PBA Fiesta Finals: Express in 6 games

The Philippine Basketball Association Finals begins this Wednesday as the Air 21 Express, appearing in their first championship stint go up against the Ginebra Gin Kings, inarguably the most popular (and hateable) team in the land.

Fearless forecast says the Express will win this series in six or seven games although that's quite a courageous prediction considering the Gin Kings have not lost a game in roughly two months...


The keys to this Finals series:

+ Homer Se vs. the people of the Philippines. Express head coach Bo Perasol in recent interviews that it feels like "Air 21 vs. the people of the Philippines." Getting the cue from that and twisting it a little bit, it will be Homer Se who will be the most hated player (who else, but by the people of the Philippines) before the series ends. Se, a rugged player anywhere on the court will try to frustrate Gins import Chris Alexander. Se, a glue-guy blue-collar worker inside the paint will challenge everyone that gets in his way. How will Alexander react? Or more importantly, how will the Gin Kings react to this guy macho-plays? If one way and another he neutralizes or contains the import, i feel this will be a key to any game in the series. If one way and another he earns the crowd's ire, i feel it's a job well done already since it means that he is indeed effective. In his own little gulang ways.

+ Gary David vs. Mark Caguioa. Mr. Energy and The Spark matching up against each other? i guess not as Perasol sends a taller Arwind Santos in trying to stop Mr. Caguioa and in turn Tanquincen sends a bulkier Junthy Valenzuela against Mr. David. While they won't be assigned to each of the other, monitoring their scoring output will be vital to this series. i expect both to really explode for a game or two and it will greatly help their team's cause for those games.

+ Motivation vs. Hunger. It was a poster from Pinoy Exchange that provided me the idea (or even stated it himself subliminally) that motivation is quite different from hunger. As i stated at PEX, motivation is more of the emotions felt by the veteran team and hunger by a younger one. Ginebra has found their motivation, along with their confidence of course, in the middle part of the season and it's the same reason why they are still in a long winning streak and hoping to cap it off with the championship. On the other hand, the young guns from Air 21 are simply hungry to become one of the elite teams in the league. Both teams are looking to prove something; Ginebra is looking to earn more bragging rights in its rich history and Air 21 is looking to make history.