ALASKA SCORES 4TH STRAIGHT W
With supposedly a sore foot, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel import Josh Powell played just 15 minutes, giving Alaska a big opening to keep its hot streak and seize solo third place in the PLDT Home TVolution PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday night.
The Aces clobbered the Kings, 83-73, to close in on the second-running San Miguel Beermen (6-2) after a fourth straight win and fifth in eight games in all.
Alaska gets a playoff shot at a twice-to-beat bonus in the quarterfinals if it wins its last elims game against San Mig Coffee coupled by a San Miguel Beer loss to Air21.
Ginebra reeled with a fifth loss against three wins as it was practically abandoned by Powell.
Team official Robert Non said Powell is flying home Monday to attend an invite received from the Houston Rockets in the NBA. Possible replacement is either Andre Emmett or Charles Thomas.
Powell called it a night just four minutes into the second quarter in his farewell PBA game.
“They (the Kings) didn’t give up. But obviously, they’re very different without Powell,” said Alaska coach Luigi Trillo.
“But I want to commend our boys. We got a big lead when Powell was still there. I thought we did a good job in the first half,” Trillo also said.
The Aces pulled away early with Powell playing half-hearted, going 0-of-5 from the field in 15 minutes of action. His only contribution was grabbing five rebounds.
Alaska simply pounced on the Powell-less Ginebra side and broke free from a tie with the Mixers (4-3) at second place.
Despite the loss, Ginebra booked an outright quarters entry, though, on GlobalPort’s 98-96 nipping of Barako Bull earlier in the day.
Making the Final Eight cast are Talk n Text, San Miguel Beer, San Mig Super Coffee, Alaska, Meralco, Rain or Shine, Air21 and Ginebra. Left to be determined are the quarterfinal pairings.
Rob Dozier piled up 22 points and 16 rebounds while Jvee Casio and Dondon Hontiveros contributed 13 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Aces who erected an 18-point spread right in the first half and utterly dominated the Kings to the finish.
Greg Slaughter led the losing team with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Ginebra needs to win its last game in the elims against Rain or Shine to have a shot at a spot in the best-of-three quarterfinals. (SB)
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