Humblebola

Heading into UAAP Season 86, one of the biggest questions for the Adamson Soaring Falcons was whether they would be able to establish a team identity early enough in the season.

Afterall, despite their Season 85 roster being all eligible to play this season, several roster shakeups meant what was supposed to be their biggest asset—maturity, has been taken away from them and they are again forced to find themselves.

Last year the Falcons established themselves as a balanced scoring team with Jerom Lastimosa leading the attack. But many of those scorers, Lenda Douanga, AP Manlapaz, Aaron Flowers have for one reason or another opted not to return, leaving a void to be filled by new faces and new names. It also doesn’t help that Jerom Lastimosa has been missing due to an injury.

Fortunately, with 5 games under their belt and a 3-2 record, the Falcons have found a new identity rather quickly—a team that works.

There’s no other way to put it, the Soaring Falcons aren’t the most talented team, they aren’t the fastest, they aren’t the most athletic, they aren’t the most strategically sound, they aren’t the tallest and they aren’t the most efficient team in any aspect. Yet, despite all that, they hold a favorable record and look poised to make another run for the Final Four.

They have been doing all this without a go-to player. No Jerom Lastimosa to play iso-god for them, no Lenda Douanga who they can feed in the paint for easy points anymore. This lack of a go-to player who they can just feed the ball to and clear out has forced them to become the team they are– a team that puts their heads down and puts in the work.

This is in stark contrast to how they played early in the previous season. One of the most notable aspects of their game previously was their offense. Season 85 saw a lot of crisp passing from the Falcons, often ending up at the hands of their go-tos. A common criticism was that they had a tendency to over-pass, hesitating to pull the trigger unless they were one of the two designated scorers. Not anymore.

What used to be hesitation has turned into patience. Relieved from the pressure of having to feed Lastimosa or Lenda, all Falcons on the floor have the green light to shoot as long as it’s a good shot within the flow of their offense, and to get that green light they have to actually run their offense. Instead of looking for Lastimosa, they’ve been looking for the next pass. Instead of looking for Lenda, they’ve been looking for the open man. They’re working the ball through screens and hand-offs, patiently attacking the defense until an opening reveals itself.

This was most evident against Ateneo where they didn’t let an early offensive barrage from the defending champions dishearten them. Instead of panicking and trying to go shot for shot on threes, they slowly worked the ball inside to their cutters and the closest person they have to a go-to player—Cedrick Manzano in the paint.

Jed Colonia, Vince Magbuhos and Joshua Yerro took turns repeatedly penetrating through the backdoor, punishing Ateneo’s lack of rim protection in order to cut down what looked like a daunting 19-point lead.

Their identity shines through not only in their offense, but in their defense as well. Just when it looked like Joseph Obasa was going to be the key to punishing the Falcons’ lack of size, they took on the challenge of denying Obasa the paint opportunities he was able to convert early in the game. There was also a commitment late in the same game to switch on Ateneo’s picks, challenging every shot they can.

While they were out-rebounded by Ateneo, they made up by finding turnovers and gunning for loose balls. The way they forced the turnovers wasn’t like in the past under Franz Pumaren where their gameplan involved strangling the opposing offense into submission, forcing them to give up the ball. Instead it was a more disciplined, staying in front of their assignments, executing their pick and roll defense and living with giving Ateneo contested shots. Their court-sense allowed them to recognize bad passes and pick them off as well.

Without go-to players that they are expected to depend on on either end of the floor, their roles have been democratized, making it so that anyone who can pitch in, in any way simply does. If one misses, everyone goes for the rebound, if they don’t get the rebound everyone gets back on transition defense. There’s shared responsibility in this team because their new go-to isn’t a single player nor a system—it’s their work.

With two games left in the first round, the Soaring Falcons have a chance to solidify their claim to a Final Four spot. Both are opponents that are motivated and capable of going toe to toe with any team in the UAAP, so expect these blue collar Falcons to roll up their sleeves and get to work once more.