2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup

[Sanitough]

Finally, after some games where SMB struggled, they are now back in the PBA Finals.

According to the website (https://pba.ph/), the first game will be this coming Saturday.
Game on guys, I'm excited because I was able to put my bet on the series.

Good luck to us.

It's going to be on Sunday Aug. 21 Kabayan, it would be a nice one to expect since both teams are trying to win these finals, I like to see how Fajardo and the rest of the SMB squad to compete against the dominating TNT, it's really something that fans will love seeing both teams will come up with good plays and hard defense. Still Fajardo as the main gun of SMB while TNT will use their advantage using all their guards and will continue to attack outside and run with the ball, a classic Chot Reyes system.

My bad, sorry, I know it's 21 but I misslooked the day, hehe.. It's Sunday, right.
Well, this one is going to be an interesting game, game 1 is the most important as in the semi finals, the team that won in game 1 won the series, so I like SMB to get the lead first in the series.

Well, just a meme here. let see what Choke Reyes will bring here before FIBA games maybe he will upgrade the dribble shot system and we will be able to witness that during the finals, I mean the execution of that play.

Chot already won a championship when he comes back coaching in the PBA, but this time it's different as we have a healthy JMF.

[Yamifoud]

Chot already won a championship when he comes back coaching in the PBA, but this time it's different as we have a healthy JMF.

Indeed, this would not be an easy one as we've seen in their last meeting where SMB was able to limit Mikey Williams and beat them with a huge margin, if they can do that again, well, I would say that SMB has a better chance of winning and JMF might win a BPC and Finals MVP.

[Fredomago]

Chot already won a championship when he comes back coaching in the PBA, but this time it's different as we have a healthy JMF.

Indeed, this would not be an easy one as we've seen in their last meeting where SMB was able to limit Mikey Williams and beat them with a huge margin, if they can do that again, well, I would say that SMB has a better chance of winning and JMF might win a BPC and Finals MVP.

Cruz and Ross will be there to match up with Williams and Castro. Both guards are also a good defender, but we can't underestimate Williams' capabilities as he always wanted to take the challenge and put more pressures from the defending players. I can say that the whole squad are balance from each other, lot of talents who can help as a role players here.

We might see more surprises with players who will step up helping those known names to tower the offense.

I'm a biased here since I really love SMB to win another title and for Fajardo to add more MVP to his name.

[Sanitough]

Chot already won a championship when he comes back coaching in the PBA, but this time it's different as we have a healthy JMF.

Indeed, this would not be an easy one as we've seen in their last meeting where SMB was able to limit Mikey Williams and beat them with a huge margin, if they can do that again, well, I would say that SMB has a better chance of winning and JMF might win a BPC and Finals MVP.

Cruz and Ross will be there to match up with Williams and Castro. Both guards are also a good defender, but we can't underestimate Williams' capabilities as he always wanted to take the challenge and put more pressures from the defending players. I can say that the whole squad are balance from each other, lot of talents who can help as a role players here.

We might see more surprises with players who will step up helping those known names to tower the offense.

I'm a biased here since I really love SMB to win another title and for Fajardo to add more MVP to his name.

Pogoy is good as well, he had 4 blocks in their win against Magnolia so I think he is also a problem of SMB. However, on the inside, JMF will surely dominate as they don't have bigs that could stop him unless they will double him but JMF had already made an adjustment with that style as we saw in game 7 against Meralco.

[goaldigger]

Chot already won a championship when he comes back coaching in the PBA, but this time it's different as we have a healthy JMF.

Indeed, this would not be an easy one as we've seen in their last meeting where SMB was able to limit Mikey Williams and beat them with a huge margin, if they can do that again, well, I would say that SMB has a better chance of winning and JMF might win a BPC and Finals MVP.

TNT might be the underdog here but of course we should give credit to their good players as well and I can say that they can really have a good showdown with SMB. They just need to limit JMF and other key players of SMB, also they should be more active in their offensive strategy. JMF can still deliver greatness and I'm so excited to watch them again now that they are back in the finals. TNT vs SMB will surely be an exciting match, any odds now for this?

[bisdak40]

Chot already won a championship when he comes back coaching in the PBA, but this time it's different as we have a healthy JMF.

Indeed, this would not be an easy one as we've seen in their last meeting where SMB was able to limit Mikey Williams and beat them with a huge margin, if they can do that again, well, I would say that SMB has a better chance of winning and JMF might win a BPC and Finals MVP.

Cruz and Ross will be there to match up with Williams and Castro. Both guards are also a good defender, but we can't underestimate Williams' capabilities as he always wanted to take the challenge and put more pressures from the defending players. I can say that the whole squad are balance from each other, lot of talents who can help as a role players here.

We might see more surprises with players who will step up helping those known names to tower the offense.

