Patriots see tougher Indons side

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Patriots and the Satria Muda BritAma of Indonesia clash today at the start of their best-of-five title series in the first ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Championship at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

For beating the Indons three times and topping the grueling triple-round elims that dragged on for almost three months, the Patriots can well afford to be confident in the series, especially with the home court advantage.

But they vow to go all out against the Indons in their 6 p.m. tussle. In fact, co-team owner Mikee Romero of Harbour Centre and coach Louie Alas expect a different Satria Muda BritAma to show up in the finals.

“The finals series is totally different from the elimination, so I expect an exciting showdown and mouth-watering match-ups in the series,” said Romero, who is hoping to extend his record championship run to eight.

The Harbour Centre franchise won seven straight championships in the PBL – a feat never been done before in the history of the country’s premier amateur league.

As the Patriots troop to the court today, focus will be on former PBA Best Import awardee Gabe Freeman who vowed to help the team win the series by a sweep.

Admission is free.

“I don’t want to lose a game, so I want to sweep them,” said Freeman, who averaged 17.5 points and 14 rebounds since replacing Brandon Powell late in the elims.

His match-up against Indonesia’s Alex Hartman is expected to provide another color to what is expected to be a bruising series.

Jason Dixon, the Patriots’ other import, must impose his will in the shaded lane to limit the scoring production of Nakiea Miller. Dixon is expected to get support from high-leaping Elmer Espiritu and defensive specialists Nonoy Baclao and Gerwin Gaco.

“Winning the maiden staging of the league is always sweet, so we’re going to bring our finest game to the series,” said Romero, who also funded the Philippine team that won the 2007 SEABA Champions Cup and the SEA Games title in 2007.

Alas sees no problem with the match-ups, including with the imports, but emphasized that whoever puts up a good defensive strategy wins the series.

“It’s going to boil down to defense. We have to improve what we did defensively in our last three games to win the championship,” said Alas, who is gunning for his first championship in five years.

One thing going for the Patriots, Alas said, is the creativity and aggressiveness of his backcourt, namely: Christian Coronel, JP Alcaraz and Warren Ybanez.

“They have proven their worth many times and they’re all eager to win one for the country this time around,” said Alas of his players who have not yet donned the RP colors during their amateur days.