WHIPPING BOYS NO MORE
The PBA returns to the Mall of Asia Arena with a battle between sister teams Barako Bull and Air21 on Saturday.
Lina Group teams face each other as the Express eye a share of the top spot in the 2014 PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup, while Barako Bull wants to bounce back and prime itself for a better run in this short conference.
Dominique Sutton impressed for Air21 in his first game, scoring 25 points and hauling down 10 rebounds in the Express’ 97-91 victory over Rain or Shine last Tuesday. The 27-year-old forward gave MVP contender Asi Taulava a much needed help down low, something which gives coach Franz Pumaren a lot of positives with tons of games stacked for the next few weeks.
“With Dominique, we established our inside presence aside from Asi (Taulava) being there. He won’t be pushed around, but he still has to learn the style of play in the PBA,” he said.
Pumaren also said that he’s been telling the players that the sense of urgency this conference should be at an all-time high, saying, “We should consider each game as a playoff game because of the short tournament. This conference, there’s no more playoff ties, it’s just a matter of quotient so every point is important for us.”
After a dream run to the semis last conference, the Express are also eyeing an exit from mediocrity after years of being tagged as cellar-dwellers, a welcome challenge to Pumaren’s guys,
“After that semis last conference, our mindset right now is not just to compete. It’s that we need to improve on our last conference’s standing and win as many games as possible,” he said.
“We’re no longer the old Air21, just competing and losing for a few points. Our goal right now is what we accomplished last conference is not a flash-in-a-pan, a fluke. We want to establish ourselves as serious contenders now.”
Meanwhile, the Energy eye redemption from their 66-76 loss to San Mig Coffee last Wednesday.
Eric Wise was his usual self in the game, notching a double-double of 25 points and 15 rebounds, but Barako Bull fell short against the Grand Slam-seeking Mixers.
Game time between the Express and the Energy (1-1) is at 2:45 p.m. (RL)
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