By Patricia Bermudez-Hizon

For masterfully securing 13 wins each in the elimination round, the Alaska Aces and the San Miguel Beermen, obtained their ticket to the semis straight off, and are just four victories away from the finals, and another four from the coveted all-Filipino title.

Alaska last played on January 22 when the Aces (finally) clinched the outright semis seat against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, while San Miguel’s last time in action was during the game they allegedly put under protest because Talk ‘N Text did not have the right (shade of) uniform. That’s 25 days before Game 1 of their best of 7 semis series.

SMB assistant coach Gee Abanilla shares that they’ve been focused on the fundamentals during the break. They wanted to underline the team’s conditioning and enhance the mobility, speed, and agility of the squad. Despite their measures, their timing or rhythm will be suspect till gametime.

“Purefoods already has a high level of intensity and already know how it feels to be in the playoffs while we still have to feel our way. But they had to fight in five hard games so we’ll use that to our advantage. If we can extend the series to seven, it’ll be to our advantage,” shared Abanilla.

SMB head coach Siot Tanquincen devised a 3-week practice plan which was critical because such a long break could backfire if not handled properly. They started off with a five-day break and didn’t practice on weekends. They mixed it up with hitting the gym and doing road work like running around the oval.

But they certainly have reaped the benefits of a lengthy time off. For one, it gave a lot of time for the injured players to heal like Danny Ildefonso who was facing a career-ending ankle injury. But with hard work, obedience and great support (like from his lovely wife Ren), Danny I. will be back in action. The coaches agree that he’ll be a big factor for San Miguel. Shoring up the squad of course is Danny Seigle, Jay Washington and Dorian Pena who are all fully recovered from their knee injuries during the lull. It’s only Lordy Tugade now that still has issues, but soon, the Alaminos Assassin will be available to make this squad even more formidable.

So is San Miguel overwhelmingly more talented than Purefoods? Coach Gee does not think so. “They too have a deep lineup plus they’re long and athletic. They have James Yap and Kerby Raymundo but Roger Yap is a surprise factor. (PJ)Simon is coming off an injury but he could give problems. Rico (Maeirhofer) is the leading rookie of the year (candidate) while Ping (Marc PIngris) came from SMB and is familiar.”

What’s important for the Beermen in this series is to just maximize their talents. “We do have a lot but we have to move them as a single unit” added Abanilla. The Beermen have great guards who can create and spread the floor and they also have big men who dominate inside but can also shoot from the perimeter.

The Alaska Aces on the other hand, had a bad spell after a couple of long holiday breaks having only been scheduled four times the entire month of December and being the last team to plunge action in 2010. Consistency in their game and level of competitiveness was a concern.

Alaska assistant coach Luigi Trillo said that after the Christmas break, they weren’t playing their best ball, which almost cost them their outright semis ticket.

For this pre-semis break, the Aces focused on core exercises and agility to not lose a step. “Number one on Coach Tim (Cone)’s mind is he wanted the players to be sharper so he wanted to focus on conditioning and strengthening” shared Trillo. They also had tune up games against San Miguel and the Smart Gilas team to sharpen the saw.

It was hard for them to key in their preparations while Talk ‘N Text and Barangay Ginebra were still competing in the quarterfinals so they just dedicated a full week of practice for each possible opponent, going over their rival’s tendencies against them. More than that, the coaching staff worked on tweaking individual players and were able to run a lot of intense practices.

Looking at the quarterfinals, Barangay Ginebra had about seven guards in their nine-man rotation which somewhat equated to blinding speed. This is the same kind of game that gave the Kings a win in their last meeting with the Aces. In Batangas City last January 9, Alaska enjoyed an 18-point spread in the second quarter but once head coach Jong Uichico’s wards went into a zone with their predominantly guard line-up and exploded down court, the Kings were able to steal the game from them in the end 93-90.

Trillo pointed out that they’re a set type of offense so if Barangay Ginebra’s guards get going, that means they get their transition, isolations on pick and roll, etc. which could be difficult to counter. So controlling the tempo is a huge factor this series.

The Aces will need to rely on their big men match ups a lot more as the rebounding battle will be vital. Barangay Ginebra was ahead in that stat against Talk ‘N Text in four of their five quarterfinals games which means the Aces will have to find a way to clear that glass.

The Final 4 teams are prepared to wage war to get to the main stage of the KFC Philippine Cup. Fans waited 13 long years to relive the remarkable Ginebra-Alaska playoffs rivalry of the late 90s during the Jaworski era. And also fans are eagerly anticipating the parade of heavy artillery for the Purefoods-San Miguel duel. Let the battles begin!

(www.twitter.com/patriciahizon and www.patriciahizon.blogspot.com)