#eric menk

Eric Menk. PBA IMAGES Eric Menk, a member of the PBA’s 40 Greatest Players, has officially retired after 16 fruitful seasons in the PBA. The 42-year-old Menk won all of his four titles as part of Barangay Ginebra where he played for 12 years. Menk, one of the best big men of his generation, last played for Alaska in 2016. The Aces paid a special tribute to Menk by holding a retirement ceremony during halftime of the Aces and Gin Kings’ game on Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum. “Thank you so much. A lot of people to thank. The first thing I want to say is I’m just very blessed to play in the PBA for as long as I have, and for the teams and the people that I’ve played with and I’ve played for, I’m very, very thankful,” an emotional Menk said at center court. “I want to thank Alaska for putting this thing together. It’s good to see all the Ginebra fans. I haven’t played for them for five years but the response I’ve gotten the last few days from many of their fans and former teammates and former coaches has been overwhelming,” Menk added. “All I can say is thank you. It’s been a dream come true to play as long as I have, to play in front of you guys. Thank you very much.” The 6-foot-6 Menk was joined by his family on the floor along with Danny Seigle, Jimmy Alapag, Harvey Carey, Jayjay Helterbrand, Mark Caguioa and the entire Alaska squad. Menk was named season MVP in 2005 and has three Finals MVP plums and three Best Player of Conference awards across his name. The post ‘Major Pain’ Eric Menk officially retires from PBA appeared first on Philippine Basketball Association. http://j.mp/2qdzaKx

Sports5/Paul Ryan Tan Veteran big man Eric Menk questioned the inclusion of two NLEX Road Warriors members, namely Asi Taulava and Sean Anthony, in the mythical team, pointing out that there were players more deserving of the feat. In his video blog on Youtube, Menk stressed that NLEX players shouldn’t have made the mythical team as they finished at the lower half of the standings every conference. The Road Warriors wound up at seventh place and failed to get past the quarterfinals in each of the three conferences. “What bothered me is two NLEX players were on the mythical second team,” said Menk who didn’t name Taulava and Anthony throughout his video. “If there are 12 teams in the league, and they finished in the bottom half of each tournament, how can they get two of the top 10 players of the league?” Menk, who last played for the Alaska Aces, said that Paul Lee, Vic Manuel, JR Quinahan and Cliff Hodge were more deserving because “they contribute to winning teams.” “The goal of the basketball game is to win, the goal of the season is to win the championship,” Menk said. Lee and Quinahan were two of the best local players Rain or Shine had during its Commissioner’s Cup title run. “The Lethal Weapon” bagged Finals MVP honors. Manuel, a former teammate of Menk, was also an important piece of Alaska’s finals appearances in the Philippine Cup and the Commissioner’s Cup. He didn’t play much in the Governors’ Cup as he was sidelined by an injury. Hodge has been one of the vital cogs of Meralco which made the semifinals of the Commissioner’s Cup and is currently in the finals of the Governors’ Cup-the franchise’s first appearance in a championship round. Menk made it clear that he was only criticizing the selection process and didn’t mean to offend Taulava and Anthony. “There’s nothing personal against NLEX, nothing personal against the two players that made it to the mythical 10. It’s not their fault, they did their best that they could do. However, if you win, you should get rewards and if you don’t, you shouldn’t,” he said. “If you voted for somebody that played for NLEX to be on the mythical 10, you should not be voting, you did not pay attention to the season at all. Shame on you.” Menk’s comments didn’t sit well with Taulava. “I call that a low blow and a personal jab. I heard you loud and clear man!” Taulava wrote in a tweet reply to PBA statistics head Fidel Mangonon. Apart from Taulava and Anthony, also named to the Mythical Second Team were San Miguel’s Alex Cabagnot, Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio. Comprising the Mythical First Team were three-peat MVP June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel, Alaska’s Calvin Abueva, TNT’s Jayson Castro, GlobalPort’s Terrence Romeo and San Miguel’s Arwind Santos. Watch Menk’s video blog below. http://j.mp/2dItX3g

