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La Salle scrapper Mike Phillips – sitting comfortably on top with the UAAP Final Four first seed – eagerly awaits the Archers’ semifinal foe amid an extremely heated battle for the last two seeds
MANILA, Philippines – In every game, La Salle star forward Mike Phillips embodies the mantra of “no days off,” always flying around the basketball court like he’s no longer allowed to play the next day.
But in UAAP Season 87, particularly in the second round, it’s not only Phillips who is giving his all as the elimination round winds down to its final few games.
Practically by necessity, teams outside the top four are churning out eye-catching victories — from Adamson holding its last two opponents to a stunning average of 39 points, to former cellar-dweller NU crushing No. 2 UP by 20, 67-47, to young FEU fully recovering from a 0-5 standings hole.
It’s a wild, wild world out there for the last two Final Four spots, and Phillips, despite sitting pretty at the top of the heap, is now even more inspired to make La Salle’s games count — even when they technically don’t need to anymore.
“For me, the best thing to make sure we’re not complacent is just really watching how these other teams are fighting. They’re fighting for their season,” said the ever-scrappy forward after La Salle handed a fresh beatdown to rival UP, 77-67, on Sunday, November 10.
“They may not have had the best first round, but they’re really locking into this second round, and whoever makes it to those third or fourth seeds, they’re not just gonna give up just because we’re No. 1. They fought so hard to get to that spot.”
As it stands, four teams are fighting for the last two Final Four berths, with NU and Ateneo recently being shown the door in the last four days.
UE, although still in third place, is sliding down fast with a 6-6 record, while No. 4 UST is half a game behind at 6-7. Ultra-defensive Adamson has risen to a 5-7 card in fifth, while FEU is on the outside looking in at 5-8.
“They’re gonna fight even harder to take us down and we really have to be ready,” Phillips continued.
“I think it’s really just seeing the passion with which they fight and just really remembering in this game of basketball, anybody can beat anybody on any given day, no matter if everything’s going right. There’s always…bilog ang bola (the ball is round).”
No matter which fourth-seeded team La Salle faces in the Final Four, the field has all but guaranteed that the defending champions are still in for one hell of a fight — or two at max — and Phillips is, as always, ready to take on all comers. – Rappler.com
