(From Business World)
The semifinals of the ongoing Philippine Basketball Association Fiesta Conference hit the half-way mark today as the pairings engage in Game Four of their respective best-of-seven affairs; a critical juncture if ever there was one as it has the potential to make or break one team’s bid.
Going into the encounters the San Miguel Beermen and Alaska Aces carry a slight psychological advantage over the Derby Ace Llamados and Talk ’N Text Tropang Texters, respectively, as they are sporting a 2-1 series advantage. A victory by the Beermen and Aces propels them to solid footing as they move one step away from the magic number of 4 (victories) to advance to the finale. The Llamados and Texters emerging triumphant, however, changes the tone of both series.
But as the last two games in both brackets have taken the "unpredictable" route, calling the outcome of Game Four would be difficult to do.
Coming off an inspiring victory previously, the Beermen are on a high. Fashioning a come-from-behind triumph in Game Three they showed how flexible they are as a group in taking head-on whatever thrown their way. Key for San Miguel is its frontline which has outplayed its counterpart to date. Gabe Freeman (18.3 ppg, 18.6 rpg), Jay Washington (17.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg) and Arwind Santos (14 ppg, 5.6 rpg) have all been delivering in more ways than one to much success for their team. Focus and execution should be guarded upon though, as the team has also shown tendencies to lose grip at various stretches, opening opportunities for its opponent.
While by and large its frontcourt has been held in check by the Beermen, Derby Ace’s big men are still competing in all fairness. Import Tony Washam (26 ppg, 8.3 rpg) is still solid while Don Allado (8.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg) is surprisingly holding his own. But outside of the two, nobody from the team’s biggies has shown up on a consistent basis like they did in the earlier rounds. Luckily guard James Yap (19.6 ppg) is holding up his strong play up to this point to somehow cushion the team.
Consistency
If there is anything that is keeping Alaska humming in its series it is the fact that it is getting more consistency from its wards compared to its foe, most especially from its starters which have accounted for 70% of the team’s offensive output in the games that have been played. Most impressive has been import Diamon Simpson who is churning out stud-like numbers of 25 points and 16.6 rebounds in the series. A concern for the Aces, however, is the continued good performance of their bench to negate the depth advantage that Talk ’N Text has. Reserves Reynel Hugnatan (10 ppg), Larry Fonacier (8 ppg) and Tony Dela Cruz (5.3 ppg) have been chipping their fair share especially in their victories, but may need to add up some more as the series goes deep.
Talk ’N Text, for its part, has been blowing hot and cold, affecting its ability to put up a solid fight in the series. Of its players, it is only Ranidel De Ocampo (17 ppg, 6 rpg) and Harvey Carey (10.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg) who have been the most steady game in and game out. The rest have had their moments so far in the series but have not really put their stamp to it. Even import Shawn Daniels (9.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg) is performing "subpar" considering what is at stake. But the thing about the Texters is that they are an explosive lot, and when they do click all at the same time (and Game Four could very well be it) the possibilities are immense; making it hard to discount them altogether even if they are currently down.
Hitting an all-important point in the competition, today’s Game Four has an added significance to it. It could well be the series here, for all we know.
The semifinals of the ongoing Philippine Basketball Association Fiesta Conference hit the half-way mark today as the pairings engage in Game Four of their respective best-of-seven affairs; a critical juncture if ever there was one as it has the potential to make or break one team’s bid.
Going into the encounters the San Miguel Beermen and Alaska Aces carry a slight psychological advantage over the Derby Ace Llamados and Talk ’N Text Tropang Texters, respectively, as they are sporting a 2-1 series advantage. A victory by the Beermen and Aces propels them to solid footing as they move one step away from the magic number of 4 (victories) to advance to the finale. The Llamados and Texters emerging triumphant, however, changes the tone of both series.
But as the last two games in both brackets have taken the "unpredictable" route, calling the outcome of Game Four would be difficult to do.
Coming off an inspiring victory previously, the Beermen are on a high. Fashioning a come-from-behind triumph in Game Three they showed how flexible they are as a group in taking head-on whatever thrown their way. Key for San Miguel is its frontline which has outplayed its counterpart to date. Gabe Freeman (18.3 ppg, 18.6 rpg), Jay Washington (17.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg) and Arwind Santos (14 ppg, 5.6 rpg) have all been delivering in more ways than one to much success for their team. Focus and execution should be guarded upon though, as the team has also shown tendencies to lose grip at various stretches, opening opportunities for its opponent.
While by and large its frontcourt has been held in check by the Beermen, Derby Ace’s big men are still competing in all fairness. Import Tony Washam (26 ppg, 8.3 rpg) is still solid while Don Allado (8.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg) is surprisingly holding his own. But outside of the two, nobody from the team’s biggies has shown up on a consistent basis like they did in the earlier rounds. Luckily guard James Yap (19.6 ppg) is holding up his strong play up to this point to somehow cushion the team.
Consistency
If there is anything that is keeping Alaska humming in its series it is the fact that it is getting more consistency from its wards compared to its foe, most especially from its starters which have accounted for 70% of the team’s offensive output in the games that have been played. Most impressive has been import Diamon Simpson who is churning out stud-like numbers of 25 points and 16.6 rebounds in the series. A concern for the Aces, however, is the continued good performance of their bench to negate the depth advantage that Talk ’N Text has. Reserves Reynel Hugnatan (10 ppg), Larry Fonacier (8 ppg) and Tony Dela Cruz (5.3 ppg) have been chipping their fair share especially in their victories, but may need to add up some more as the series goes deep.
Talk ’N Text, for its part, has been blowing hot and cold, affecting its ability to put up a solid fight in the series. Of its players, it is only Ranidel De Ocampo (17 ppg, 6 rpg) and Harvey Carey (10.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg) who have been the most steady game in and game out. The rest have had their moments so far in the series but have not really put their stamp to it. Even import Shawn Daniels (9.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg) is performing "subpar" considering what is at stake. But the thing about the Texters is that they are an explosive lot, and when they do click all at the same time (and Game Four could very well be it) the possibilities are immense; making it hard to discount them altogether even if they are currently down.
Hitting an all-important point in the competition, today’s Game Four has an added significance to it. It could well be the series here, for all we know.
