ABANDO IMPRESSES IN UKRAINE GAME

RHENZ ABANDO showcased his offensive skills in Gilas

Pilipinas’s 70-61 victory over Ukraine’s under-20 team on Saturday at the Zalgirio Arena in Lithuania a nd drew praises from national team coach Chot Reyes.

The potential of Rhenz [Abando] and his upside is tremendous,” Reyes said on Gilas Pilipinas’s social media page. “He only needs to be able to defend better to understand our offense as well.”

A bando, Anyang KGC’s import at the Korean Basketball League (KBL), scattered 14 points as Gilas recovered from defeats to Estonia and Finland during the first week of its European training camp.

When Rhenz gets open and gets the opportunity, he is a scorer, a very explosive scorer,” Reyes added.

Abando averaged 8.2 points and 2.7 rebounds last season when he helped his team win the KBL crown last season.

A bando, June Mar Fajardo, Dwight Ramos and naturalized player Justin Brownlee led Gilas to a close 3331 halftime lead over the relentless Ukranians, whose youth eventually yielded in the last two quarters.

R eyes remained unsatisfied with the outcome though.

“ This is a game we won but it still left a lot to be desired,” said Reyes as he emphasized the camp’s goal of developing team chemistry and adopting to the international brand of basketball.

Gilas will play three more tune up games before returning to Manila on July 10.

The national team is seeded into the August 25-September 10 International Basketball Federation World Cup as host country. Josef Ramos

Suarez fights Vasquez in Oklahoma

CHARLY SUAREZ—through Ilocos Sur Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson and the LCS Group—signed a fight contract with Top Rank Inc. on Saturday for a fight with Yohan “La Fiera” Vasquez of the Dominican Republic on August 26 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

S uarez signed the deal with Luis Christian Singson, Rick Navalta and Delfin Boholst.

S uarez owns a record of 15 wins with nine knockouts. He is the current International Boxing Federation Asia super featherweight, International Boxing Organization Inter-Continental, World Boxing Association Oceania and World Boxing Council Asian Boxing Council super featherweight champion.

He competed at the London 2016 Summer Olympics.

Suarez thanked Singson and the LCS group for the deal with Top Rank as he emphasized his great love and gratitude to his father Antonio, who is also his coach, and cornerman. Vasquez is fighting out of Bronx in New York and has a 25-3-0 (win-loss-draw) record.

inane; the warbling of a hurt man.

My question about The Last Dance—was it about Michael Jordan or was it about the Chicago Bulls?

My problem with The Last Dance is how the writing missed out on key players—Ron Harper, Toni Kukoc and Luc Longley. The oversight made the documentary unsatisfying. So ultimately, it looked like everything was from Jordan’s perspective. They could have added two more episodes to tell the complete story.

Now, the problem with The Last Dance is it had to tell the story of the Bulls from the time they drafted Michael Jordan. If you are going to go all the way back, then you should have included Doug Collins and other characters.

T hey should have concentrated on that 1997-98 season. By doing so, they would have avoided Pippen’s Migraine game, his being bullied by Xavier McDaniel, his being labeled as soft etc. That season alone was filled with a lot of drama and a multitude of sub-plots from the team trading away Jason Caffey to “give more responsibility to Dennis Rodman” to all the arenas being filled to the battles with the Miami Heat etc.

The dismantling of the Bulls should have been featured with the cast scattered to the four corners of the NBA.

I f the filmmakers concentrated on that season, they

P hilippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino praised Obiena for his accomplishments for the country.

That’s very big and EJ brought us there,” Tolentino said. “It’s really an honor for the country.”

O biena is competing against a powerhouse cast led by Olympic and world champion and record holder Armand Duplantis, who’s competing on home soil.

A lso on the list are Rio 2016 Olympics gold medalist Thiago Braz da Silva of Brazil, Renaud Lavillenie of France, Ben Broeders of Belgium, Sondre Guttormsen and Pal Haugen Lillefosse of Norway and Kurtis Marschall of Australia.

‘Sen Tol’ has eyes on baseball

ENATOR Francis “Tol” Tolentino is pushing for a broader activation of baseball and softball games in the country. Tolentino made the pronouncement during a Facebook live while watching a local baseball game in the United States recently.

“ I believe it’s simple to [revive] baseball [and softball] in the counry. Baseball is easy to follow—what we need besides athletes are playing fields,” Tolentino said.

“Schools and local government units could provide these playing fields.”

A ccording to Tolentino, baseball and softball were popular in the country during the 1950s until 1970s, adding that the sports were once widely played in the would have just zeroed in on Pippen’s late return to the season. Because by going back, it looks like the negatives of Scottie were highlighted.

W hile all of that truly happened, that is reopening old wounds. And it did happen. That is a startling poor judgement on the part of the filmmaker. Unless he was just there to please Jordan.

It is certainly false that Jordan and Pippen had a poor relationship when they played together with the Bulls. There is no supporting evidence during that time or in the decades after. All this vitriol came after…The Last Dance.

Seriously. The Last Dance was meant to remind the millennials and Gen Z who is Michael Jordan so he can rebut all these LeBron James talk about being the Greatest of All Time. Pure and simple.

I f it wasn’t then it should have been out in 2018, the anniversary of The Last Dance. So 2020 was an odd year to release it.

D id the filmmaker even bother to show this to a small audience who could have offered their take on that particular cut?

W hether Jordan approved it or not, this is why you need that other voice. It is to his credit that he didn’t answer back to the criticism coming from Pippen and even Luc Longley.

Sprovinces especially in Southern Tagalog.

“ What an athlete needs is training— the skill to bat and understanding of the game,” he said. “The Filipino’s height and physique are ideal for these sports.”

C onflicts among local baseball and softball officials in past decades led to the games’ decline, he said, although Filipinos remain a powerhouse in the region by bagging the gold medal in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

T he senator also stressed that obesity among Filipino youths could be addressed through sports like baseball and softball.

Data from the Department of Health last March revealed that one in 10 Filipino school-age children or 14 percent are overweight, while about 13 percent or 1 in 10 adolescents are considered obese.

W hile I am a Jordan fan (as a basketball player and not the person), the documentary succeeded in edging James out of that GOAT conversation. Let me get this straight too—I am a James fan, but really, as great as he is, he is not the GOAT.

Was Wilt Chamberlain considered the GOAT because of his far superior stats to Bill Russell? Why was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar not considered the GOAT? After all, he won six NBA titles—one with the Milwaukee Bucks and six with the Los Angeles Lakers.

I s it because he wasn’t the best player on the latter Laker squads? Or LA lost in three finals to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Boston Celtics, and the Detroit Pistons?

A nyways, it is sad to see this fallout or end of this relationship (Jordan and Pippen). In my opinion, it has gone past the point of no return with every derogatory and stupid thing Pippen has said. Plus, it is in his book. Making everything worse is his ex-wife Larsa Pippen has struck up a relationship with Marcus Jordan, Michael’s son. The sad thing is—Pippen comes out the loser here. Even other NBA greats have teed off on him.

A s for The Last Dance, in my opinion, it is tainted. I cannot watch any documentary (from the one that was released by the NBA after that season) or anything since without thinking of its repercussions.