DE OCAMPO POWERS TALK ‘N TEXT TO 2-0 LEAD
Talk n Text beat Rain or Shine in an up-tempo battle for the second straight night, and coach Norman Black later expressed confidence they won’t lose this kind of duel in the series.
“I still expect them to come up with a lot of energy and push the pace. I’m sure they’re going to continue that. The question is will we run out of gas? I don’t think we will,” said Black, ecstatic after Talk n Text made it two in a row in the PBA Philippine Cup finals.
Ranidel de Ocampo and Jayson Castro, the team’s lead lights all tournament long, were again TnT’s men of the moment, leading the Texters to an 89-81 win over Elasto Painters at the MOA Arena in Pasay Friday night.
Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao said they still couldn’t establish good rhythm, and “it’s lights out” if they are not able to stop the Texters in Game Three.
For the record, 33 of 39 teams that enjoyed a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series went on to win it.
“We are up 2-0, but as far as I’m concerned we’re long ways to go. We’ll still concentrate and focus on the job at hand,” said Black.
De Ocampo and Castro, both contenders for the Best Player of the Conference award, both played big as usual, combining for 45 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
De Ocampo, however, made the biggest impact at the finish, scoring six of their last nine points to personally fend off the E-Painters.
“They went small and we’re able to post up Ranidel out there,” said Black.
De Ocampo top scored with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting and the entire Talk n Text team hit at a 44.6 percent clip as against Rain or Shine’s 35.5 percent shooting.
“We’re still struggling with our shooting. It’s like the continuation of Game One shooting wise. We can’t get shooting rhythm,” said Guiao.
“Despite that, we had a chance to win. We led by six but we just couldn’t make the big plays at the finish. It’s really the experience of Talk n Text that’s making the difference right now,” Guiao added.
De Ocampo put in a personal conference high of 24 points that went with nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. And he was most solid in the crunch, pounding the defense of Jervy Cruz.
Game Two was a virtual repeat of Game One where the Tropang Texters came out strong to dominate the first half and showed mental toughness to hold off the E-Painters at the finish.
Down by one, 75-76, with 5:15 left to play, the Texters unleashed a 14-5 finishing run to make it two in a row and put more pressure on the E-Painters.
Castro and De Ocampo combined for 23 points as the Texters led by as many as 11, 42-31, before sitting on a 44-35 cushion at the half.
The Texters took another 11-point spread at 53-42 before the E-Painters made a key run to surge ahead, 61-57, in the third period.
Kelly Williams beat the buzzer with a triple from the right flank as TnT tied the count at 63-all at the end of the quarter.
Jimmy Alapag issued two assists in the first half as he improved to No. 10 in the league’s all-time assists ladder with 2,854, moving past Bernie Fabiosa. Top Three are Robert Jaworski, Ramon Fernandez and Dindo Pumaren. (SB)
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