Repeat or redemption: A preview of the UAAP Season 87 Finals

Metro Manila, Philippines — For the second consecutive season, the De La Salle University Green Archers and University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons square off in the UAAP men's basketball best-of-three finals which will begin on Dec. 8 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Both teams were head and shoulders above the competition as they held the top two spots throughout the elimination round, and cruised past their opponents in the Final Four with convincing victories.

Read: UP advances to fourth straight men’s basketball finals

Also read: La Salle crushes Adamson, arranges finals date with UP

This will only be the third time in the Final Four era that these two squads clash in the playoffs.

The first was in Season 84, where the Fighting Maroons defeated the Green Archers in the semifinals en route to its first title in 36 years.

Then in Season 86, La Salle got its revenge and took down UP in the finals to bring the trophy back to Taft Avenue.

Elimination round series

The Green Archers proved to be the mightier side as they had an average win margin of 11.5 points over the Fighting Maroons in their two encounters this season.

In their first meeting that was marred by a spitting controversy, La Salle handed UP its first loss after a hot 6-0 start. The Green Archers prevailed in a victory against the Fighting Maroons.

La Salle secured the top seed after reasserting its mastery of UP in their second round battle. The Green Archers’ tight defense suffocated the Fighting Maroons which were limited to just 23 points in the second half.

Numbers don’t lie

La Salle is the highest-scoring team this season with an average of 74.21 points during the eliminations.

The Green Archers are also the best three-point shooting squad with an average of 30.27 percent clip from beyond the arc throughout the preliminaries.

Crashing the boards will be La Salle’s biggest strength as they topped the league with 49.86 rebounds per outing.

Meanwhile, UP thrives in an open court offense with a league-best 11.07 fastbreak points per game.

The Fighting Maroons also like to force their opponents to commit turnovers with 7.86 steals per game.

UP boasts depth in their lineup as it finished with an average of league-best 38 bench points.

X-factors

After the backcourt duo Evan Nelle and Mark Nonoy left the Green Archers’ lair, there were questions about who would be La Salle’s floor general.

Joshua David stepped up to the challenge as he provided stability as the Green Archers’ primary ball handler.

His ability to facilitate La Salle’s offense effectively showed that they have no weak link in their title defense quest.

Harold Alarcon has been on a roller coaster ride this season as he had games where he saw fewer minutes.

But in his last two outings, he came out huge for the Fighting Maroons.

Alarcon dropped a career-high 33 points against the University of the East Red Warriors in their final elimination game then tallied a game-high 16 points in their Final Four victory over the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers.

Related: UAAP gives way in finals Game 3 schedule conflict with NCAA