TIME TO SHINE
Jayson Castro shook off the long layoff rust and carried Talk ‘N Text to an 86-76 victory over San Mig Super Coffee Sunday in the 2014 PLDT Home TVolution PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals that leveled the series at one game apiece.
“He carried us offensively. He did a much better job reading the defense and knowing when to attack, and when to pass the basketball,” said Tropang Texters coach Norman Black of his prized guard.
The slashing guard from Guagua, Pampanga had 30 points, seven rebounds, and five assists in Game 2, a far cry from his 17-point, three-assist output in Game 1.
But the Best Point Guard in Asia just said that he is not the sole reason for their win, but rather, it was a total team effort.
“We limited our turnovers lang at yung transition defense namin. Yun yung naging keys this ball game,” he said. “Last game, we gave up 21 turnover points and 21 fastbreak points, so yun yung naging focus namin this game.”
He added, “Na-challenge din kami, at the same time, inisip namin yung mga adjustments na kailangan naming gawin kasi di lang naman ako eh, para sa buong team din to. Pinag-aralan namin yung defense na binibigay nila at yun yung kinuha namin, yung outside shots.”
A number of times in the ball game, defensive stopper Marc Pingris manned Castro in hopes of trying to stifle the Blur’s outbursts on the offensive end.
“He’s the one they target defensively. That’s why they’re putting Pingris on Jayson. I hope that when we watch the videos, we’ll get a much better game plan for him on Game 3,” TNT coach Norman Black said.
Castro also doesn’t just look at it as a walk in the park, familiar as he is with how stingy Pingris plays defense due to their stint with Gilas Pilipinas, saying, “Mahirap kalaban si Ping kasi defensive player yun.”
But as the old saying goes, patience is a virtue, something that Castro keeps in mind and also brings Talk ‘N Text a lot of positives.
“We run our offense up to the end. Once mag-early shot kami, nagkaka-transition points agad sila. We need to be patient on our offense kasi kung hindi, for sure, tatakbuhan nila kami. So for this game, kinontrol lang namin yung pace.”
Aside from the championship trophy, Castro is also primed for the Best Player of the Conference award. Going into the Finals, Castro is the frontrunner in the statistical points race.
But he just dismissed the idea and is focusing instead on the bigger task at hand.
“Sa kin, di naman sa individual ‘to eh. As a team lagi,” he said. “Kahit umiskor ako ng five points, basta manalo kami palagi, yun ako. Hindi yung 30 points yung score ko pero talo kami. More on team player ako. Kahit five points lang ako next game, basta panalo kami, ok ako dun.” (RL)
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