FIRST 5: 5 players, 5 tweets

let us look into the thoughts of the players from their respective twitter accounts after their loss to adamson yesterday.

in your pale face, lebrondial (photo source)

1. greg slaughter. if not for today's papers, i would be resting in my assumption that no blue eagle scored double figures in yesterday's game. the big man was shackled in every possession, as he had to earn his 10 points the hard way. that slam over rodney brondial was one of the highlights of a rather lethargic game for the blue eagles yesterday. he gave credit to what was due for the falcons, as well as an assurance to the blue eagles sixth man with this tweet:

energizer bunny ran out of batteries (photo source)

2. tonino gonzaga. the energizer bunny off the bench with 7 points, but his pesky defense kept lester alvarez grounded on certain parts of the game. unfortunately, he did not get enough boost from the bench, only getting 2 more points from justin chua for a lowly 9 bench points for this game. his tweet after the game reminds us that the ultimate goal is not the sweep, but to hang another championship banner in the rafters of the blue eagle gym:

 

the phenom's patented tap-ring (photo source)

 

3. kiefer ravena. the phenom brushed aside a rather forgettable uaap debut in last round's game against adamson by leading the charge of the blue eagles' fastbreak trio with emman monfort and kirk long. matched with taller defenders on the offensive end, he had to take a mismatch in defense with alex nuyles exploiting this especially in the second half. he must have heard words of wisdom from his dad at taco bell yesterday. here are his own words this morning: 

the bacon wasn't warm enough (photo source)

 

4. bacon austria. ateneo-adamson games have been family affairs for the austrias for the past five years. sometimes, we wonder what could have happened inside the car on their way back home, or over the dinner table especially after all the narrow ateneo triumphs in the past few years. still groping for form in his final year, bacon congratulates his dad and the adamson crowd and at the same time looks forward to thursday's game in this tweet:

 

mr. consistent went missing-in-action (photo source)

 

5. nico salva. the most consistent player in the blue eagles' roster was at a loss throughout the game. he went 2/8 from the field (including 1/6 in the 2-point area) with 7 turnovers to boot. it was a truly forgettable for someone who has been uaap's fantasy player of the season. it seems to me that his moves were well-scouted and studied by his defenders in that game. but that defeat for him can be understood as the spark to bring the team back on track:

one final note. every time they come off a loss, the ateneo blue eagles bounce back with an emphatic win over their opponents. in season 71, the blue eagles lost to feu tamaraws just to win the next 11 games, including game 2 of the finals against la salle. in season 72, their defeat to the up fighting maroons also led to a string of victories going into the finals. after losing to the ue red warriors in game 2, ateneo thrashed ue in game 3 for their second consecutive championship. in season 73, they lost to the feu tamaraws in the last game of the elimination round but it only made them better as they came back stronger by beating adamson in the final four and feu twice in the finals. with the final four cast complete, i expect the blue eagles to be back - faster, higher, stronger, and hungrier - against ust growling tigers this thursday.