THE MACAU TEAM IS THE BONUS STAGE AT THIS POINT

After the disastrous loss the all-PBA Gilas Pilipinas squad suffered at the hands of China in the Asian Games, the PBA has been quiet with its moves, as it may have finally realized how bad the state of basketball is in the country.

And of course, basketball isn't dead in the Philippines, as evidenced by the overload of televised games right now. It's just that we are beginning to realize that, for sure, the PBA isn't helping with the "innovations" they are making.

The four-point line is never going to help the players in international competitions, and honestly, the PBA is just keeping it there so it can save face after all the shame it brought.

The other "innovation" they had to contend with is the Macau Giant Black Panda Bear Knights, or whatever their name is.

I am so happy NLEX destroyed Macau by 60 points, which is the highest winning margin in PBA history, because a team like Blackwater, given their flaws, does not deserve such a bad record.

I mean, not only did they lose four of their top five scorers, but Macau also didn't exactly replace them.

While Oscar Lopez did well in his first game as De'Vondre Perry's replacement and Kobey Lam tried in vain to put up numbers, along with the contributions of Damian Chongqui, Ramon Cao, Jenning Leung, and Jeffrey Ma, the Giant Pandas only had nine players, six of whom had just three or four attempts, to try to win a battle that had already been decided in the first three minutes of the opening quarter.

I know Macau is already out of contention, but for Chongqui, Leung, and Cao to leave their team high and dry makes the PBA look weak for even accommodating their inclusion in the Governors' Cup.

I mean, they asked to play despite their poor Commissioner's Cup win-loss record.

The PBA had teams either playing ten or twelve games in the current conference to accommodate them. The PBA gets nothing from giving them this much attention, and they are just adding another twelve games to the schedule that no fan would give a damn about because they know the Giant Pandas aren't in the conference to win.

The saving grace for them is the possibility of an upset, but how can they possibly do that with their current lineup? Macau still has Terrafirma, TNT, and Converge to finish their conference.

Jeffrey Ma is still in their lineup, and Marcus Elliott may come back to help them end their participation on a high note. But with, I guess, just three workable scoring options, I don't know how they'll get out of this bind.

Maybe it's in their best interest to avoid losing by 60 points in a game and instead try to score a combined 60 points in three games?

That said, the PBA must know better by now than to let Macau into the PBA ever again because, besides bringing nothing new to the league, they are just making the PBA look even more secondary compared to the other professional leagues on the continent.