MBA race starts to clear

Just as the MBA passed its midpoint, the race for the five-team playoffs appears to be clearing up. The coming weeks will show if the teams ahead of the pack have enough steam to keep their pursuers off their tails.

The way things stand now – and unless anything disastrous happen – the Negros Slashers, Andok’s San Juan Knights, LBC Batangas Blades and Cebuana Lhuillier Gems have saved enough wins to assure themselves of spots in the next round. The Laguna Lakers carried a 4-win, 6-loss card into yesterday’s game, and still have at least a two-game lead on the trailing Nueva Ecija Patriots, Davao Eagles and Socsargen Marlins.

Five teams will make it into the postseason of the First Phase. But the fourth and fifth teams will have to figure in a knockout before the playoffs ultimately begin.

What is glaring is how teams have been playing like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Homecourt advantage has never been more pronounced.

The Blades, for example, have had their share of problems with the southern leaders. Batangas’ first two losses came at the hands of Cebu and Negros. By now you would know if yesterday’s games afforded them a chance to exorcise the memory of their loss to the Slashers. The Knights and Gems harshly handed each other road losses in excess of 30 points.

What is really hard to understand is the misfortune of the FedEx Laguna Lakers. The team showed tremendous promise at the start of the season, particularly with the startling improvement of center Jeff Flowers. The 6-8 Fil-Am has scored anywhere between 22 to 41 points in their last four games, and has scored in double figures in all games except one. The Lakers have also seen improved production from former leading scorer Biboy Simon, who was given to wild shooting sprees.

It also appeared that Laguna had solved its point guard problems with the acquisition of 6-foot Junel Mendiola (Pampanga) and the return of a more mature Tec Regidor (Surigao). However, in their rematch with the Knights Friday, the point guards actually exacerbated matters with inexplicable turnovers (two consecutive from Sasuman) and blown lay-ups (two by Mendiola) which cost them the game, laid to waste a magnificent performance by Chris Clay, and highlighted Chris Calaguio’s impressive 35-point outburst.

If Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Davao and Socsargen all stay below 50%, each of them will have an outside shot at making the playoffs. The keys to success as the MBA season winds down are winning on the road and better transition defense, more so now that the blitz three has become a potent weapon.

The blitz three is the new rule adopted by the MBA which gives three points for a basket scored within four seconds of a change of possession (steal, interception, made basket) uninterrupted by a referee’s whistle.

Though the league average for "blitz threes" is about six a game, the impact is farther-reaching. A clear illustration was Negros’ come-from-behind win in Bacolod at Laguna’s expense the other Friday. The Slashers were trailing by nine with about three minutes remaining when Ruben dela Rosa (christened "The Blitz King" by fans in Bacolod) scored on successive blitz threes to salvage victory.

Aside from the extra point, the blitz three rewards good defense, pumps up the crowd, and, most importantly, gives hope to the team that’s behind. Those intangibles can turn a blowout into a good fight, and improve output more than the stats indicate. Teams like Negros, San Juan and Laguna have benefitted tremendously from the new rule, and it shows in the more frequent triple-digit scores.

Unfortunately for teams with weak point guards, the blitz three also makes it very hard to bring the ball up. Trapping defenses have become more intense and more physical, guards are getting bumped more and more, even in the backcourt. You can’t just walk the ball up anymore. Some teams have been caught by surprise, and you can see the results in the standings.

Expect the next two weeks’ games to get even more competitive, as teams try to buy insurance for the next round. The mergers and changes are starting to pay off for the teams at the top, while the teams at the bottom see what they have to do to move on.