TAULAVA-LED NLEX GETS BACK ON TRACK
Call it the luck of the sky blue lowcut Chucks.
With his old pair of sneakers in tow, Asi Taulava walked on the old court of Ynares Center in Antipolo in hopes of ending NLEX’s three-game losing streak. And on Friday, the ageless one delivered a flashback performance reminiscent of his heydays.
Taulava anchored the Road Warriors to an imposing 104-84 victory over Blackwater in the 2015 PBA Philippine Cup with a huge double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds, along with his five assists on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting from the field.
“You don’t have to have expensive shoes to play in the PBA,” he said.
The Fil-Tongan big man almost had half of the Road Warriors’ 50 points in the paint, which really proved to be a big headache for head coach Leo Isaac and Blackwater.
Mac Cardona also had 21 points on an 8-of-12 field goal shooting to snap their skid.
In a battle between the two former developmental squads, the six-time D-League champions once again reigned supreme, torching the Elite with their 10-of-24 shooting from beyond the arc.
Jonas Villanueva stroke hot from three-point country, going 5-of-7 to wound up with 17 points, seven rebounds, and five dimes.
Aldrech Ramos, the overall three-point FG% leader this conference, also got his shots down, canning all of his three attempts from beyond the arc and got 16 markers, while Mark Borboran also had a pair of treys and finished with 10.
“We came back from a three-game losing streak. We worked hard on our execution both on defense and offense,” said NLEX head coach Boyet Fernandez as his Road Warriors improved their record to 3-4.
A 32-point outburst in the second quarter basically wrote the story for NLEX, as they jumped ahead to a 58-41 halftime lead and piled on the Elite in the third, with the lead reaching its highest at 25, 81-56, after a pair of Nino Canaleta freebies.
With its slump stopped, NLEX now focuses at the tough stretch ahead, with Rain or Shine and Alaska up next in their schedule next week.
“It’s a long way to go for us. We have tough games ahead with Rain or Shine and Alaska next, but if we continue what we’re doing in practice, we’ll be fine,” Fernandez said.
Ogie Menor’s outrageous hairstyle finally paid off in this game for Blackwater, as he had 15 points to pace the Elite.
However, Blackwater still fell to its eight straight defeat. (RL)
The scores:
NLEX 104 – Taulava 24, Cardona 21, J. Villanueva 17, Ramos 16, Borboran 10, E. Villanueva 8, Canaleta 3, Hermida 2, Raymundo 2, Apinan 1, Camson 0, W. Arboleda 0, Baloria 0.
Blackwater 84 – Menor 15, Celiz 11, Gamalinda 10, Faundo 9, Artadi 8, Salvacion 6, Heruela 6, Tiongson 4, Erram 4, Laure 4, Rodriguez 3, Nuyles 2, Timberlake 2, Ballesteros 0.
Quarterscores: 26-20, 58-41, 85-62, 104-84.
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