ALLAN THE MAN

The Philippines will still roll out the red carpet for the Taiwan basketball team which will compete in the FIBA Asia championship in August despite a decision made by Jones Cup organizers not to invite the Gilas Pilipinas to defend its title.

This was assured by Philippine sports officials even as the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) announced yesterday that it has no plans of quitting the FIBA tournament which serves as the qualifier for the World Championship in Spain next year.

Amid tensions between the Philippines and Taiwan, the organizers of the Taipei-based William Jones Cup have withdrawn their invitation to the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team, the defending champions of the competition.

Philippine national men’s basketball coach Chot Reyes made the announcement on his Twitter account.

Chot Reyes: @coachchot:

Nararamdaman daw ni Charice na "free as a bird" na siya ngayon. Ito ay sinabi ng controversial singer sa panayam sa kanya ng ninong niyang si Bum Tenorio, Jr., na lumabas ngayong araw, May 28, sa The Philippine Star. 

Ang artikulo ay pamagat na "You're the man, Charice!". Nakausap daw ni Bum si Charice sa selabrasyon ng ika-21 kaarawan ng singer noong May 10 sa isang resort sa Laguna, kung saan nagkaroon ito ng mini-concert para sa kanyang malalapit na kaibigan.

Arnold Clavio has had enough of Vice Ganda. The GMA-7 anchor lashed out against the ABS-CBN comedian for making vulgar jokes about GMA vice president for News and Public Affairs Jessica Soho during his recent concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“Papatulan ko na siya kasi pag di natin siya sinita, hindi natin alam sino pa’ng isusunod niyang biktimahin. Si Nancy Binay noon, tapos si Jessica Soho,” Arnold said Tuesday on his daily morning radio show on DZBB with Lala Roque.

Calvin Abueva might have a shot at becoming only the second player in PBA history to win MVP honors in his rookie year should he sustain his searing pace in the season-ending Governors Cup slated to start Aug. 14.

Abueva, the season’s second draft pick behind Petron Blaze’s Junmar Fajardo, is on track to making the official candidates list, being a strong runner-up in the Best Player of the Conference derbies in the Philippine Cup and in the Commissioner’s Cup.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez made quick work of challenger Antonio "Big Foot" Silva to successfully defend his title belt in the main event of UFC 160 in Las Vegas.

Velasquez caught Silva coming in with a straight left, and then landed a short right hand that connected on Silva's chin, dropping the Brazilian challenger to the canvas.The champion followed it up with vicious ground-and-pound as Silva tried in vain to defend himself. The referee stopped the fight at the 1:21 mark of the very first round.

The Indiana Pacers bounced back from a heart-breaking game one defeat to edge LeBron James and the Miami Heat 97-93 on Friday and level the NBA Eastern Conference finals at one game apiece.

With the win in Miami, the Pacers seized home court advantage in the best-of-seven series from the reigning league champions, and they will try to maintain the momentum when they host game three on Sunday.

The winner of the series advances to the NBA finals to take on the Western Conference champions for the league crown. San Antonio lead Memphis 2-0 in the Western finals.