I'm a biased here since I really love SMB to win another title and for Fajardo to add more MVP to his name.

Mikey Williams might have an advantage over Chris Ross in this series because the latter is not yet fully recovered from his injury, that might also the reason why Ross has limited minutes in the series against Bolts. But it's okay since SMB Beermen also got the advantage on their bigs, Poy Erram is no match against Fajardo down low so this will be an even and exciting match with no team has a clear advantage over the other.

@harizen, please open up the betting as there might be people who want to bet on this series, anyway it is only TNT and SMB which have pot.

[jakelyson]

Pogoy is good as well, he had 4 blocks in their win against Magnolia so I think he is also a problem of SMB. However, on the inside, JMF will surely dominate as they don't have bigs that could stop him unless they will double him but JMF had already made an adjustment with that style as we saw in game 7 against Meralco.

They should abuse that advantage in Meralco. If June Mar has monster games inside the painted area, Meralco will not have a chance to win this. But I guess Meralco already knows that and will try to counter that advantage by taking the game outside. It will all depend on if the Meralco will have a great outside shooting. This will be a chess match of the coaches. The one who could adjust or adopt will win this series.

@harizen, please open up the betting as there might be people who want to bet on this series, anyway it is only TNT and SMB which have pot.

My thought exactly as well. Now that we have a clear team fighting in the finals, they might want to put some bets.

[Johnyz]

Chot already won a championship when he comes back coaching in the PBA, but this time it's different as we have a healthy JMF.

Indeed, this would not be an easy one as we've seen in their last meeting where SMB was able to limit Mikey Williams and beat them with a huge margin, if they can do that again, well, I would say that SMB has a better chance of winning and JMF might win a BPC and Finals MVP.

TNT might be the underdog here but of course we should give credit to their good players as well and I can say that they can really have a good showdown with SMB. They just need to limit JMF and other key players of SMB, also they should be more active in their offensive strategy. JMF can still deliver greatness and I'm so excited to watch them again now that they are back in the finals. TNT vs SMB will surely be an exciting match, any odds now for this?

There’s no underdog here because both team are ok and that’s why they are in the finals.
TNT can beat SMB and vise versa, we have to look at them as a team and I can say that TNT works better as a team while SMB rely too much on their key players. JMF is healthy but the key player for TNT is also healthy so this is indeed a battle of great teams. TNT have a good chance here and will bet in game 2.

[samcrypto]

There’s no underdog here because both team are ok and that’s why they are in the finals.
TNT can beat SMB and vise versa, we have to look at them as a team and I can say that TNT works better as a team while SMB rely too much on their key players. JMF is healthy but the key player for TNT is also healthy so this is indeed a battle of great teams. TNT have a good chance here and will bet in game 2.

We should not call them as underdog anymore, this is a pro league and they are playing for the great team.
TNT will surely compete with SMB 101% and they are close enough to get another title. Exciting match up between these two team and I can't wait to see them play in the finals live. Getting ready to have some bet as well.

I’m honestly pretty surprised at how much discussion goes on in this thread. I have to be honest, I know next to nothing about this league so I want to ask, what is the appeal for you guys who do watch this league? Is this league compatible to the European league? Have there ever been any star players in this league who ended up going to the NBA ?

We don't have pure Filipino basketball player yet going into NBA, we got the chance, a great player who are aiming to get drafted but failed to do so.
This is just a local Basketball league although we're still good in the SEA Region, and we really love Basketball that much.

[jakelyson]

We should not call them as underdog anymore, this is a pro league and they are playing for the great team.
TNT will surely compete with SMB 101% and they are close enough to get another title. Exciting match up between these two team and I can't wait to see them play in the finals live. Getting ready to have some bet as well.

I saw a post on facebook that coach austria is 5-0 in all filipino cup when his team reached the finals. I have not confirmed it or researched if it is true, but if it is, it is scary for TNT. I know, it was a different team since there is no Santos or Cabagnot this time, but SMB is still SMB, and they are still competitive and monsters in the court. So maybe, because of the coach and the team being SMB, TNT is kinda underdog in this series.

[LogitechMouse]

Chot already won a championship when he comes back coaching in the PBA, but this time it's different as we have a healthy JMF.

Indeed, this would not be an easy one as we've seen in their last meeting where SMB was able to limit Mikey Williams and beat them with a huge margin, if they can do that again, well, I would say that SMB has a better chance of winning and JMF might win a BPC and Finals MVP.

TNT might be the underdog here but of course we should give credit to their good players as well and I can say that they can really have a good showdown with SMB. They just need to limit JMF and other key players of SMB, also they should be more active in their offensive strategy. JMF can still deliver greatness and I'm so excited to watch them again now that they are back in the finals. TNT vs SMB will surely be an exciting match, any odds now for this?

