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TAULAVA, YEO BEEF UP EXPRESS VS. TEXTERS
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DON’T be surprised if Talk N Text coach Norman Black and Air21 counterpart Franz Pumaren are not saying much nowadays. After all, their respective teams are on alarming skids and each tactician seems at a loss on how his team can snap out of it.
A glimpse of who between the Tropang Texters and Express can snap out of their doldrums and start salvaging the conference would be known Friday when they collide in the PBA Governors Cup at the PhilSports Arena.
A win is a must for both teams since another loss would seriously jeopardize their chances of making it past the nine-game eliminations.
Especially Air21, which has lost four in a row and seems incapable of snapping out of their funk. A surprise Friday, however, should go a long way in the Express’ stretch run, in which they take on Meralco Sunday and Alaska at elims end the Sunday after.
New acquisitions in a former MVP and an instant offensive threat can help Air21.
Asi Taulava, whose rights were acquired by the Express from Meralco in exchange for Mike Cortez and James Sena, is suiting up in the PBA for the first time since leaving Meralco at the end of last season and plying his wares in the ABL where he won MVP honors and helped San Miguel Beer to the crown.
The Express have also added teeth to their backcourt with the acquisition of Joseph Yeo from Petron for Mark Isip.
For its part, TNT is not yet in as portentous a position since its current slide only stands at two games. But the way his team got shredded to the tune of 88-122 by Petron Blaze last Wednesday made Black at a loss for words.
“Honestly, after last night, I don’t really have a comment,” said Black a day after the game in which his Texters were limited to just seven points in the second quarter and stared at several 40-plus deficits.
“I’m just hoping we get our acts together before it’s too late,” added Black.
Tony Mitchell could have given Black and his TNT teammates good reason to hope. But the reigning NBDL rookie of the year came up with his worst scoring performance yet against Petron with only seven points, which was 29 below his average.
The return of Gilas Pilipinas star Jimmy Alapag, completing the Texters’ roster, last Friday has also not led to the desired result as they also went down in a 104-112 loss to Alaska. Alapag did have 11 assists versus Petron.
In contrast to his TNT counterpart, Zach Graham has been consistent for Air21 with averages of 29.7 points and 10.8 rebounds and should now be able to exploit his height and quickness advantage over whoever is guarding him at either the 2- or 3-spots he plays in. (NC)
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EDITORS' PICK
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