RIO DE JANEIRO (William Rosario's Somewhere in the Americas) - Today one of my favorite events of the international basketball calendar year kicks off for a second consecutive year in Rio de Janeiro. The Final Four of the 2015 DIRECTV Liga de las Americas comes back to defending champion Flamengo's home with what promises to be an exciting conclusion to the continental competition.

The title of this week's column says it all for me. We have three former continental champions and the team everybody seems to be picking to upset Flamengo.

When this season began, I made a case for how this year was special and even more so that coincided with the beginning of the new TV contract for the league. 

Penarol de Mar del Plata, Pioneros de Quintana Roo and Flamengo are big basketball markets in their respective countries and the stars realigned for them to be a part of this 2015 edition, and to make it to the Final Four is the cherry on top. Argentina, Brasil and Mexico in the big dance. 

But still, Bauru is supposed to win it all. The team has been practically perfect in this 2014-2015 run. Since last October, the team has a record of 61-4 in the Paulista League (state), NBB (national), South American League and the Liga de las Americas (international). And they have done it in dominating fashion. In the Sudamericana and Liga de las Americas alone they are undefeated and averaging a margin of victory of 24.2 points per game. They have won every game by more than 10 points. 

They do it by having too many weapons. Their depth is incredible. Six players are averaging more than 10 points per game in a very physical and aggressive style of play. To see Bauru on the court for 40 minutes is to immediately gather that they just plainly beat you down. Going against Alex García, Rafael Hettsheimeir and Murilo Becker for a full game is no easy task. Teams compete with them for one, maybe two quarters and then it's over. 

Bauru will face Penarol in the Semi-Final game, a team that seems made for them. The Mar del Plata squad rests on two key factors: they know how to play the game and their two most important players have been through it all. Their only hope in this match-up seems to reside in how patient and surgical they can be in their execution. Penarol cannot fall into the trap and try to play up to the tempo of the scoring machine that is Bauru. Their goal must be to minimize possessions, try to hang in there until the fourth quarter and then trust that Leo Gutierrez and Martin Leiva's leadership can help them pull off the miracle. 

Their biggest problem is that they don't have a big trustworthy rotation and even more now that Justin Giddens has been sidelined with a left knee injury for this Final Four. He was big for them with a subtle 9.0 points per game and more importantly with a team-leading 6+ rebounds per game that will be needed against the paint pitbulls of Bauru.

Penarol's bench must not be underestimated though. They averaged 27.8 points per game and have produced some big performances out of Luciano Massarelli, Alejandro Diez and Facundo Giorgetti, the 22-year-old Argentinean prospect who now must fill in for Giddens in the biggest of games at the club level. 

The other Sem-Final game has Pioneros against Flamengo in a re-match of their fantastic first round match-up in which the Mexican club pulled off a big upset by defeating the defending champs by the score of 86-81. 

Pioneros is one of those crazy talented teams that can do precisely that and shock the world by way of having a perfect game. They did it in 2012 in Formosa, Argentina's Final Four. Nobody expected them to come in and win, but they had nothing to lose, played with house money and beat everybody to lift the trophy. Now they must repeat that feat, but on a far bigger scale. They have to beat Flamengo in front of one of the most amazing atmospheres in the Americas.

But they have a puncher's chance. Their roster is filled with streaky players that can have an unbelievable performance at any moment. Their frontcourt is solid. Both Justin Keenan (the leading scorer in the Liga de las Americas with 17.7 points per game) and Mexican national team standout Hector Hernandez can play with anybody. They can bang and have a versatile enough game to be a factor against Flamengo. 

Their offense is also very nicely distributed with five players averaging in double figures, with Romel Beck and Brody Angley as surprise elements. But they are inconsistent and they have not played on the road yet in this Liga de las Americas. To face Flamengo as your first international road test in years is a biggie. It will be an uphill battle for sure. 

Flamengo is still Flamengo. This is the same team that dominated the 2014 Liga de las Americas and that beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv for the Intercontinental Cup last September. Their core group is still comprised of high-IQ point guard Nicolas Laprovittola, the sharpshooter veteran Marcelinho Machado and versatile small forward Marquinhos. But they have added the great Walter Herrmann and seen Olivinha become an important X-factor. 

Both of them are putting up some impressive numbers for the defending champs. Herrmann is leading the team with 17.2 points per game, shooting 53 percent from the field, while Olivinha is averaging 15.0 points per game, along with a league leading 9.0 rebounds per game. That's pretty good for a bench player.

They are still a fast-paced scoring machine that moves the ball quickly and that can capitalize on their opponents' mistakes like no other. But they have also uncharacteristically looked inconsistent in this 2015 edition of the competition. On both occasions losing big leads. First, Pioneros beat them after trailing by more than 20 points in their first round match-up and then Penarol almost pulled off a huge 22-point comeback in the Semi-Finals. 

They'll have their fans though and it is no small thing. Flamengo has consistently packed houses in these big games and in my opinion; it gives them the edge to repeat. But it will be fantastic.

It is pretty special to watch a hyped-up South American crowd sing, dance and jump for a full 40-minute game. It's something that does not exist anywhere else in the Americas. The NBA does not have it. It is a collective joy, a life-long passion for team that cannot be understood by those of us that grew up outside of the club system.

And it happens about twice a year, if the right team is hosting the right competition at the perfect climactic moment. It happened in Penarol in 2008 and 2010, in Aguada last year during the Sudamericana, and in Rio de Janeiro for both the Liga de las Americas and the Intercontinental Cup. It will happen again this weekend. I see around 200 plus games a year and it is unique, a high point for us basketball lovers. Let's enjoy it once more.

William Rosario

FIBA

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