At the break of dawn

WILL I wake up today at 2:30 a.m., 16 August?

God willing, I will.

I had set up my alarm clock at 2:19 a.m. before I pounded this “koyum” out yest er day.

Or, who knows, if I had the strength last night to soak up watching Netflix, I’d have stayed awake till the clock strikes 2:30 a.m.?

And w h a t ’s this 2:30 a.m. thing I’m so giddy, excited, about?

That’s the start of the game between Portland and Memphis in the NBA restart’s continuing program at Lake Buena Vista, near Orlando, Florida.

Portland will clinch the No. 8 playoff spot outright with a win. Otherwise, the Trail Blazers will battle the Memphis Grizzlies again to finally determine the opponent of the No. 1 Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference playoffs.

And should there be a Game Two between Portland and Memphis, the winnertake-all encounter will start at 4:30 a.m. on Monday (17 August PHL time).

Are you wondering why both games are scheduled at dawn, Philippine time?

We are ahead of the US by one day so that Game One between Portland and Memphis is scheduled 11:30 a.m., 15 August, Pacific Time in America.

If a Game Two ensues, they play it at 1:30 p.m., 16 August, Pacific Time in Amer i ca.

There are so many (4) time differences in America, but the easiest to transform into the Philippine setting is the Eastern Time (ET). So, if it’s 9 p.m., August 15, in the US, Eastern Time (mostly in the areas of New York and Toronto, Canada), you just reverse the time as to convert 9 p.m. ET to become 9 a.m., August 16, Philippine time.

Do you follow? You should, or you’d be left behind in the DepEd’s upcoming distance learning mode as part of the “new nor mal .”

Anyway, how did Portland get this far? Damian Lillard engineered it, scoring 42 points before ensuring Portland’s 134-133 squeaker over Brooklyn on Friday with a play-in clinching steal off Caris LeVert (37 points) with mere ticks left.

“The urgency… everything… just felt like something was on the line,” said Lillard, who typified Portland’s power to bounce back with his 51 and 61 points in the previous two games.

I can’t wait for the break of dawn happeni ng.