperal 2, Devance 0, Caguioa 0, Sargent 0.

Quarters: 22-20; 51-39; 78-68; 124-90.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Game Sunday

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

6:30 p.m. — TNT KaTropa vs Meralco

It will be the turn of TNT KaTropa and Meralco to start their own best-of-five semifinal affair in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The KaTropa and Bolts at 6:30 p.m. as the two teams owned by Manny V. Pangilinan hope to dictate the early pace in the race for a spot in the finals.

TNT, however, is still determining at presstime if Roger Pogoy will be available for the series opener after hurting his back against Magnolia in the quarterfinals.

The injury forced Pogoy to miss the national team’s campaign in the recent 30th Southeast Asian Games.

But TNT coach Bong Ravena and active consultant Mark Dickel still have enough pieces to match up with Meralco.

Import KJ McDaniels, Jayson Castro and rookie Ray Parks Jr. are out to give the KaTropa the early edge.

TNT beat Meralco 116-113 in their lone elimination round meeting last Oct. 12 but the Bolts never wavered since.

Behind resident import Allen Durham, the Bolts made their fourth straight semifinal appearance in the season-ending conference after dispatching the Alaska Aces in the quarters.

Raymond Almazan is keen on keeping the form that has made him one of the leading candidates for the Best Player of the Conference award.

Also key are point guard Baser Amer, Cliff Hodge, Allein Maliksi and Chris Newsome, who helped the Philippines win the inaugural men’s 3×3 gold in the SEA Games.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Game Sunday

(Sta. Rosa, Laguna)

7:30 p.m. — Alab Pilipinas vs Singapore

San Miguel Alab Pilipinas is bracing for a tough test from the Singapore Slingers as it plays its home opener Sunday night in the ASEAN Basketball League at the City of Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Complex in Laguna.

Alab seeks its second win in three games with 7-foot-4 Sam Deguara looking to make an immediate impact in his debut set at 7:30 p.m.

The Filipino club expects the Slingers to come out strong after signing former Hong Kong Eastern import Marcus Elliott.

Long-time import Xavier Alexander is also looking to give the Slingers a victory and spoil Alab’s debut in front of its home fans.

Consistency will be key for coach Jimmy Alapag after starting season with a lopsided defeat to Thailand’s Mono Vampire followed by a hard-fought overtime victory over the Macau Wolf Warriors.

Alapag will be banking on imports Khaliff Wyatt and Nick King and locals Jason Brickman and Jordan Heading.

Wyatt is averaging 15.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists and King has 19.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

Heading is Alab’s top local scorer with 19.5 points following a 27-point output against Macau while Brickman has dished out 8.5 assists this season.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Nick Giongco

Fresh from dismantling Chilean challenger Miguel Gonzalez in Puebla, Mexico, Filipino world champion Jerwin Ancajas is looking at three fights in 2020 and hoping that at least one of them would be against the division’s top gun.

Ancajas was merciless in retaining the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight crown for the eighth time last Dec. 7 and following his victory, the 27-year-old lefty expressed his desire to take on Juan Francisco Estrada.

Since winning the IBF 115-lb title more than three years ago, Ancajas has yet to take on a marquee name in his weight class. Instead of clashing with the division’s crème dela crème, Ancajas had to deal with the likes of Jose Alfredo Rodriguez, Israel Gonzalez, Alejandro Santiago and Ryuichi Funai.

In 2020, he and his team are targeting someone like Estrada, who have also made his intentions clear of getting it on with Ancajas.

Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. promotes Ancajas and while the Estrada fight is out there, there are plans to pit Ancajas against power-punching Andrew ‘Monster’ Moloney of Australia before getting Estrada so the matchup can marinate and the public craves for it.

Like Ancajas, Moloney is also a Top Rank fighter, making it easy for the hall of famer Arum to sign them up for a fight.

In the meantime, Ancajas is going on a break but will be back in training in the first week of January.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Kristel Satumbaga

Rubilen Amit has now set her sights on the 2019 Hainan Sanya Women’s World 9-Ball Championships in China set this week after a successful campaign at the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

Amit will be using her experience at the biennial meet as springboard to winning the world title which she almost clinched 12 years ago.

“Yung focus ko nasa world championships na,” said the 38-year-old Amit after winning the 9-ball singles gold medal at the SEA Games to Chezka Centeno last week. “Kasi kung iisipin ko na SEA Games, Philippines-Philippines na eh. Baka bumaba ang laro. Kaya inisip ko, nasa world championship na ako.”

