Fire Burns Anew.

As if last conference's Cinderella Run wasn't enough, The Powerade Tigers needs to overcome adversity once more. This time it is no longer doubters, FB trolls, First seeded teams or sportscasters shouting "no chance in hell". This time the Tigers are against survival. Literally and Figuratively.

With the team's rumored sale offer and uncertain future, followed by Marcio's trade on hold (I don't care what the higher ups from the teams say, this is an unfair trade, and the PBA should stop entertaining these kinds of trades). The team faces a new type of distraction perhaps.

Aided by it's 6'11 import (and one time White Mamba teammate) Dwayne Jones as inspiration, The tigers once down again by a large margin nearing the endgame made a late game rally to win 122-120, beating their semifinals opponent, the Rain or Shine Elastopainters. As if it was the same scenario as the last nail biting semis series.

People were saying if the team got a good post player, then it can address its weaknesses and become a much fiercer squad than last year.  Now with Jones virtually playing a significant fraction of the game. This team is on a better shape than last conference's squad.

Jones finished with 34 points to compliment David's 32. J-Shock Casio scored 14 points, all in the second half.

Semifinals on we go

Now that the high on the historic upset win has ended, the Tigers have found themselves in a not so familiar place, a semifinals stint for the first time in half a decade. Looking at their way is the tough Elasto Painters. squad led by  its tough mentor. Coach Yeng, having coached Gary back in his Air21 days says he knows his strengths and weaknesses. Like a double edged sword, El Granada also claims his familiarity with Yeng's defensive schemes, Preparing himself with a plethora of though physical defenders Rain or Shine will unleash on him.

As much as this was billed as the  hyped matchup between the first and second picks of last year's draft, the main matchup for this would be David and Lee (No, that's not the former Knicks player), 2 main guys, fearless scorers who would carry the bulk of their team. The Painters do have the bulk when it comes to support in scoring as there are at least a few guys that can lead the team in scoring when Tondo's Angas goes out from an off night. As for the Tigers, the 2 Gilas Alumni in Lassiter and Casio would be David's Insurance Policy once he goes on an off night, the rest of the Tigers also contribute well, but in other aspects of the game.

Post Battle

Another interesting spin to this is the battle at the post. JR Quinahan, while ineffective with the tigers last year has became a legitimate post threat under coach yeng, as well as Big Belga. Together they will team up against the improved Doug Kramer, Crisano, Rommel Adducul and (according to facebook posts) Powerade's version of Sakuragi, Sean Anthony.  Once again the Tigers are under-matched on paper and would need to give it their all to neutralize the Elasto Painter's bigs.

Filling out the seats

2 new teams knocking down the 2 most popular teams of the league, the public is wondering if people will watch the series. While PBA's one game a day policy for the semis is good TV wise (all four brands placing in primetime slot). It doesn't ensure to put seats on those arenas. But seriously, 2 new, young teams eager to prove themselves and not included in the local bandwagon.

The matchup will start a couple of hours now. As I said before, most underdog upsets end their Cinderella run after upsetting the strongest team of the tournament, Powerade needs to break this spell.