Tuesday, September 02, 2008 Alcoseba: Lipa capable of upset in semifinals
THE battle for the finals berth will begin this afternoon as the M. Lhuillier-Cebu Niños host the dangerous Lipa/Batangas Bara-kos in Game 1 of the best-of-5 semifinal series of the 2008 Smart Liga Pilipinas Playoffs at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Niños, the top finisher in the 13-week tour elimination round phase, hold the reputation as the team to beat among the 13 participating teams.
However, for Cebu coach Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba, the Barakos are the team to beat in this series.
“Lipa won a convincing quarterfinal series against Pampanga and they are the team to beat in the semis. We will just protect our homecourt advantage against them,” Alcoseba said.
His counterpart at the Lipa bench, Roger Sia, on the other hand knows that Alcoseba is just downplaying the chances of his team.
“Cebu is a very strong team, very organized and well-coached—a championship caliber team. We’re looking forward to the challenge of playing them in the semis,’ said Sia.
Cebu is 7-0 at home this conference, winning all of its five games during the elimination round and collecting two wins when they played the Trace Laguna Stallions in Games 1 and 2 of the quarterfinal round.
However, Lipa/Batangas eliminated a tougher team, the Pampanga Buddies, which was earlier considered to be a finals-bound squad.
Lipa defeated the Buddies, 3-1, in their own series.
Meanwhile Alcoseba thinks the Barakos are capable of pulling surprises even at the hostile turf just as when they defeated Pampa-nga, 91-85, in Game 1 at the Buddies homecourt.
Today, Alcoseba will rely on the guns of his dangerous trio—Marlon Basco, Bruce Dacia and Stephen Padilla—and the rest of the bench to deliver the win. (RCM)
