One-on-One with Clyde "The Glide" Drexler

SMOOTH: (adjective) - free from difficulties or impediments; even and uninterrupted in flow or flight; excessively and often artfully suave <he is a smooth operator>.

That's how I would describe Clyde the Glide's game: silky smooth. Whether he's pulling up from 15 feet to drain jumpers over defenders, or when he's effortlessly gliding to the basket for another signature tomahawk poster, Clyde Drexler makes basketball look effortless, it's unfair.

The 6'7" former Portland Trailblazer and Houston Rocket talks a smooth game too. Oooooweeee look out now. The guy dishes puns and punchlines the way he broke ankles and swished J's during his playing days.

Among all the NBA stars and legends I've met, The Glide is by far the humblest one of em. Kobe was cheerful but you could feel that he could switch to killer mode when provoked on the court, Gary Payton talked and goofed around a LOT, Tim Hardaway was fun as heck. Clyde's different in that he speaks of his experiences with tempered nostalgia, always careful to point out how much he respected the game, his teammates and ESPECIALLY his opponents. 

He smiled as I asked him about the talented Trailblazers of the late 80s to the early 90s. "Kevin Duckworth and Terry Porter were some fine teammates. Them, Jerome Kersey, I truly enjoyed playing the game with those guys and I hope they enjoyed playing with me."

He lights up even brighter as he recounts his 1992 Dream Team experience. "That was one of my ultimate experiences, to be on a team with superstars like Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, and we won the gold medal. It was an honor for me to be part of the team."

On reviving Phi Slamma Jamma as he teamed up with Hakeem Olajuwon during the Rockets' '95 title run: "Hakeem's one of my best friends, and it really made me happy to be able to play with him and win a title."

But if you ask the Glide, it's not so much the accolades he racked up - 10-time All Star, NBA Champion, Olympic Gold medalist, one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players - that makes him happily look back at his career, but it was every single day he put on the number 22 and went out to play the game that he loved with every single bit of his being. "Everytime I put my jersey on, I went out there and did my best, because I was doing what I loved. How many people can say that? The best thing about my playing days are those playing days, every single day that I went out to do what I love, and that's to play basketball".

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RIVALRY BREWING: ATENEO VS FEU

               ONE of my sportswriting heroes Rick Olivares called it first: there has been a rivalry brewing the last few years in college basketball. Loyola's high-flying Blue Eagles vs Morayta's fearsome Tamaraws. While not as ballyhooed as the former's age old rivalry from Taft Avenue, Ateneo vs FEU has been there the last few years. I remember Leo Avenido and company denying Rico Villanueva's Eagles a trip to the finals in 2000, Gerard Jones and Cesar Catli punishing the Rich Alvarez and Wesley Gonzales led Eagles in the 2003 finals from inside and out, then there was LA Tenorio and Japeth Aguilar joining forces to overcome Arwind Santos' Tams in 2005, JC Intal's dagger in the hearts of Jonas Villanueva's squad in 2006 to deny them entrance to the Final 4, and don't get me started on the 33 point, 21 rebound game of Rabeh Al Hussaini in a loss to Mark Barroca's Tams. Each of these games, classics, I tell ya.


And so here we are again, Ateneo vs FEU for collegiate basketball's premiere prize. Last year FEU decimated the league with UAAP MVP RR Garcia and bruising big Reil Cervantes, Aldrech Ramos, and top rook Terrence Romeo, while Ateneo relied on the teamwork and execution of rising stars Nico Salva, Justin Chua, Kirk Long, and eventual finals MVP Ryan Buenafe. The Eagles put on a clinic on the court, sweeping Morayta's goliaths with championship savvy. This time around, it's Ateneo with the regular season romp and FEU rounding out into form deep in the season. Who shall seize basketball immortality?


CENTER: Ateneo has a mix of bigs who can provide power (Slaughter), savvy (Chua), toughness (Golla), and defense (Erram). That, and the best big man coach in the land. Coach Norman Black's staple in his gameplan has always been that tough, strapping big to anchor the paint the best way he knows how. While each center has specialties and weaknesses, Coach Norman has the luxury of swapping bigs, depending on what skill set the game requires.


FEU will have the comebacking Pipo Noundou to help out the athletic Russell Escoto, 6'10" Chris Sentcheu, and Clarence Foronda. Aldrech Ramos will also play center when needed. While Coach Bert Flores' bigs aren't exactly Mythical Five members, they are long, athletic, and utterly dedicated to do the dirty work required to free up their guards, where most of the offensive production comes from.

It will be a tall order to stop Ateneo's bigs, but if focused and if they attack with energy, FEU has a chance to dominate the paint for good stretches.

Still, advantage ATENEO.

FORWARDS: Kobe Bryant-trained fanboy Nico Salva has been balling absolutely out of his mind. Save for a couple games when he went cold, Ateneo's Venomenon has been playing at an All-Star veteran level, draining jumpers, scoring in the paint, slashing to the hoop, consistently up the leaderboard with star rooks Slaughter and Keifer Ravena. Kirk Long, as always, reliable on both ends on the floor, locking up opposing scorers and turning on the jets for fastbreak layups. Bash brothers Bacon Austria and Zags Gonzaga plus Oping Sumalinog have also shown sparks of what they can do on occasion. 

FEU's plethora of forwards, like their centers, do very well as a frontcourt unit. All stand at 6'4" to 6'6" and play tough, hardnosed basketball. Aldrech Ramos anchors this frontcourt unit well, and Carl Bryan Cruz, Mark Bringas, defensive ace Ping Exciminiano and the comebacking JR Cawaling always play with a lot of hustle.

