Game 1 arrived and boy did Talk N Text deliver. My Hoops “teammate” Chrisangelo Jacinto had it good when he said that TNT will deliver.
The guy is a Ginebra diehard but he
said if the Tropang Texters gets
their groove on... the Kings will
fight a weak and strenuous war.
Game 1
ended and the Tropang Texters finished the Barangay
Ginebra Kings, 102 to 83.
IMPORT DUEL
Both
of them stuck for their respective squads and one of them will win the Best Import Award. Paul Harris went nuts while Nate
Brumfield grew stale. Harris unloaded 28 points while Nate struggled with
ten. Harris had ten more made attempts (13 to 3), nine more rebounds (15 to 6),
and two more steals (2 to 0). Brumfield had more assists (4 to 0) and tied
Harris in the blocks (1 each) and turnovers department (3 each).
In my
opinion and with Brumfield’s inconsistency as the conference lengthens, Harris
should win the Best Import Award.
PBFANTASY: LOCAL
STAT LEADERS
If you
haven’t used RANIDEL DE OCAMPO, then
you are lucky. Ranidel had 29 minutes
and produced 10 points, 13 rebounds, 3
assists, and 3 steals. For Ginebra, Mark
Caguioa is something you can count on. Caguioa finished the match with 23 points, 8 rebounds, an assist and a
steal in 30 minutes of action. Willie Miller’s minutes have grown less and
less as the playoffs progresses and that makes The Spark a notable player to pick next week. Finishing the top
performers in statlandia are Larry
Fonacier, Jason Castro, and Rudy Hatfield.
BIG GAMES IN
GAME 1
Ryan Reyes led the Tropang Texters in
points with 19. Caguioa was the man for the Kings but then the only other
double-digit scorer for the Kings aside from Brumfield was seldom used
superstar JC Intal (10). Jason
Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo joined Reyes in the double-digit club but fact is,
Harris had 18 more points than Brumfield. Fonacier and Castro shackled Ginebra’s
backcourt with their defense and made up for Jimmy Alapag’s three points. Expect Alapag and Ronald Tubid to bounce back in their
so-so performances. Fonacier had bonus stats written all over him and while he
was good for only nine points, he had 7
rebounds, 4 assists and a steal.
GAME 2
Extended
ball possessions will be an important key here. Brumfield is an inside operator
so having 6 rebounds is certainly unacceptable. Rudy Hatfield cleaned the boards with 10 but with Caguioa grabbing
8, you can’t help but wonder the importance of drawing big games from Yancy de Ocampo and Billy Mamaril.
Yancy was great in the Smart-Gilas series and using him for only three minutes
against a team loaded with bigs is bull. Mamaril had four points and five rebounds... in six minutes. Use him as well!
When TNT forces Brumfield out of the shaded area, he automatically becomes a
non-scorer. This is another reason why Harris will win the Best Import Award –
because Harris rebounds and at the same time has the ability to shoot jumpers.
I
expect the Kings to bounce back from their Game 1 debacle.
Question
is though... will TNT let them?
(I’m
going on a vacation so expect me to miss Game 2 and create an entry for Game 3.)
Game
over.
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