Christmas Wish List | Manila Times

So let’s start with the Miami Heat. Like every season since “Godfather” Pat Riley faxed his resignation letter to the New York Knicks and came to South Beach, it’s championship or bust for the Heaters again.

But since that might not be realistic this year (the Eastern Conference is just loaded this year with the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks looking much, much better than the Heat), I’ll just wish Santa good health for the whole team, continued improvement for “Baby Goat” Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo shaking off the yips, more playing time for Nicola Jovic and of course, Jimmy Butler staying put.

Herro is having his best season yet and could become Miami’s lone all-star when the midseason classic takes place in San Francisco next February. Meanwhile, Adebayo may have just shrugged off his early season woes (probably due to our kababayan Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s dismissed offense) as confirmed in yesterday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets and may finally meet his “No Ceiling “- moniker.

The 6’10” Jovic, the latest Miami import, is a great frontcourt partner for the 6’9″ Adebayo, as he’s a bona fide stretch 4 who has playmaking skills (he was a guard before his growth spurt).

Despite being at the center of the NBA rumor mill the past few weeks, Butler hopefully isn’t going anywhere. Yes, he may not be “The Buckets” of 3-4 years ago, but come the playoffs, you need the six-time all-star to once again lead the Heat in their giant-killing ways.

I also wish Miami’s utility pieces would show up as last year’s rookie sensation Jaime Jaquez is in a slump. Hey, at least Terry Rozier is thriving in his new sixth-man role and finally “scare” opponents (but I’m still not a fan of his step-back and sideways 3-pointers).

For Barangay Ginebra, while head coach Tim Cone and team manager and SMC sports director Alfrancis Chua chose not to rest Justine Brownlee this conference, I would like the crowd favorite’s other players to step up and help the Filipino naturalized player in the ongoing PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Ben Adamos is also a little too slow and lacks spice to fight against Junemar Fajardos, Justin Aranas, Poy Errams, Raymond Almazans and the imports of the current conference, where there is unlimited height for reinforcements.

Here’s also wishing that Ginebra’s walking wounded would finally show up in this conference, as the two J’s — Jamie Malonzo and Jeremia Gray — might be just what the doctor ordered to fix Ginebra’s roller coaster ride in the Commissioner’s Cup thus far.

As for the UP Fighting Maroons, I already got an early Christmas present from the boys from Diliman as head coach Goldwin Monteverde, with plenty of help from graduating JD Cagulangan and Quentin Millora-Brown and formerly much-maligned Francis Lopez, gave State State U the season 87 championship .

It erased two years of frustration and the curse of the “Curse of Game 2 (and also Game 3)” and gave the University of the Philippines a full offseason to finally enjoy this championship, as some pointed to UP’s Season 84 championship as the shortest reign in UAAP history due to the quirk of the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, I still have my wish list for Monteverde and company for Season 88. Here’s to former LSGH standouts Seven Gagate and Josh Coronel finally getting meaningful minutes in the UP rotation, and Lopez not relying solely on his athleticism and turning into a Kevin Quiambao clone, young wings Mark Belmonte, Chicco Briones, Aldous Torculas and Jacob Bayla take the next step, a Foreign Student Athlete at the QMB level for the Fighting Maroons, Harold Alarcon, Reyand Torres and team captain Gerry Abadiano take on more of a leadership role now that JD and QMB have left, and last but not least, Rey Remogat and Andy Gemao form. et utroligt 1-2 slag på bagbanen til, tør jeg sige, de ryg-mod-ryg mestre i 2025 UAAP sæson.

Merry Christmas to all and to pagans everywhere, happy holidays (which is ironic since it is believed that some Christmas traditions originated with pagan Germanic tribes before being adopted by Christians)