While Salva and Long are brilliant, the bench forwards have yet to show that they can truly pick up the slack when the starting forwards sit down. Von Pessumal and Gwynne Capacio show promise, and will be great players in the future, but they're still raw. FEU's forwards are veteran bruisers, and with Cawaling coming back, the Tams have a threat from deep if he catches fire. Here's where the Eagles will miss Buenafe and his skill set and high hoops IQ to relieve pressure from Long and Salva. The starters have to truly turn it up in the Finals for the Eagles to pull away.

Slight advantage, ATENEO.

GUARDS: Let's get this out of the way: Keifer Ravena, the Phenom, the Blue Mamba, whatever basketball messiah monicker you wanna call him, is FOR REAL. This kid is a basketball dynamo who will be the next big thing in Pinoy hoops. His point guard Emman Monfort has been extremely reliable as Coach Norman's floor general, running the Blue Eagle offense while disrupting passing lanes on the other end. Juami Tiongson is steady at the point, with Zags ready to provide intensity off the pine.

But FEU boasts of the best backcourt in the league with RR Garcia and Terrence Romeo. Add spitfire Mike Tolomia off the bench and Coach Bert Flores boasts of a three-pronged guard attack that is a nightmare for opposing defenses. He has used all three on the court often and with great success; quick, aggressive, and all armed with 3-point range. JR Cawaling, 6'4" and all, if he puts his head on the game, can be a threat at the 2 with his range and height. Exciminiano alsom plays some guard especially when FEU faces explosive backcourt scorers.

Despite Keifer's talent and Monfort's veteran smarts, Tiongson, Gonzaga, and at times playing guard Austria have to provide more help. The Eagles' 3-point shooting has been virtually non-existent as exposed in that loss vs Adamson. They will be facing a young and hungry guard corps eager for revenge after getting shut down in last year's finals.

Advantage, FEU.

How both coaches shuffle personnel will be crucial. Will Coach Bert Flores go big to match up with Ateneo's size? Which guard combo will Coach Norman Black go with to counter FEU's guard attack?

I expect the series to go down in 3 games. Tough call because both teams have their strengths and glaring weaknesses. Both coaches have their work cut out for them in order to compensate for their weaknesses. If Ateneo somehow finds its touch from deep, it'll be over easy. If FEU's bigs find the energy to defend the paint, expect the Tams to win it all. But in my opinion, Ateneo's defense and halfcourt execution will carry them through. I predict an Eagles win 2-1 for the 4peat.

The Exclamation Point: Pacquiao vs Marquez 3

                LIKE any (or most, coz some fight fans enjoy 12-round wars) Pinoy boxing fan, there's nothing I love more than watching my main man Manny Pacquiao blast his opponents to kingdom come. Ever since he decided to decimate a lineup of some of the game's biggest names, Manny's been fascinating in the ring: an old school Pinoy brawler, ready to dish as much as he takes, having the grace and footspeed to dance around his opponent, dropping bombs from all angles. Superwelterweight Michael Medina, Pac's sparmate for the Margarito fight told me: "Fighting Manny is like fighting a tornado. One minute he's here, then there, then there, next thing you know he's blown you away."

But there's this one guy who claims capable of silencing the storm: Juan Manuel "Dinamita" Marquez, he of the slick counterpunching and ring smarts, who drew with Manny the first time they clashed (one of the judges later admitted he made a mistake in scoring the bout because Manny scored three knockdowns), then lost by a hairline in a controversial split on 2008.

When I met Dinamita in Las Vegas during the Pacquiao-Mosley fight, he eagerly told me about what he would've done against the Pacman if he were in Mosley's shoes. While we watched slow-mo replay on the big screen, he pointed out Manny's wide misses on his right hooks and some split second openings in Manny's defense that Shane couldn't capitalize on. "If that was me, I would've thrown a quick 1-2 when Manny doesn't expect it."

No secret: Dinamita would like nothing more than to finish the job he started in 2004, and that is to bring the Pacman down to earth, to show the boxing world that the Pinoy pugilist is mortal, like the rest of us, that he can be hurt.

While Marquez fumed, Pacquiao dominated. At 147 pounds, his hit list includes De la Hoya, Cotto, Clottey, Margarito, Mosley, men all bigger than he is, but he beat them all up. Speed, skills, savvy. Wham! The whole bloody lot of em. Manny should go all Brad Pitt in his role as Achilles and ask "Is there no one else?" Until Money Mayweather steps up to the plate, no boxer on the planet is as feared as the dancing destroyer from General Santos City/Saranggani. Until then, it's Pacquiao-Marquez 3. For Marquez, to finish the job. For Manny, to slay demons from the past.

While Manny destroyed some of the baddest bruisers in boxing, they're not as quick, as smooth, and as deadly explosive as Dinamita on the counter. When you have Manny going all berserker barrage on you, throwing inhuman amounts of combinations, and STILL having the speed to bob and weave past your punches, you need TIMING. Marquez has proven in their past fights that the best way to hit Manny is during those split seconds of vulnerability after he throws a big punch. One punch is all Dinamita needs to get the party started.

On the flipside, Marquez has to fight a perfect fight if he wants to dethrone the most complete fighter in the world today. Speed and power. Heart and grit. Smarts and toughness. Manny can beat you early, outbox you late, run you ragged, and just flat out knock you the F out. At his natural weight, Manny is stronger and just as fast as the Filipino dynamo Marquez fought at featherweight.

Manny Pacquiao said it best. Simple and sweet. "Panahon na para tapusin to."