Fearless Forecast Round 2

Kobe and company wows Philippines with their recent visit; PBA finalists to be decided soon; UAAP and NCAA games underway; Barangay leagues happening everywhere - Pinoys are certainly basketball crazy! Consider this, here in Auckland, with a small pinoy community, there are 4 different basketball tournaments on going. Pinoys truly love this game.
This Sunday will be the second round of the LS Banal Cup. You are all invited to watch 2 exciting games. Mang Al is back selling his popular bbq and other Filipino food.
 
Dimond/Ampelite (1-0) vs New World (0-1)
The New World team looks like the resurrection of the Marsupials. Remember them? They won the championship a few years back and then faded away. Well their back, they have the main players of that team playing together again along with New World mainstays. Probably still needing to adjust to each other they seemed disorganized and the chemistry was still missing. They had their moments, cutting the lead to single digit against powerhouse JR Panel only to make bad passes and shot selections. This team will get a lot better as the league progresses. Once Dillague gets to know his teammates better, Mark Santos gets his rhythm and team leader Titan Sioco controls his players more then they will compete a lot better.

Dimond/Ampelite was lucky to escape with a V last week. Saved by clutch shooting from Hebron Canlas and Elliot Shornack. This team committed so many errors it was like watching a juniors team learning the rules of the game. With over half the team playing together for the first time this team will struggle a lot before it gets better. Losing so many of its team mainstays in one hit was certainly a big blow. New players will need to adjust to each other.   
Two sort of new teams playing with new teammates. The team that gels quicker during the game will win. Slight advantage goes to Dimond. Fearless Forecast: Dimond  by 6 points.


LM Money Transfer (0-1) vs CMR/Manila Motors (0-0)
CMR/MM, the West based team will make their debut this Sunday. They will certainly showcase their offensive strength through their running game. Consider this, they have the Evangelista brothers plus the Eldialde siblings, and as if that wasn't enough they also got back scoring machine Kris Patriarca, last year's MVP. This core group has been winning their games, they almost won the East Auckland Basketball tourney, they came first runner up earlier in the year. During the Ambassador's Cup they won all their games and defeated Wellington in the finals. Nakakatakot ang team na ito (This team is scary!)!. They can out run; out hustle; out shoot any team. As we have previously said, this is the team to beat, expected this team to go all the way to the finals.

LM Money Transfer will re-group after their first game last week. They played well for most parts of the game and could have scored an upset. They just had some lapses when they allowed themselves to commit errors and violations when they were pressed (full court). They certainly showed they can score reaching 101 points last Saturday. For them to win against CMR, they will need to play more cohesively and have lesser turnovers.

CMR/MM is expected to win this one. And since it is their first game expect them to make a statement and win big. CMR will be too fast and too quick for the Money Transferers composed of veterans. Fearless Forecast: CMR/MM by 14 points.

Remember guys, see you at the games and bilog ang bola!!!