There is no underdog this time IMO. We are in the finals already and TNT is also the champion last Philippine Cup so I rather see SMB as the underdogs here but we are in the Finals already so I don't see any underdogs now .

TNT can limit JMF because they have Erram as well as Kelly Williams to defend the paint and they also have Marcelo as their back-up big. These 2 teams are the top teams in terms of offense so we might see a high scoring series here and I believe that whoever gets the pace quicker and will control the game first wins. Let's also take note here that in the series of SMB-Meralco, whenever the SMB had a lead in the first quarter, they won the game except in Game 6 where the Bolts made a miracle comeback. On the other hand, the TNT is capable in making huge runs and even though their opponent has a double digit lead. I might make a bet on each game if I have a spare money .

[Questat]

Chot already won a championship when he comes back coaching in the PBA, but this time it's different as we have a healthy JMF.

Indeed, this would not be an easy one as we've seen in their last meeting where SMB was able to limit Mikey Williams and beat them with a huge margin, if they can do that again, well, I would say that SMB has a better chance of winning and JMF might win a BPC and Finals MVP.

TNT might be the underdog here but of course we should give credit to their good players as well and I can say that they can really have a good showdown with SMB. They just need to limit JMF and other key players of SMB, also they should be more active in their offensive strategy. JMF can still deliver greatness and I'm so excited to watch them again now that they are back in the finals. TNT vs SMB will surely be an exciting match, any odds now for this?

There is no underdog this time IMO. We are in the finals already and TNT is also the champion last Philippine Cup so I rather see SMB as the underdogs here but we are in the Finals already so I don't see any underdogs now .

TNT can limit JMF because they have Erram as well as Kelly Williams to defend the paint and they also have Marcelo as their back-up big. These 2 teams are the top teams in terms of offense so we might see a high scoring series here and I believe that whoever gets the pace quicker and will control the game first wins. Let's also take note here that in the series of SMB-Meralco, whenever the SMB had a lead in the first quarter, they won the game except in Game 6 where the Bolts made a miracle comeback. On the other hand, the TNT is capable in making huge runs and even though their opponent has a double digit lead. I might make a bet on each game if I have a spare money .

Well, I like SMB to be the underdog so the odds will be attractive. It's hard to predict, to be honest, and I believe that this series will reach game 7 which is good as it will entertain the fans. They are evenly matched, however, based on experience, I think TNT is more experience as some of the starters of SMB are just new to the team.

[bisdak40]

Well, I like SMB to be the underdog so the odds will be attractive. It's hard to predict, to be honest, and I believe that this series will reach game 7 which is good as it will entertain the fans. They are evenly matched, however, based on experience, I think TNT is more experience as some of the starters of SMB are just new to the team.

This is also what i'm afraid of because some of the starters of SMB are new to the team and championship poise and experience is not yet there. Though Chriss Ross is available to play but he is not 100 percent healthy so expect Cruz and Enciso to man the point haeavily. I've alreay said in my previous post that Mikey Williams will have his moment in this series due to Ross' limited minutes and i don't think Cruz could limit his offensive output, so yeah this series would be unpredictable which what the fans are looking for.

Anyone who would like to bet for TNT, just quote this post as i have some extra money for betting for the SMB Beermen.

[Hypnosis00]

Well, I like SMB to be the underdog so the odds will be attractive. It's hard to predict, to be honest, and I believe that this series will reach game 7 which is good as it will entertain the fans. They are evenly matched, however, based on experience, I think TNT is more experience as some of the starters of SMB are just new to the team.

This is also what i'm afraid of because some of the starters of SMB are new to the team and championship poise and experience is not yet there. Though Chriss Ross is available to play but he is not 100 percent healthy so expect Cruz and Enciso to man the point haeavily. I've alreay said in my previous post that Mikey Williams will have his moment in this series due to Ross' limited minutes and i don't think Cruz could limit his offensive output, so yeah this series would be unpredictable which what the fans are looking for.

Anyone who would like to bet for TNT, just quote this post as i have some extra money for betting for the SMB Beermen.

I guess it will not be Cruz that will be guarding Williams but will be Enciso. The highlights below shows how dominant the SMB against the TNT,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOn2wMFnf9A... not sure it was their last game before this series.

[Fredomago]

Mikey Williams might have an advantage over Chris Ross in this series because the latter is not yet fully recovered from his injury, that might also the reason why Ross has limited minutes in the series against Bolts. But it's okay since SMB Beermen also got the advantage on their bigs, Poy Erram is no match against Fajardo down low so this will be an even and exciting match with no team has a clear advantage over the other.

Adding to that advantage is also the age in between these two players, Ross is no longer on his prime while Williams as what we are seeing from his current games, though on the other side, like what you are mentioning Erram ain't enough for Fajardo that inside matchup would be the advantage of SMB while outside might be the focus of TNT. If Romeo is not injury, it would really be a good offensive matchup as he will add more threat outside together with Lassiter.

