The key
match-up in last night’s main game between the San Mig Coffee Mixers and the
Rain or Shine Elasto-Painters was between two of the sweetest shooting players
this side of the basketball world – James Yap and Jeff Chan. Chan pretty much
outplayed Yap the whole game, but Yap ended up with the last laugh as the
Mixers pulled out a 1-point win after a frantic finish that saw the referees
review at least two calls in the last minute alone.
This got me
thinking about the best shooting guards in the local pro game today. Sure, Yap
and Chan are two of the most easily recognizable names when it comes to PBA
shooters, but who are the other notable off-guards out there? Effective
shooting guards need not be smooth-as-silk snipers, of course. They can be
great lock-down defenders or agile penetrators, too.
Let’s look
at some of the PBA’s best shooting guards NOT named James Yap and Jeff Chan.
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| James Yap and Jeff Chan are two of the best SGs in the PBA. Who else can be considered top-shelf? |
Willie Miller (BAR) – 17.7ppg, 6.3rpg,
6.2apg, 40.4 3pt%, 37.06 EFF
The Olongapo
native is all of 35 years old, but he’s still one of the best and wiliest
guards out there. He actually has the second-best EFF rating overall, right
behind Petron’s Arwind Santos (41.73 EFF).
Sol Mercado (MER) – 19.8ppg, 6.6apg,
1.1spg, 35.1 3pt%, 35.87 EFF
The one-time
Gilas starting guard continues to weave his way past defenders and make a
beeline to the hole for the Bolts. He currently leads the league in BOTH
scoring and assists.
Cyrus Baguio (ALA) – 15.8ppg, 4.2rpg,
2.9apg, 1.1bpg, 37.5 3pt%, 33.29 EFF
The former
Growling Tiger and Iligan City native is currently having his best season in an
Alaska uniform. He still jumps way high, but he doesn't just use his hops for
aerial acrobatics. Baguio has also been swatting shots quite well this season
as he’s currently the fourth-best shot-blocker in the league.
Mark Caguioa (GIN) – 18.5ppg, 4.7rpg,
1.0spg, 32.60 EFF
Caguioa is
enjoying his best season since 2008, though a quick glance at his stat-line
reveals that, unlike the three guys above him on this list, “The Spark” is
pretty much a one-sided player. His 28.3% 3pt shooting is also a personal-worst
since the 2009-2010 season.
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| Mark Caguioa may have become a one-sided shell of his old MVP self. |
Mac Cardona (MER) – 13.7ppg, 4.9rpg,
2.6apg, 47.9 FG%, 36.4 3pt%, 29.74 EFF
Mercado’s
backcourt mate makes his way on this list by virtue of his outstanding
efficiency on the offensive end. His field goal percentage should belong to a
big man, while his 3pt shooting is a clear improvement over last season’s 28.6%
accuracy. If there’s a chink in “Captain Hook’s” armor, however, it’s his FT
shooting – he makes under 64% of his charity attempts.
*This list was limited to those listed as
SHOOTING GUARDS according to PBA-Online.net. Chris Lutz, who had a pretty high
EFF rating was listed as a FORWARD.
Game Recaps:
BARAKO BULL ENERGY COLAS
over BGY. GINEBRA GIN KINGS, 83-79
Barako Bull
held off a late charge by Barangay Ginebra San Miguel to come away with an
83-79 victory Sunday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
The win
comes at a crucial time for Barako Bull, which snapped a four-game losing
streak to move into a tie with idle Air 21 for the final quarterfinal spot with
identical 4-9 records. The Energy Colas did it at the expense of what had been
the hottest team in the tournament, as Ginebra had won five straight matches
coming into the game.
“Siguro
dahil sa napakagandang laro ng Ginebra last time, the tendency is to go down.
But without taking away the effort of the players, we really played a hell of a
defense. Ngayon pa lang gumagana yung defense na gusto naming mangyari, which
we tried to adopt ever since my good friend coach Junel Baculi was coaching the
team,” said Barako Bull coach Bong Ramos, who won his first PBA game since
returning to the helm of the squad.
“Our defense
was there even during our game against Meralco where we limited Sol Mercado,
the No.1 scorer in the league as well as Mark Cardona and Ronjay Buenafe.
Sadly, nakalusot lang yung mga role players nila, like Kelly Nabong.”
Barako Bull
led for most of the first half, before Ginebra opened with a hot third quarter
to briefly take the lead, 39-38, on a Rico Maierhofer layup. But the Energy
Colas ended the period with a 13-7 run to take a 52-45 advantage heading into
the final period.
