ALASKA, PETRON, BAGUIO SOARING HIGH
This week in Hits & Misses, we feature a player and his team on the rise after a slow start, two imports who provided spark for their respective squads, one local player who continues to go airborne and a player trying to make a reputation as a playmaker and game changer. We also saw the most popular team skidding to its third straight defeat and two slumping former Most Valuable Players, two imports packing their bags early and the slowing down of a hardworking starting point guard.
HITS
Alaska, Petron Blaze – No question, these two teams are the hottest in the week that was.
Alaska has remained unbeaten in three matches and has kept itself on top of the team standings following victories over erstwhile unbeaten Barako Bull (77-73) and Meralco (85-81).
Petron Blaze, on the other hand, shook off a poor start, giving sister teams San Mig Coffee and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel a big spanking.
The Boosters have improved their card to 2-1, forging a three-way tie for second to fourth places with the Barako Bull Energy Colas and the GlobalPort Batang Pier.
Cyrus Baguio – There’s no limit for the Skyrus.
Fans were still at a high on his heroic performance when Alaska scraped past Rain or Shine when the high-leaping swingman made the game-winning scoop shot at the buzzer, but the 6-foot-2 guard/forward has no plans of slowing down.
In the past two games, Baguio averaged 13.5 points, 2.5 steals and a block, earning him Player of the Week honors from the PBA Press Corps.
Jay Washington – Last week, Washington was included on the misses list as his listless start was a big factor in Petron Blaze’s loss to the GlobalPort Batang Pier on opening day.
But the 6-foot-7 forward bounced back strong with two solid games and helped steer the Boosters to back-to-back victories and into solid contention in the Commissioner’s Cup.
Washington, a multiple winner of the Best Player of the Conference award, averaged 15.5 points. He made all but one of his field goal attempts during his team’s 105-90 rout of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings.
Renaldo Balkman – Petron was looking for energy and the NBA veteran Balkman provided more than that.
Balkman has been showing everyone the stuff he’s made of, rocking the coliseum with his rim-rattling slams and solid all-around play. Balkman averaged 31 points, 12.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and two blocks in the two games his team won.
Justin Williams – At least for the last two games, Williams has earned a reputation as the league’s new rebounding and shot blocking demon.
Not known for his offensive prowess, the 6-foot-11 NBA veteran averaged 25 rebounds and 5.5 blocks as his monster numbers more than made up for his so-so scoring.
With Gary David, Sol Mercado and sometimes Japeth Aguilar and Willie Miller taking the cudgels offensively, Williams’ brand of game suits best the Batang Pier, shades of Bill Russell to the Boston Celtics during the 1960s.
Sol Mercado – Ths guy isn’t done with his Magic Johnson impersonation.
For three games, the stocky, firebrand guard has averaged in double-double in points and assists. He capped his brilliant performance by guiding his team to its second win in three games, finishing with 12 points and 13 assists.
With Sol in control, the Batang Pier have sent notice that they’re dead serious in wiping away the specter of their forgettable performance in the Philippine Cup.
MISSES
Herbert Hill, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel – Zero and three. That’s the record of import Herbert Hill and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel together that led to their parting of ways.
Hill was supposed to be replaced earlier, but his replacement, Vernon Macklin, had to attend to important family matters that delayed his trip to the Philippines.
Hill’s performance was sub par compared to the nine other reinforcements. He averaged 18.3 points, 16 rebounds, 4.7 turnovers and a horrendous 43.8% shooting from the foul line, numbers that are not decent enough to translate to victories for the Kings.
Matt Rogers, San Mig Coffee – He missed the first game of San Mig Coffee during the tournament’s opening night.
After playing his first, Matt Rogers will miss the rest of the tournament.
Rogers was given the pink slip after failing to impress in the Coffee Mixers’ game against the Perton Blaze Boosters where he was completely outclassed by Renaldo Balkman.
Meralco Bolts – Their performance was electrifying in their debut game in the tournament, but the Meralco Bolts had a power outage in the next two games.
After a monstrous showing in his first game, import Eric Dawson was grounded by defenders thrown at him, be it fellow import or local players.
He debuted with 37 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and two steals, but in the next two games, he was held to just 19 points, 12. 5 rebounds and three turnovers.
That affected the performance of the local players as well as they failed to adjust when their import was shut down.
Jimmy Alapag, Kelly Williams – Two of the Most Valuable Players in the Talk N Text Tropang Texters line up and two of the senior members of the national team training pool were totally out of sync for their squad.
Alapag and Williams were each held scoreless, but the Tropang Texters’ mighty line up was able to bail them out in the team’s 86-83 win over the Air21 Express.
But it nearly cost them.
The Express battled back from a huge deficit and made a game out of it until the final possession where they had a chance to tie the game and send the match into overtime.
It would have been a more trouble-free ride had the Texters gotten more from Alapag and Williams.
Mark Barroca – People regarded this wily court general as the forgotten member of SMART-Gilas, but he has a bigger responsibility as chief quarterback of San Mig Coffee.
While Barroca made a good impression, showing maturity in his sophomore season, particularly during the Philippine Cup where he provided stability in San Mig Coffee’s backcourt, the same cannot be said in the first two games of the Coffee Mixers in the current conference where the man known as “The Coffee Prince” struggled.
He averaged just three points and missed all of the six three-pointers he attempted in 26 minutes of average playing time.
These are certainly not the numbers Tim Cone is looking for in his lead point guard. (RJ)
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
