THERE were endgame anxieties, but the Ateneo Blue Eagles looked more at ease in their match against the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors that resulted in a 77-72 victory, their third straight win after the opening day loss, to give them a 3-1 record.
I thought they played much better against UE than in their outing against National University (NU). This despite playing three games in a week. For this we must lead off by giving credit to the coaching staff as the team looked more relaxed and that there was a method to what they wanted to do, rather than force the issue on things. Good job.
For one the ball flowed, moved around better.
In that opening possession, Ponso Gotladera attacked the basket. It is good to show that kind of attacking intent as it will give opponents more cause to keep the opponent’s defense honest, rather than cheat on double teams.
I got the sense that the Blue Eagles were more composed and in better control. Even at the height of the UE rally, they were fine. And in a game where they could have been tired, they came out smoking.
Save for a few instances, they handled UE’s press better than any other team. Not many of the 17 points UE scored off turnovers came off that dreaded press.
The Blue Eagles got a lot of contributions from a lot of people. Von Pessumal rebounded from a poor shooting day against NU to lead the team in scoring with 21 points.
They made better decisions in shooting the ball leading to better percentages:
Von Pessumal 7/14 field goal (FG) – 50 percent
Ponso Gotladera 3/5 FG – 60 percent
Chibueze Ikeh 2/4 FG – 50 percent (to go with 12 rebounds with five offensive boards)
John Apacible 3/3 FG -100 percent
Two others—GBoy Babilonia and Gwyne Capacio—made their only shot attempts of the game.
And then there’s Kiefer Ravena with a near triple double of 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. That fade away shot over Paul Varilla to give the Blue Eagles a little more cushion in the endgame—nasty! Incredible shot. He is clutch.
Right now, Ateneo is fourth in bench production (behind University of the Philippines (UP), Far Eastern University (FEU) and UE) with 29.5 points, and that shows the quality of the bench that has a lot of blue chip players who just need to soak in more experience before they can really flash that deadly form.
The last two games showed a willingness by Ateneo to mix it up inside:
Versus NU, 36 inside points (NU had 38) and 16 perimeter points
Versus UE, 32 inside points (UE had 30) and 26 perimeter points
This is their first game where they had fewer than 50 jumpshots with 48.
That will give the outside shooters more room and better spacing to get those shots.
With Ikeh, Gotladera, Apacible and Babilonia doing their part, they are making it harder for opponents to bear down on Ravena and Pessumal.
One key to all three victories, thus far, has been rebounding.
47-42 versus Adamson
57-46 versus NU
50-39 versus UE
During the loss to FEU, the Tamaraws had the edge 46-40.
Incredibly Ateneo grabbed more offensive rebounds in all four games, the FEU match included.
11-10 versus FEU (scoring five second-chance points)
19-18 versus Adamson (scoring 10 second-chance points)
32-13 versus NU (scoring 21 second-chance points)
20-15 versus UE (scoring 24 second-chance points)
Another point, Ateneo struggles against teams that employ the dribble-drive offense or have a system of play in place (FEU and NU) as opposed to teams that just play a lot of motion (Adamson and UE). That should change as Ikeh is emerging and getting better with every outing.
I like how when he challenges players on the outside that he is very conscious of keeping that arm extended and not stepping into the jumpshooter’s cylindrical space, and that he quickly rotates back inside.
When he learns not to bite on every pump fake, he will be swatting and altering more shots.
While he was on Team B, I saw him throw some hooks and even nail that medium range jumper. If he knocks that down then he learns to finish strong around the basket…watch out. It is an understatement that he will be key to Ateneo’s Final Four aspirations.
What can be improved?
The defense. It is not yet on lockdown mode, but they are getting there. At least for a day, the Blue Eagles climbed out of No. 7 in the defensive rankings to go up to No. 6.
How about UE?
UE showed how dangerous it could be even with Edson Batiller sitting down for a long spell due to foul trouble. They got key contributions from several players in their last ditch rally—Edgar Charcos, Fran Yu and Clark Derige.
Batiller came back and immediately lit the scoreboard by attacking the basket. That’s a good way to get your rhythm. He has finally accepted the role of UE’s top gun and it now shows. And the frightening thing is—he is getting better.
Chris Javier is finally enjoying more consistency. It is his final year and he has to make an impact if he is looking to go in the next Philippine Basketball Association Draft. He is second in the team scoring with 11.0 points per game (ppg) next to Batiller’s 20.0 ppg.
So that you know, UE’s Chris Javier and Ateneo’s Gotladera were teammates in San Beda (with Baser Amer). Gotladera started while Javier came off the bench for him. There were occasions when they were paired together. I thought that Ponso was better in and around the basket while Javier had that medium range jumper going for him (he does occasionally hit the three ball).
They just need Renz Palma and Paul Varilla (not to mention Philip Manalang) to contribute more and to be more consistent (although it is good to see Clark Derige step up in the last two matches). The Red Warriors can defend, but they have trouble when they get into an early hole as they come up short in their rally (see the UP match). But if they are steady (see the matches against Adamson and NU) they can hold. Palma is especially befuddling because of his talent. He is scoring a paltry 5.8 ppg (aside from his 4 rebounds and 4 assists per outing). He could be what Ed Daquioag is to UST.
The onus on UE’s coaching staff to get Palma going because he can make things happen on both ends of the floor for UE.