The rampage
continued for Barako Bull in the fourth quarter, pushing the lead to 11 points,
58-47, on a Ronald Tubid three-pointer. Mark Caguioa scored four points in a
quick 6-2 Ginebra run, before Barako Bull rattled off a 10-2 blast to take its
biggest lead, 70-55.
There was
plenty of fight left in Ginebra, which rallied with Caguioa on the bench once
more to cut the Barako advantage to just five points, 76-71. But Roger Yap, who
scored 14 points and handed out five assists, hit a crucial three-pointer with
less than a minute left to push the lead out of reach, 79-71.
Ronald Tubid
scored 18 points to lead five players in double figures for Barako Bull, while
Leo Najorda had 12 of his 14 points in the second half.
Ginebra’s
win-loss record dropped to 7-6 into a three-way tie for fourth to sixth places
with Alaska and Meralco.
BAR 83 – Tubid 18, Najorda 14, Yap 14,
Cruz 10, Seigle 10, Kramer 6, Pennisi 6, Anthony 4, Ballesteros 1.
GIN 79 – Helterbrand 18, Caguioa 13,
Ellis 12, Mamaril 12, Maierhofer 8, Tenorio 8, Raymundo 6, Wilson 2, Taha 0,
Maliksi 0, Espiritu 0, Hatfield 0.
QS: 16-17, 29-26, 52-45, 83-79
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| Celino Cruz reacts to getting floored as the Energy Colas beat the Gin Kings. |
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| Danny Seigle tries to drive past Ginebra rookie Chris Ellis. |
SAN MIG COFFEE MIXERS over RAIN
OR SHINE ELASTO-PAINTERS, 93-92
The San Mig
Coffee Mixers tightened its grip on second place in the Philippine ciup
standings, but not before surviving a scare from the Rain or Shine Elasto
Painters, 93-92, Sunday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
It was the
ninth win in 12 games for the Mixers, who had to make two crucial defensive
stops in the last nine seconds to come away with the victory.
San Mig
Coffee squandered a double-digit fourth quarter lead against Rain or Shine,
which also rallied from a big deficit to win in the two teams’ first meeting.
The Mixers
were still up four points, 93-89, with 11.5 seconds when Marc Pingris fouled
Jeff Chan from beyond the arc. The Rain or Shine sharpshooter made all three of
his free throws, before the Elasto Painters forced a turnover on Peter June
Simon, the game’s top scorer with 24 points.
“We didn’t
play smart in the endgame. We fouled on a three-point shot attempt, which is
not a smart thing to do,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone, who paid tribute
to his counterpart Yeng Guiao after the match.
“I was in a
quandary in the last nine seconds. Coach Yeng Guiao made a smart move, calling
two 20 seconds timeouts. I had to decide whether I have to make a timeout or
not, If I do, then I wouldn’t have a timeout to call in our next play, so I
inserted our defensive unit in there.”
Simon’s
turnover gave the Elasto Painters two final chances to win the game, but
Pingris foiled an attempt by Chan before Rafi Reavis forced Beau Belga into a
miss.
Joe Devance
added 20 points for San Mig Coffee, making up for the poor performance of top
gun James Yap. The two-time Most Valuable Player scored just nine points on
3-of-15 shooting from the field and was miserable from the free throw line
(3-of-7). But he had one crucial play down the stretch, intercepting the pass
of rookie Chris Tiu, and converting on a lay up that gave San Mig Coffee a
92-86 lead inside the final two minutes.
With the
win, San Mig Coffee moved a game and a half clear of Rain or Shine for second
place, which comes with it a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals. The
Elasto Painters’ win-loss record dropped to 8-5.
SMC 93 – Simon 24, Devance 20, De
Ocampo 14, Pingris 10, Yap 9, Villanueva 8, Barroca 3, Reavis 3, Ramos 2, Intal
0, Gonzales 0.
ROS 92 – Chan 21, Matias 18, Belga 13,
Tiu 12, Arana 12, Cruz 7, Norwood 4, Rodriguez 3, Quinahan 2, Tang 0.
QS: 25-17, 47-37, 69-60, 93-92
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| Mark Barroca gets aggressive against the Rain or Shine defense. |
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| Beau Belga and the Painters got knocked off by Marc Pingris and the Mixers. |
Source: Unless otherwise specified, game
recaps were compressed and compiled from InterAKTV. (Writing credit to Rey
Joble.)
Images: All images are from InterAKTV.
(Photo credit to Paolo Papa & Pranz Kaeno Billones)
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