Tigers, Asi out to prove they're for real

by Nelson Beltran
Source: The Philippine Star | January 23, 2008

How far can Asi Taulava and the Coca-Cola Tigers go?

This question begs for an answer as the ninth seeded team, the wildcard survivor, starts a best-of-three showdown with the third-ranked Alaska Milk Aces for a slot in the Smart PBA Philippine Cup Final Four.

Fourth seed Red Bull and No. 5 Magnolia begin their own best-of-three duel at the start of the quarterfinal round today at the Astrodome.

The Tigers are the lowest seeded team in the playoffs, but have suddenly become a team to watch, having gained huge improvement on the entry of Taulava.

"Asi (Taulava) will surely be a big problem for us," said Alaska coach Tim Cone of the 6-foot-10 behemoth who keyed Coca-Cola's giant turnaround from a poor start in the All-Filipino tourney.

The Tigers have won eight of their last 14 games since Taulava's arrival. Curiously, they went 1-7 in the early phase of the elimination with Taulava still with the Talk n Text Pals.

Taulava and the Tigers survived two knockout games against the Pals and the Air21 Express to set up a quarterfinals duel with the Aces -- early quarters qualifiers having finished No. 3 behind the Purefoods Giants and the Sta. Lucia Realtors in the elims.

Alaska posted an 11-7 win-loss record in the elims that included a two-game sweep of Coca-Cola.

Cone, however, insists this is now an entirely new ballgame especially with Coca-Cola having Taulava on its side.

Coca-Cola coach Binky Favis said they would make the most of the opportunity they've gained after surviving the wildcard round.

The Alaska-Coke match-up winner advances to the semis against Sta. Lucia.

In the other quarters pairing, Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao said they're at a disadvantage in the opening game since Carlo Sharma will be out serving a one-game suspension.

"Minus Carlo, we'll have match-up problem with Magnolia," said Guiao.

Sharma was meted a game suspension for his fight with Purefoods' Jondan Salvador in a non-bearing game in the final day of the eliminations last Wednesday.

Guiao, however, is not totally discounting their chance, saying their victories over Coca-Cola and Purefoods in their last two games could provide them the needed momentum in today's setto.

"We'd been on a slump. Those two games were good news for us. I think we've completely got out of a slump with those wins," said Guiao.

The Bulls also swept the Beverage Masters in their two meetings in the elims. Red Bull scored a 107-95 triumph on Nov. 23 and repeated with a 94-88 on Dec. 8.

Source: http://ngetstudio.com/news/?id=3571