Monday, April 02, 2012
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| Original photo came from the PBA website. |
PBA
Wednesday
will explode to your TV sets with two teams hoping to survive the finishing
kicks of their competition. The third and fourth seeds are on the verge of
getting thrown out of the playoffs because of a bunch of old guys are not
playing over the hill.
Barako
Bull and Alaska
started the quarterfinals and while I barely care about this series, I may
check it out because of the nth time career restart of Danny
Seigle. Dynamite Danny played magnificently teaming up with fellow vets Ronald Tubid and Don Allado to
bitchslap Alaska’s chances, 103 to 90.
These vets alongside Willie Miller, Leo
Najorda, Dorian Pena, and Wynne Arboleda made up for their new import’s atrocious
showing. I have no idea how Reggie Okosa would fare on Wednesday’s tiff. Hell,
I don’t know if he’ll shoot out of the country for having a scoreless game in
eleven minutes of action but in this game, the locals opened up a can of hell
that consumed the Aces.
So here is my take on how
Alaska can get even the series:
Adam
Parada must dominate:
I can’t stress this enough.
Okosa did absolutely nothing in this game and all Parada did was struggle for a
weak double-double (11 points and 14 rebounds). What if Okosa explodes on their next game? Parada should be more assertive.
Bench
points:
LA Tenorio, Cyrus Baguio, Sonny
Thoss, Mac Baracael had double figure outputs. Bonbon Custodio also played well
off the bench. However, Alaska’s bench only had 12 points and Danny Seigle, Don
Allado, and Leo Najorda combined for 49. Worse… Barako Bull had more scorers
off the bench.
Fourth
quarter flourish:
Alaska started the game like
dogs in heat but their intensity chilled at the time when they need to erupt.
Down by five in the final salvo, the Aces yielded eight more points to close
the match with a 13-point lead.
And here’s what Barako Bull
should do to move past Alaska.
Play
desperate:
The team is surrounded by
winners. Seigle and Pena won titles in San Miguel, Pennisi won in the old Red
Bull, and even Miller and Allado won titles playing for the Aces. Expect these
guys to reconnect with their old, awesome selves to set up their match against
Talk N Text.
Okosa
alert:
Reggie Okosa is a Eurobasket
veteran who recently played for South Korea’s Sonic Boom KT and averaged
15.0ppg, 8.4rpg, and 2.2apg. Posting a flat zero, I know he’ll improve in his
next game. I just hope for Barako Bull’s sake that he will not disrupt the team’s
chemistry.
Start
strong:
The next time they face Alaska,
the Aces has probably devised a way to seal off their flaws. One of these flaws
is giving up a huge lead to prove their undoing. The Bulls need a way to turn
the tables.
Do I think the Aces can get
back to their groove and book a third match on Friday? Yes… I do. However I don’t
discount the fact that Barako Bull will win the series. As of this moment,
their locals are playing well and these locals are mature and topnotch to fold
against the Talk N Text Tropang Texters.
That’s my beef if Alaska wins. Barako Bull have a lot of guys filled with
championship glory and even if Alaska uses a core build behind Thoss, Baguio,
and Tenorio… would anyone else step up to help their cause.
Anyway, let’s see what happens
this Wednesday.
Game over.
