The title above was suggested by a good friend of mine and I have to honor him. The guy was away for 6 years, for Pete’s sake. He, like all avid La Salle and UAAP fans, is the reason why I write these articles. Good friends, great fans. Just enjoy.
But is it true? That winning cures everything?
Well, first of all, WHAT A GAME!
It was a well fought, highly physical but not dirty, up and down game, for both teams. Congratulations to La Salle. I reserve some congratulations to Adamson though, not because of the well fought game, but because of the comments given afterwards.
“La Salle did not beat us. We beat ourselves”, one article was titled. Wow. The class of their playing and coaching abilities has been clouded (for 7 games running), by comments like these. What was is last year? “Look at the disparity of the fouls called and the free throws awarded?”
Hahahaha. Move on guys. There’s always a next game. And a next. And a next.
What these commenters fail to see is that a game like this actually helps BOTH TEAMS, regardless of the result.
The game was brilliantly played and coached. By BOTH teams. First of all, let’s break it down a little. La Salle’s coaching staff decided to shorten the rotation. Practically, 7 guys played heavy minutes. Adamson, on the other hand, expanded theirs, typical Franz Pumaren personnel genius, by always putting in 4 veterans and one seldom used player, and switching up point guards to confuse our defense.
As you saw, it resulted into a highly competitive, defensive, low scoring game (overtime score was at 64 all).This was Loiue Gonzales’ genius moments. The fourth quarter comeback.
But since we had the momentum of coming from behind in regulation play, we had the energy and adrenaline to carry that into a nine point lead late into overtime play.
Then the Franz Pumaren late game defensive genius moments. He capitalized on the fatigue factor of our players, kept on sending in fresh legs, and employed his vaunted press. He funneled the ball to the bigs and forced them to dribble. Result: we still almost lost the game, didn’t we?
Going back to the title choice. Winning Cures Everything? Are we sick? Are they? Is anyone? Hahahaha.
Of course I kid. Kid, este, Kib Montalbo that is. Speaking of ailments, looks like it’s our free throws this time. Kib struggled all night but hit the two most important ones.
How ironic is this this game though. We won the game via two made free throws, and two missed ones.
Guys, from this game onwards, please don’t look at these stats anymore. They tell the game story, but they don’t necessarily matter.
Look at the entertainment this season brings. Are we a weak team? Hahahaha. We are only one game behind three joint leaders. We are only one game ahead of 2 chasers outside the top 4. Any win or loss, at anyday, can drastically affect ones team standings.
Anybody can beat anybody. Heck, we just beat the number one team per the standings, didn’t we? Don’t you enjoy a tournament like this?
More importantly, take a look at this game. Don’t mind the results. Didn’t it build the character of both teams? Of the players? Of the coaches?
We compete. We struggle. We win we lose. Maybe “curing” is not the correct term. Because after a good fight like this, “HEALING” is more appropriate, don’t you think?
Animo.