PBA Media Bureau Have we seen the last of “Major Pain”? Veteran big man Eric Menk admitted that he hasn’t decided yet what to do with his PBA career after his time with the Alaska Aces has come to an end. In his video blog titled “My Last PBA Game?”, the 42-year-old revealed that Alaska had already informed him last July that he won’t be given a new deal after its expiration this season. “I’m not 100 percent sure what’s gonna happen next but most likely I’ll be pivoting all of the playing part of the game,” said Menk in a farewell speech he delivered to his teammates after the Aces’ quarterfinal loss to Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Governors’ Cup last week. Menk said father time has already caught up with him. “As you get older, it gets harder and harder to get to practice and do the things, perform and also just come in everyday, just do the grind,” he said. Known for dominating the boards and the post during his prime, Menk thanked the Alaska organization, specifically coach Alex Compton and team executive Dickie Bachmann, “for bringing me in and taking a chance on me at the end of my career.” Menk entered the PBA as one of Tanduay’s direct hires in 1999. But he made his mark with Barangay Ginebra where he carried the Gin Kings to four championships during his 12-year stay. He also won the MVP award in 2005. After Ginebra, he had brief stints with the San Miguel Beermen in the ASEAN Basketball League and GlobalPort Batang Pier in the PBA before joining Alaska in 2014. Watch Eric Menk’s video blog below. http://j.mp/2cRHTYo

Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net Despite dealing with injuries to its key players, Alaska has been good enough to beat quality teams in TNT and Meralco in playoff series’ and make the 2016 Commissioner’s Cup Finals. And even minus Vic Manuel, JVee Casio and Eric Menk, head coach Alex Compton believes the Aces are still more than capable of defeating Rain or Shine in their best-of-seven championship duel. “For me it’s not an excuse, it  happens to every team in the league,” Compton told reporters on Sunday after Alaska’s 105-103 loss in Game 2 on a buzzer-beater by Paul Lee. “We have good players on our team. We talked, we practiced, we’re just not sharp enough.” Manuel (calf) has been out since Game 2 of the quarterfinals against TNT while Casio (knee) has only appeared in the first five games of the elimination round. The latest casualty, Menk got hurt in Game 3 of the semifinals against Meralco. “I don’t wanna belittle the contributions of those guys, obviously, they’re important but I don’t dwell on it. It’s not an excuse. When we do some things right we can win that game and we didn’t do it,” Compton said. Compton has all the reasons to feel confident despite being down, 2-0 in the series especially with Games 1 and 2 could’ve gone either way. What concerns Compton, however, is his team’s ability to finish games which boils down to execution. “We talked about a bunch how every second counts and how we need to make less mistakes and be smarter and again to the very end, we have a breakdown, we don’t execute what we wanna do and they score,” said Compton. “It’s not that in two games we played terribly but we definitely haven’t played well enough or smart enough to win and they’ve won both of them,” he added. “We’re gonna have to earn it with a lot more precision, that’s for sure.” The Aces hope to avoid a 3-0 hole on Wednesday night in Game 3 at Smart Araneta Coliseum. The post Compton: Playing minus key players not an excuse for Aces appeared first on Philippine Basketball Association. http://j.mp/1s50Xty

PBA Media Bureau The Alaska Aces haven’t had the easiest road to the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals, especially due to the multiple injuries the team has had to face in the tournament. JVee Casio is dealing with a recurring knee problem while Vic Manuel suffered a calf injury. Veteran Eric Menk, too, has been recently sidelined. “JVee is out in the playoffs. Vic, I don’t know if he’ll play again. You noticed Eric Menk hasn’t played in the past two games because he’s injured. So we’re limping to the finals,” Alaska coach Alex Compton told InterAksyon.com. Despite being decimated by injuries, Alaska had shown resolve to win and the team proved it in its best-of-five semifinals series win against the Meralco Bolts. Despite being decimated by injuries, the Aces showed their resolve to win and they proved just what it could do as they hurdled the Meralco Bolts in the semifinals, including the knockout Game 5. “There are a whole lot of possible alibis, but our guys didn’t make use of alibis and they played. Meralco is tough and is well-coached. They’re getting better. They’ll be scary. But I’m so proud of my guys that they stepped up and showed great resolve,” Compton added. Manuel, who has been a steady presence for the Aces this season, isn’t too bothered by the fact that he isn’t playing, especially as he’s seen the way his teammates have responded to his absence. “Hindi naman siguro ako kailangang manghinayang na hindi ako nakakalaro. Kita ko naman yung mga teammates ko, talagang nagpapakamatay para manalo,” Manuel told InterAksyon.com in an exclusive interview. “Talagang pinaghirapan nila na makarating kami sa finals. Nakikita ko naman kahit wala ako sa lineup nila lumalaban pa rin sila.” Calvin Abueva and Cyrus Baguio, who needed to step up big to fill in the void left by their injured teammates, remained confident they will get the job done. “Hindi naman namin pinoproblema kung wala yung mga gumagawa sa amin ang iniisip namin, as a team kaming naglalaro,” Abueva said. Baguio added that the team is viewing their bad luck not as a problem but as an opportunity. “Alam niyo naman yung sistema namin, hindi eight players lang, lahat kami nagagamit. This time, siguro iniisip ng iba na pagkakataon na nila na ipakita na deserving sila sa position nila, like si RJ (Jazul) nakikita niya na kaya niyang dalhin yung team, si Chris (Banchero) andyan rin. Kumbaga sa amin yung opportunity na naibigay sa amin,” Baguio said. “Alam naman natin na malaking tulong sina Jvee, si Vic tsaka si Eric. One game at a time lang siguro. Umpisahan namin sa Friday.” http://j.mp/1YbP3Ij

