PBA Scenes: Barangay Ginebra San Miguel vs San Mig Super Coffee Mixers Semifinals Game 2

Best of the Night. The whole of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. Their big men, their wings, their backcourt, their transition offense, their zone defense, their bench, their coaching staff, their ball boys, their towel boys, their fans. Everything. BGSM simply clicked on all cylinders tonight. That dominance brought them a 93-64 win over Tim Cone's boys, eventually tying their semifinal series at 1 game a piece. I can't even think of anything right now, but I'm sending a special shoutout to Greg Slaughter's 21 points, 12 boards, and beardless face. Next.

Worst of the Night. Justin Melton's minutes. Tim Cone's logic is pretty weird in this game with regard to his uprising star. The past three games, Melton made significant and necessary plays that delivered them goods. He's playing spectacular, so coach Tim didn't play him much tonight. Weird. I really thought Cone would have given him extended minutes to help his struggling squad break down BGSM's zone defense. With Melton's ability to cut through the lane, it would have been beneficial if he had his minutes extended. Oh well, next.

The Fast. Jayjay Helterbrand was shooting a bunch of jumpers prior to each game, maybe just to wash away that washed up stigma. Those jumpers worked a lot for him tonight. Mr. Fast earned himself the Mr. Quality Minutes award this game. 11 points in about 11 minutes on a decent shooting night did it right for Lamberto. 

The Physicals. Tonight's physicals feature Greg Slaughter and Chris Ellis. It's not because of a scuffle, for obvious reasons. I decided to have them here because of their physical dunks in the third quarter. Ellis' reverse one hander and Slaughter's one hand tomahawk ignited Brgy. Big Dome to rise on its feet. Chants that followed were all familiar.

Bits.

-Rafi Reavis had a shining moment when he denied Slaughter from behind. Cool sneak, Reavis.

-This series still has a better gate attendance. Uh, duh.

-Is James Yap washing his elbow pad? Just asking.

-LA Tenorio has bent himself more than anyone for the sake of a reverse lay-up. That is given, so next.

-Barangay Ginebra has a player named Bryan Faundo.

-Who the hell is Bryan Faundo?

Special shoutout to my home town Ilocos Sur! Happy Kannawidan Festival! Enjoy!

Tomorrow's game pits the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters against the Petron Blaze Boosters in Game 3 of their own series. ROS leads 2-0.  

The Kraken is Mad, and it's Good.

June Mar Fajardo is 6-10 and about 300. That's a lot of mass. Yet, considering his monster form, he's been the nicest and most gentle PBA star today. 

That is until the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters' Larry Rodriguez crawled into his nerves.

Disruptions from ROS' defense took the cool away from Fajardo's head. His offense, of course, followed. That led to the Painters' eventual victory, taking a 2-0 series lead in their semifinal duel.

I don't know, but everytime I see June Mar losing his cool, it's quite exciting. Considering that he's a gigantic frame out there, if the action burst and went ou of control, it would be so awesome to watch. I'm an MMA fan after all. 

PBA Scenes: Petron Blaze Boosters vs Rain or Shine Elasto Painters Game 2.

Best of the Night. Rain or Shine's defense, obviously. Though the Boosters controlled the pace of the game for about 43 minutes, Rain or Shine was able to boil Boosters' big man JuneMar Fajardo. Even if the Kraken finished with team high 20 points, his flow was disrupted when it matters most. Another thing, Petron forgot that Rain or Shine are experts of the transition game. So even if it was effective for the Boosters, it's given that the Painters will eventually find out and mix the perfect formula for its antidote.

Worst of the Night. Chris Lutz's 7 points numbers-wise, and Chris Ross' black oversized compression shirt looks-wise. Pretty harsh night for the Chrises. By the way, Chris Tiu had 0 points in about 12 minutes, so yeah.

His name is "Jeff-three". If you hear someone hit a crucial three, lots of names would pop into your head. But if they're back-to-back crucial three's, Jeff Chan may pop into majority's brains. And guess what, majority's right! Chan hit two straight three's that ignited the Painters' 23-6 run in the dying minutes. Jeff-three scored 20 points, his best output in recent memory.

The Physicals. I don't know, but everytime Yousef Taha enters a game, trouble is always around. Early in the first half, Taha and Painters rookie Jeric Teng go at each other's face after a hard foul. But the ultimate physicality was brought in by Rain or Shine bullies Raymond Almazan, Beau Belga, and Larry Rodriguez. The trio had fair shares of elbows and slaps towards Fajardo's gigantic built. I was a little bit frustrated nothing escalated between ROS bigmen and the Kraken. That would have been fun to watch.

Bits. 

-It's obvious that this series doesn't catch a lot of cash compared to the BGSM-SMC series.     
-Ryan Arana's shoes are still awesomely pink.

-Arwind Santos' shoes won't get left behind, they're still yellow-greenly highlighted.

-I don't know, but JR Quinahan is playing like he's hurt.

-Yousef Taha had extended playing minutes, highlighted by that ferocious two handed jam.

-I can't contain my happiness everytime I spot Alvin and Jeron Teng in the stands without camera focus.

No games tomorrow, Thursday, January 30th. BGSM-SMC Game 2 will be played on Friday.