2014 PBA Governors’ Cup: Painters and Aces seal semifinal cast!

Top: Gabe Norwood and the Painters break into the Govs' Cup semis!
Bottom: JV Casio hits a dagger three to insure Alaska's win over Ginebra!

Game notes:
-  AZ Reid looks to be a promising candidate for the conference’s Best Import. In Rain or Shine’s big quarterfinal win over Air 21, Reid dropped 30 points on 12/17 FG shooting while also grabbing 11 rebounds and handing out 6 assists. 

- Larry Rodriguez also stepped up with his best game of the conference yet. The Philippine Maritime Institute product scored a dozen points in just 13 minutes of action to help push the Painters to the semifinals.

- Dom Sutton tried his best to carry the Express, but in the end not even his 35 points, 18 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block could save Air 21’s season. Asi Taulava also had a bit of a subpar game, recording 11 markers, 8 caroms, and 4 dimes.

- Balance was the name of the game for the Aces, who had six guys scoring in double-figures and two more with at least 7 points. The Aces had a slow start, but recovered in the second quarter and survived a highly-physical affair for the huge W.

- Ginebra’s two young bigs, Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter, stepped up as import Zack Mason went out injured. Aguilar had 18 points and 7 rebounds, while Slaughter dropped 16 and 16. Sadly, their sterling efforts were in vain as Ginebra bid goodbye to the season with a sorry loss.

2014 PBA Governors’ Cup: Bolts end season with a bang and Beermen get revenge!

Top: Gary David's offensive explosion ended Merlaco's season with a big bang.
Bottom: Sol Mercado and the Beermen gained a measure of vengeance
against the Air 21 Express.

Game notes:
- “El Granada” Gary David left another performance to remember, hitting 6 three-pointers on his way to a game-high 33 points to lead Meralco past GlobalPort, 123-95. David was 11/20 from the field overall on top of 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal.

- Mario West, Reynel Hugnatan, and Cliff Hodge were all solid in the paint, scoring a combined 62 points and grabbing a total of 33 boards. West actually racked up a triple-double with 30 markers, 13 caroms, and 12 assists.

- Meralco’s final standing is 3-6, which puts them out of the final eight, while the Batang Pier end the conference at a lowly 1-8.

- The second game saw a heated encounter between San Miguel Beer and Air 21, with the former coming through and gaining a bit of revenge with a 101-88 victory. Reggie Williams uncorked 4 treys on his way to 27 points to lead SMB to its fifth win in nine starts. 

- In a battle of two top-level centers, June Mar Fajardo slightly got the better of Asi Taulava. Fajardo finished with 20 points on 6/8 FG shooting along with 9 rebounds while Taulava tallied 18 markers and 10 boards. 

- Sol Mercado played one of his best as a member of the Beermen here, dropping 16 points on top of 7 rebounds and 5 dimes.

2014 PBA Governors’ Cup: Painters, Energy Cola, Express, and Kings gain ground!

The Painters, Energy Cola, Express, and Gin Kings had
big wins in the past two days!

Game notes: 
- Neither Raymond Almazan nor Alex Nuyles will be named Rookie of the Year this season, but both certainly have the potential to be consistent impact players in the future. Almazan’s size, length, and timing can make him a much better version of Rafi Reavis, while Nuyles might have the makings of a nouveau Cyrus Baguio. In their win over Meralco, both rookies paired up for 18 points. Almazan also added 15 boards and 4 blocks!

- Don’t look now, but the arrival of Allen Durham seems to have made Barako Bull a dark horse title contender. Since his arrival, Durham has led the Energy Cola to big wins over GlobalPort (blasted the Batang Pier by 24) and then the stacked Tropang Texters (5-1 before that game) last night. In two games, Durham is norming around 30 points, 27 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 blocks. His player efficiency rating is an eye-popping 75.0 EFF!!!

- After netting its fifth win in eight games this conference, Air 21 definitely looks legit. Their semifinal finish in the 2014 Commish Cup? Certainly not a fluke anymore. Behind the gladiatorial Asi Taulava and great performances from Dom Sutton, Josephy Yeo, and Jonas Villanueva, the Express weathered the storm against a game GlobalPort quintet. Taulava got cut early in the second period, but he refused stitches till after the game ended. Yes, he’s the craziest 41 year old I know.

