The WNCAA Girls Division
dhe Suns may not e a playoff contender this season ut they sure would e o er the ne t years with a young solid group of players.
The Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers opened the National Basketball Association’s 2018-2019 season this week, Palawan. The Celtics emerged victorious as they dominated the Sixers 105-87. What made the C’s click? This team is solid across positions. They have an all-star calibre wing rotation in Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, and Gordon Hayward. Each player is capable of a 20 point night. An equally explosive guard trio in Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier ensures steady stewardship across all four quarters. Boston also has a solid wall of post defenders and players in Marcus Morris, Al Horford and Aaron Baynes. This rotation guarantees that the Celtics have a good post presence at any point of the game. This core of nine players spelled doom for the young Sixers squad who experimented a bit by adjusting their starting line-up putting in Markielle Fultz while moving veteran JJ Redick off the bench. This move is very obvious: they need to build their future and putting Fultz in the starting roster will help speed up his proficiency in the NBA. Despite the loss, Philadelphia continued to see great performance from big man Joel Embiid and point forward Ben Simmons as they topped the Sixers in scoring with 23 and 19 points respectively. The Celtics had good balanced scoring led by Tatum’s 23 point output. This season is still very young but if I were to gauge opening day week victories thus far, I see some teams live up to their high expectations on paper: The Milwaukee Bucks – oh how tall they are. Bannered by Brook Lopez (7’0) and Gianis “The Greek Freak” Antetokounmpo (6’11), the Bucks won over the Charlotte Hornets 113-112. The end result was tight but I saw their potential in the first quarter as they evolved into a 3-point shooting team with 6 shots made. Head coach Mike Budenholzer did a good job in training camp here San Antonio Spurs – still a dominant force in the West. Their opening game saw new player Demar Derozan hit a game high 28 points over equally talented, but young, Minnesota Timberwolves. Coach Greg Popovich continues to prove that his system stands the test of time as they always manage to win despite the exits of key players… this season they lost 3 All Stars in Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard The Dubs – as expected… Nothing much to say about a team that has it all. Their top 3 players in Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry can easily give 70 points combined on any given night The Promise of the Phoenix Suns I mentioned in my last article that I was on a business summit in Phoenix last week. Let me set time to provide my insights on their opening day win against Dallas the other day. Devin Booker is an All Star. Scoring 35 points on opening night is unimaginable for someone who just got off hand surgery and was not even able to participate in training camp. The Suns’ investment on Booker was a no brainer. The kid is extremely talented and has also added a new feather on his cap… He can now play point guard. Imagine the age of position-less basketball where 6’6 or even 6’10 players can run and orchestrate the team’s offense. Booker will have a grand time facilitating and scoring the basketball specially when surrounded by potent scorers in newly signed Jamal Crawford, 3 and D veteran Trevor Ariza and rookie sensation and the number 1 overall draft pick of 2018, DeAndre Ayton (7’1). The Suns may not be a playoff contender this season but they sure would be over the next 2-3 years with a young solid group of players. Electronic Dance at the Subaraw Festival Make sure to book your tickets early folks! Expect tourists from all over to troop to Puerto Princesa on the first week of November. Our SUBARAW Festival atmosphere is starting to pick up! Watch the dates: November 9-11, 2018. DeF Electronic Dance Party…. See you there! (The writer is a senior leader of the only Business Process Outsourcing company in Puerto Princesa. He also is the current Puerto Princesa Underground River Festival Foundation President. Watch out for this year’s bigger and grander festivities promoting bio-diversity and our heritage sites)