PBA Media Bureau Alaska’s veterans, Dondon Hontiveros and Tony Dela Cruz among them, understand that they may not have many more championship opportunities left in their basketball careers – so they are making the most of every one they can get. On Friday’s knockout game against Tropang TNT, the two senior statesmen of the Aces showed just how badly they wanted to advance to the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals, making some big contributions for their team. In the absence of injured forward Vic Manuel, Hontiveros and Dela Cruz were among the five players that finished with eight points to back up the stellar performances from import Rob Dozier (20 points, 14 rebounds), Calvin Abueva (18 points) and even fellow old hand Eric Menk (10 points). “Konti na lang yung chances namin. Hindi namin alam mangyayari this year, but nagkaroon pa kami ng opportunity ulit na mag-semis,” Hontiveros told sportswriters. Dela Cruz, who also acts as the team captain of the squad, has been one of the vocal leaders on the team and he stressed that this team has big aspirations for the conference. “We had a bunch of meetings every day in hopes of getting back there, obviously not satisfied to not win a championship. We’ve been disappointed for so many conferences,” he said. “We talked about it today. We know we cannot win a championship if we don’t win tonight’s game.” Dela Cruz, Hontiveros and Menk are among the veterans that have managed to thrive despite Alaska’s fast-paced system. They’ve been able to hang around despite the influx of young, talented players every season and they’ve done that by having dedication and discipline, not only in their workouts but also in paying attention to their diets. “Eric is trying to lead by example by saying, ‘Hey you shouldn’t be eating that before the game or after practice,’” Dela Cruz said. “I think the huge part of it is the nutrition, but again everyone is different.” “Calvin Abueva is unbelievably athletic. I’d love to have his legs and his energy, but I don’t so I have to do my best.” http://j.mp/2486Nrx

Asi Taulava. PBA IMAGES Asi Taulava saw Eric Menk giving everything he could despite having a broken nose. Menk, the Alaska veteran, banged up and all, still came away with nine points and six rebounds. Drawing inspiration from Menk, Taulava, the oldest player in the league at 42, didn’t let a hard fall in the third quarter keep him from fighting for NLEX. “That’s part of the older generation, broken nose, busted up, we take no days off. We come out to play. That’s part of basketball and how much you enjoy the game,” said Taulava after the Road Warriors lost to the Aces, 89-81. “The old school guys, it doesn’t matter. You love the game so much you come back the next day and help your team win. If the younger guys see you soft, it won’t sit well. They’re setting good examples and that’s what you need from veterans, stepping up the plate when they have injuries.” Taulava said he felt the pain as he crashed to the floor but that only made him want to get back on his feet and shrug it off. “I tried to get up, but I felt like I’m 42 right now. It was painful, getting the wind knocked off of me. It was more of my ego. I can’t wait to get a day off and get back to work on Sunday and prepare for Wednesday,” Taulava said. “My back is fine. It’s my ego, because my [butt] got kicked tonight.” Taulava finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in nearly 30 minutes of playing time. Those were decent numbers for an old-timer, but having showed he’s still very much capable of dominating games, Taulava knew that he didn’t do enough to help the Road Warriors win. “Sonny (Thoss), Eric, Calvin (Abueva), Vic (Manuel), they were ready for us tonight. We learned from tonight’s game,” said Taulava, who chalked up 22 points and 21 rebounds in NLEX’s 93-91 victory over Meralco last Tuesday. Falling behind by as much as 20, NLEX closed the gap to four, 82-78, before big shots from Cyrus Baguio and JVee Casio coupled by costly turnovers by the Road Warriors sealed the Aces’ win. “It’s a lesson. We figured them out in the fourth quarter, but we always seem to wait until the fourth quarter to figure things out. We just got to get back to work,” said Taulava. “We got to bounce back, and we always bounce back well. We can’t let it go two (losses) in a row. We got to take care of ourselves as a team, be more positive. It’s all about planning for the playoffs right now.” NLEX tries to rebound against GlobalPort on Wednesday. “GlobalPort, we’re coming for you.” The post No excuses for Taulava after hard fall, loss vs Aces appeared first on Philippine Basketball Association. http://j.mp/1lTpa2J

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