Nuggets survive late rally by Lakers to take Game 1

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman

Richard “Dickie” Bachmann was all praises of Filipino athletes who fought tooth and nail to keep the country’s colors afloat in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games that’s about to end in Phnom Penh.

DENVER — Nikola Jokic recorded his sixth triple-double of these playoffs with 34 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists, powering the Denver Nuggets to a 132-126 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the opener of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night (Wednesday, Manila time).

Behind Jokic’s sizzling start and strong finish, and Jamal Murray’s 31 points, Denver beat the Lakers in the opener of a playoff series for the first time ever.

After a slow start, Anthony Davis had 40 points and 10 rebounds, and LeBron James finished with 26 points, 12 boards and nine assists. Austin Reaves chipped in 23 points and fueled L.A.’s desperate fourth-quarter run that nearly erased Denver’s 14-point cushion after three.

The Nuggets led by as many as 21 but the Lakers pulled within three points twice in the fourth quarter, once on Reaves’ 3-pointer at 124-121 and again on James’ pair of free throws that made it 129-126 with 1:12 remaining.

After Jokic sank two free throws with 26 seconds left to give Denver a 131-126 lead, Mur- ray poked the ball from James as he was about to take it to the hoop and Jokic gathered the loose ball before being fouled with 10.9 seconds left. He sank one of two and James misfired from 3 as the seconds ticked off.

Game 2 is Thursday night at Ball Arena, where the top-seeded Nuggets are 7-0 in the playoffs and 41-7 overall, the best home record in the league this season.

While I am tempted to provide more congratulatory space to Gilas for regaining the men’s basketball crown, I thought we should look into the more important facet of the SEAG results.

Scoring 58 golds - 6 more than last year’s haul of 52 - does not mean the Pinoys improved on their previous performance.

In fact, we can win 100 golds and yet place fifth but will indicate the first four placers came better prepared, better trained and mentally better focused.

This is usually a media spin the POC and the PSC employ to soften the impact of the slide. Sad.

Pinoy athletes entered into a territory and terrain that compeltely caught them by surprise. Didn’t it look like this?

At one time, because the Phil- ippine contingent won many more silvers, they strove to explain that these second place finishes were “near golds,” and if breaks had only gone their way, the silvers would have turned to golds and Pinoys would have emerged oveall winners.

But no, sir.

Golds are golds, silvers are silvers and bronzes are bronzes.

No matter how you stretch the imagination, it cannot erase the fact that the Philippines went to battle “less” prepared than their counterparts.

Sure, we had sure gold winners (even before the tournament began) like Caloy Yulo, EJ Obiena (and Hidilyn Diaz had she entered) regardless of the competition offered because they were individually a (world) class by themselves.

Pinoy sports fans should understand though that in the ASEAN, the SEAG is a sports festival the member-countries created as a diplomatic tool to foster lasting friendship and good will among the members.

The SEAGF (Southeast Asian Games Federation) is the policy-making body and is headed by the host country. They make the rules and this protocol is respected by all.

Sports is a universal language. Believe me that all the athletes shed a tear as they hugged and bade goodbye to their new found friends.

The SEAG is a spawning (and training) ground of athletes aspiring to make it to the world stage like the Olympics and the world championships.

It is cheaper to send athlete-trainees with potentials to get into the national team to compete and discover their strengths (and weaknesses) in the ASEAN arena.

Even if they lose in their first ever international foray, the experience they get competing against their ASEAN neighbors is the yardstick used to measure their future potential.

I saw Vietnam’s rise from the cellar to the top.

They are a fierce competitor. Reckon that stems from their colonial past where they had to violently overthrow the French and repel the Americans successfully. Legions of patriotic Vietnamese perished in their fight for independence and sovereignty.

The SEAG used to be domi- nated by Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia in this order.

Singapopre and the Philippines originally struggled, shaking off each other for fourth, perenially.

We were not so lucky as we failed to snatch the 1991 crown jewel the second time the Philippines hosted the biennial conclave. The Philippines lost by a mere gold to Indonesia (I think 91 to 92 if my recollection is correct).

Anyway, we should not cry over spilt milk. The Asian Games are forthcoming in September. Here we will truly discover who among our national athletes will make it to the podium and rise higher in their respective fields. (email feedback to fredlumba@ yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!