@harizen, please open up the betting as there might be people who want to bet on this series, anyway it is only TNT and SMB which have pot.

Good idea, there are readers who might be iterested with this they can puick side while the series would be start on sunday. Enough time for anyone to join in.

Well, I like SMB to be the underdog so the odds will be attractive. It's hard to predict, to be honest, and I believe that this series will reach game 7 which is good as it will entertain the fans. They are evenly matched, however, based on experience, I think TNT is more experience as some of the starters of SMB are just new to the team.

This is also what i'm afraid of because some of the starters of SMB are new to the team and championship poise and experience is not yet there. Though Chriss Ross is available to play but he is not 100 percent healthy so expect Cruz and Enciso to man the point haeavily. I've alreay said in my previous post that Mikey Williams will have his moment in this series due to Ross' limited minutes and i don't think Cruz could limit his offensive output, so yeah this series would be unpredictable which what the fans are looking for.

Anyone who would like to bet for TNT, just quote this post as i have some extra money for betting for the SMB Beermen.

I guess it will not be Cruz that will be guarding Williams but will be Enciso. The highlights below shows how dominant the SMB against the TNT,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOn2wMFnf9A... not sure it was their last game before this series.

TNT already established their confidence and from that last games we have seen more good rotations that they developed especially during the Semis, Erram, Castro and Poguy are producing good numbers, the offense might still start with Williams but those three stars are always there to help Williams.

[Japinat]

Anyone who would like to bet for TNT, just quote this post as i have some extra money for betting for the SMB Beermen.

@Fredomago is right, @harizen, I know there's an ongoing betting again, but that was before this finals series, maybe some posters here still want to join and that would give us all an opportunity to bet. Waiting for this as well, I'm fine with 1k pesos minimum.

[Ziskinberg]

Anyone who would like to bet for TNT, just quote this post as i have some extra money for betting for the SMB Beermen.

@Fredomago is right, @harizen, I know there's an ongoing betting again, but that was before this finals series, maybe some posters here still want to join and that would give us all an opportunity to bet. Waiting for this as well, I'm fine with 1k pesos minimum.

I'm in. Anyone, I'm willing to risk BTC0.002 for SMB to win the Finals.

Just shoot me a PM or post here, I know they could be a slight underdog but I guess I'm okay losing that BTC0.002 in exchange for the fun I would experience, hopefully it will go down to the wire.

[jakelyson]

I'm in. Anyone, I'm willing to risk BTC0.002 for SMB to win the Finals.

Just shoot me a PM or post here, I know they could be a slight underdog but I guess I'm okay losing that BTC0.002 in exchange for the fun I would experience, hopefully it will go down to the wire.

I think we need more TNT backers than SMB. There are plenty of SMB backers who expressed their intention to bet already but I have yet to see any TNT backers, aside from harizen.

I remember there was someone willing to bet 7k or more for SMB previously on the post of harizen, I cannot remember who. So, if there are any TNT backers here who are willing to bet, maybe we can match them.

[Shamm]

SMB and TNT In the finals are is a good match up because we all know that both of these  teams are solid because In TNT they have Mikey Williams, pugoy, Castro and Kelly willams to face junmar fajardo and the rest of SMB. And TNT here aiming their two streak win as they are the champion of from the last season. But SMB aiming and want to prove that they are the king of all Filipino.

[LogitechMouse]

SMB and TNT In the finals are is a good match up because we all know that both of these  teams are solid because In TNT they have Mikey Williams, pugoy, Castro and Kelly willams to face junmar fajardo and the rest of SMB. And TNT here aiming their two streak win as they are the champion of from the last season. But SMB aiming and want to prove that they are the king of all Filipino.

Experience and chemistry wise, the TNT has a slight edge because some players of the SMB doesn't have any experience in PBA Finals. I believe this might affect the decision making of the team at least a bit but they have the one of the greatest coach in Coach Leo Austria so maybe these new players of SMB will do well in this PBA Finals.

TNT are the defending champions right now but the SMB wants to reclaim the title that they held for 6 straight years. I know that this will be a great match-up. I wonder how the SMB will stop Mikey Williams and Jayson Castro but on the other hand, I also wonder how will the TNT stop JMF inside the paint. I don't know but Coach Chot coaching both the TNT and the Gilas might affect the TNT team as a whole for some reasons. I don't know how but I see a bit of negative effects with this because his attention will not be focusing on only one league. Well, we've seen lots of controversies against Coach Chot in how he is coaching the Gilas roster so I'm hoping that he will coach the players well this time that Kai and JC will be playing.

A bit of a trivia . Coach Chot Reyes is 4-0 in PBA Finals in All-Filipino Cup and on the other hand, Coach Leo Austria is 5-0 in PBA Finals in All-Filipino Cup.