ALL-AROUND GAME
RYAN Arana’s worth is being proven in each game he plays for Rain or Shine.
The Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week showed that for the period Dec. 24 to 30, when he helped the Elasto Painters rack up back-to-back wins that moved them within another win of making the Philippine Cup finals.
The southpaw guard was doing it all in the semifinals duel with San Mig Coffee, scoring, assisting, swiping the ball and making some hustle plays while taking his turn trying to shackle the likes of James Yap and PJ Simon.
“Si Ryan, he’s the kind of player who doesn’t complain about his playing time or the kind of role you want him to play and that makes him very welcome in our organization,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao of the former La Salle Green Archer, 12th pick overall in the 2007 draft.
“He has been known to be a scorer in his amateur days but here in the pros he’s been doing a bit of everything, especially on defense,” added Guiao. “Iyung puntos darating at darating sa kanya iyon pero he’s now priding himself more on making the needed stops.”
The 29-year-old has indeed been stepping up in a team full of role players.
Arana shared the limelight with teammates Gabe Norwood and Ronnie Matias in an 83-74 win in Game 4 of the best-of-seven series last Thursday, when he scored 13 points, nine in the third quarter that helped Rain or Shine take a 54-36 lead that acted as cushion.
He spiked that output by stealing the ball thrice, hauling down two rebounds and issuing as many feeds that propped the E-Painters’ drive to a 3-1 series lead.
That performance by Arana was eerily reminiscent of his exploits the game before on Christmas Day, when scattered all eight of his points in the second quarter that boosted them to a 51-32 halftime lead and into a 98-72 victory.
Arana went scoreless in Game 5 last Saturday, a 67-79 loss that denied Rain or Shine outright entry to its second straight finals. But Guiao firmly believes Arana will bounce back in a big way on Game 6 Thursday.
“He doesn’t take too many days off,” said Guiao.
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