Sixty-four of the best female cue artists will battle for the title which  stakes US$44,000 to the champion and US$22,000 to the runner-up.

The opening ceremony will be on Sunday with the competition proper starting on Monday until Thursday.

Amit’s best feat was a runner-up finish in the 2007 edition held in Taiwan to Chinese Pan Xiaoting.

Also competing are former Asian Junior Champion and four-time SEAG gold medalist Chezka Centeno, Floriza Andal and Iris Ranola.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Nick Giongco

Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino is set to fly to Vietnam next month to lobby for arnis, obstacle sports, kickboxing and even dancesports, rich source of gold medals for the Philippines, to be included in the roster of competitions for the 2021 Southeast Asian Games.

This, even as vovinam, finswimming and shuttlecock, sports that are totally alien to PH athletes, are set to make a comeback when Vietnam hosts the 31st SEA Games.

“I told my Vietnamese counterpart during the closing ceremony that I’ll be there every week, if that’s what it takes,” said Tolentino.

Arnis delivered 14 of the country’s 149 gold medal haul, dancesport had 10, obstacle sports six, and kickboxing three.

As host of the SEAG, Vietnam is given leeway to add a few sports to the official calendar. The Philippines took full advantage of the privilege by staging 530 events in 56 sports during the 30th edition which it topped with 149 gold medals, 117 (silver) and 121 (bronze).

As recent host, the leadership of the POC wisely worked to include sports where the Philippines had strong chances of medaling with Tolentino the man behind the 56 sport and 530 events.

It turned out to be a coup that Tolentino pulled off that the Filipino athletes rose to the occasion and delivered.
Every other SEAG nation practices this as a way of spreading goodwill to everyone in the ASEAN region.

The Vietnam Sports Administration has initially approved the holding of 36 sports, including the centerpiece athletics and aquatics, which have been classified as Category 1 sports.

The Category 2 are those played in the Olympics and Asian Games, which includes basketball and boxing, volleyball, weightlifting, football, tennis, wrestling, badminton, sepak takraw, gymnastics, archery, judo, karate, rowing, shooting, handball, cycling, table tennis, billiards and snooker and golf.

The Category 3 has petanque, pencak silat, Muay, dancesports, esport, kickboxing, vovinam, shuttlecock and finswimming.

The last three were not played during the recent SEAG.

Vovinam is a form of Vietnamese martials arts that was founded in 1939 while shuttlecock is a cross between badminton and volleyball and finswmming is a variation of the traditional swimming defined in Wikipedia as an underwater sport consisting of four techniques involving swimming with the use of fins either on the water’s surface using a snorkel with either monofins or bifins.

Vietnam wound up second overall with a tally of 98-85-105 in the 30th SEAG.

Four more sports will be added to the final roster of events, according to Vietnam, which will have Hanoi as the main hub of the hosting. Other nearby provinces, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Vinh Phuc and Hoa Binh are likewise staging some events.

The 2021 SEAG will take place in late-November until the first week of December.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Coach Jimmy Alapag is excited at what new addition Sam Deguara will provide for San Miguel Alab Pilipinas when their ASEAN Basketball League campaign resumes Sunday against the Singapore Slingers in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Alab made a big move last week when it tapped the 7-foot-4 center from Malta as a replacement for Adrian Forbes as the Philippine club hopes to improve on its 1-1 slate in the regional tournament.

“He gives us such a big presence on both ends of the floor,” Alapag said, adding that his familiarity with Alab guard Jason Brickman will play an important role.

Deguara and Brickman were teammates with Thailand’s Mono Vampire when it lost to Alab in the ABL Finals in 2018.

“I think the great part of us that even though bago siya for us, he and Jason have played together for so long. Hopefully that would fast track the chemistry with the team,” added Alapag.

Alab has been struggling for form since the start of the season, losing its opener to Mono 111-76 in Nonthaburi, Thailand before escaping the Macau Wolf Warriors in overtime 114-110 in Foshan, China.

The Filipino club took a long break due to the recent Southeast Asian Games that saw Alapag serving as an assistant to coach Tim Cone.

Alab will play three games this month, including Tuesday’s home match against Mono at The Arena in San Juan and a road game opposite the Formosa Dreamers on Dec. 22 in Changhua, Taiwan.

Source: Manila Bulletin