We’ve always heard or read
about how the Philippines produces some of the best guards in Asia. In the most
recent FIBA Asia Championships held here in Manila, we saw how true that was.
Guys like Jayson Castro, Jimmy Alapag, and LA Tenorio ran Gilas Pilipinas with
great efficiency, helping our team return to the World Cup of Basketball.
In the current 2013-2014
PBA Philippine Cup, other playmakers have also come to fore, and we will look
at some of them today.
Anyway, here they are –
the top five point guards in the 2013-2014 PBA season as of January 9, 2014:
5. Alex Cabagnot (PET) – 12.8ppg, 4.3rpg, 5.2apg, 1.7 triples per game,
38.5 3pt%, 30.2 EFF
- I’m sure Alex would’ve
wanted more wins, but I guess he could settle for fifth best point guard right
now. Despite playing better basketball than he did last season, Cabaggie hasn’t
been able to help Petron sustain its strong start. The Boosters have lost three
of their last four games and are now in a tie for second spot with the
Elasto-Painters.
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| Alex Cabagnot remains one of the PBA's top playmakers. (image by Paolo Papa/AKTV) |
4. Mike Cortez (MER) – 12.2ppg, 3.6rpg, 6.4apg, 1.3 triples per game,
39.4 3pt%, 52.1 FG%, 84.6 FT%, 32.0 EFF
- It’s a pity we won’t be
seeing Cortez for a few months (damned knee injury) because he’s been playing
some of the best basketball of his pro career since the season started. He’s
been norming career-highs in assists, field goal percentage, and free throw
percentage, and he hasn’t scored this much since the ’05-’06 season. We’ll wait
for your return, Cool Cat.
3. Mark Barroca (SMC) – 14.5ppg, 5.3rpg, 4.6apg, 2.3spg, 34.3 EFF
- It goes without saying
that the Coffee Prince is having his best PBA season so far. He’s putting up
career-bests in almost all major stat categories, and he has become the undisputed
top playmaker for the Mixers. Oh, and also leads the league in steals! SMC also
seems to be on the mend, winning three of their last five outings.
2. Sol Mercado (GLO) – 20.2ppg, 4.1rpg, 4.3apg, 1.2 triples per game,
36.0 EFF
- The Sol Train is
currently the fourth-best scorer in the league, and that’s despite having
someone like Terrence Romeo on the GlobalPort roster to boot! He exploded for
35 points against the Air 21 Express on Christmas Day, though the Batang Pier
ended up losing that encounter. Still, that performance reminded everyone again
of how good Mercado is. He connected on 5 triples in that game, shooting 14/24
overall from the floor.
1. Jayson Castro (TNT) – 20.3ppg, 5.3rpg, 5.2apg, 2.1 triples per game,
41.8 3pt%, 86.1 FT%, 40.0 EFF
- The best point guard in
Asia continues to dominate in the PBA, with career-high numbers in scoring,
rebounding, assists, three-point shooting, and free throw shooting. As a
result, the Texters are among the top four teams and are on-track for the
knockout rounds. Castro is one of the prime candidates for the Best Player of
the Conference and is an early frontrunner in the MVP race, too.
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| Jayson Castro's star continues to shine. (image by Leslie Sy/AKTV) |
Outside looking in:
LA Tenorio (GIN) – 30.1
EFF
JV Casio (ALA) – 28.5 EFF
Denok Miranda (BAR) – 27.8
EFF
1 Comment
how about joseph yeo???
Balas