- The consensus two most exciting young prospects for the future of Philippine hoops finally went head-to-head last night, and though June Mar Fajardo had the better line, Greg Slaughter had the last laugh with the Kings walking away with a W. Fajardo had 23 points and 14 boards, while Slaughter held his own with 19 markers and 10 caroms. This was pretty much the PBA’s version of Godzilla versus other big-ass beasties.

2014 PBA Governors’ Cup: Mr. Everything does it again for San Mig Super Coffee!

Game Notes:
- Marqus “Mr. Everything” Blakely did, well, everything again for the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers as they beat the Air 21 Express, 113-109. He had a near-quadruple-double with 36 points, 17 rebounds, 7 assists, 7 blocks, and 3 steals. #Huwaw

Dom Sutton (left) battles "Mr. Everything" Marqus Blakely (right)
for the rebound.

- Marc Pingris also did well, recording his own double-double: 14 points, 10 boards, 5 assists, and 3 blocks.

- Allein Maliksi looked sharp, hitting all 3 of his triples on his way to 11 markers.

- Three guys scored 20 or more for Air 21 — Dom Sutton with 22, Asi Taulava with 21, and Joseph Yeo with 20 — but, as a team, the Express shot just 41% from the floor and 58% from the line.

2014 PBA Governors’ Cup: Air 21 pummels Meralco even as the Painters obliterate the Aces by 51 points!

Left: Arizona Reid gets in the mug of Calvin Abueva.
Right: Dom Sutton flushes one down as the Express halt the Bolts.

First Game: The Air 21 Express put the clamps on the Meralco Bolts to get their fourth win in six games, 80-67. The Express didn’t really shoot well here (just 35% overall), but they made the Bolts shoot even worse (33%). The most pivotal period here was the second quarter, where Air 21 limited Meralco to a paltry four points. The Express took the lead then and they never relinquished it. Not surprisingly, Dom Sutton and Asi Taulava led the way with a combined 47 points and 34 rebounds. 

The Worst: There are two big reasons Meralco got thumped here: Air 21’s prowess in both rebounding and ball distribution. The Express outrebounded the Bolts, 69-46, with five guys grabbing five or more caroms while also utilizing better playmaking to their advantage. The Express had 14 assists compared to just 5 for the Bolts. Mac Cardona led Air 21 with 4 dimes. 

West went south?: Mario West, Meralco’s import, had a lot of difficulty buying a bucket in this one. West knocked in just 7/29 field goals, including going 0/4 from beyond the arc. He finished with only 16 points in 44 minutes and not even his 15 rebounds could effectively offset his dismal shooting performance. 

2014 PBA Governors’ Cup: Texters’s locals tow the team past Air 21!

Ranidel De Ocampo and the rest of the Tropang Texters’ local crew came up huge once again, bucking the foul trouble to import Rodney Carney and beating the Air 21 Express, 102-91. RDO showcased his awesome space-flooring capability againg, shooting 8/13 from the field, including 2 treys, on his way to a team-high 24 points. He also had 6 rebounds and 2 assists for TNT, which tied the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers for a share of the lead in the team standings at 4-1.

Ranidel De Ocampo led the Texters to their fourth win in five elims games so far.

It’a not really that Air 21 played terribly in this game. They actually had pretty good numbers overall, even outrebounding TNT, 47-39, but they just ran into a hot-shooting Texters quintet. One thing that really tipped the favor on the side of coach Norman Black’s crew, however, was bench production. The TNT reserves scored a total of 47 points, with three guys scoring in double-figures, while Air 21’s second unit contributed just 18 markers. Of course, it helps when guys like Jayson Castro and Kelly Williams are coming off the pine for TNT. That’s a clear testament to their depth. 

Baclao is Back!: The first overall pick of the 2010 has arguably been a flop so far in his young pro career, but he looks to rejuvenate things with his old college coach here at TNT. His career averages so far look like this: 3.0ppg, 3.9rpg, 0.9bpg, 0.426 FG%, and a player efficiency rating of just 17.6 EFF. In his last three games for TNT, however, he has normed 4.3ppg, 8.7rpg, and 2.3bpg with an average EFF rating of 24.7. In short, it looks like he has found his sweet spot once again.