Monday, May 21, 2012
When I wrote THIS ARTICLE,
it was just from mere observation.
Now I fear for every player
from every lopsided trade the Petron
Blaze Boosters would unleash.
I don’t know if this was
reported or if the SMC had any plans
to break this but apparently, new acquisition Marcio Lassiter will be out from three to six weeks because of a
fractured hand he sustained during Petron’s tune up game against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. The California Swagger missed Petron’s game
against Lassiter’s former team Powerade
Tigers. Petron won, 97 to 83
with Powerade seriously missing the services of Lassiter and getting almost
nothing from Rabeh Al-Hussaini.
The other consolation for the
Boosters is the return of Jay Washington.
This is Washington’s first game back from an injury that sidelined him since
the start of last year’s Governor’s Cup.
So what now?
The Lassiter injury brought a
lot of possibilities in the individual races.
JV CASIO
After Chris Lutz’ injury and the inability of Rain or Shine to make a
respectable conference finish that dashed all hopes of a Paul Lee Rookie of the Year
bid, Lassiter is far ahead in the rankings and is certain of the Top Rookie
plum. With the injury though, it leaves JV Casio an opening to claim the plum.
Six weeks of Lassiter absence and a ton of fantastic ballgames should do the
trick for the 2011 PBA Draft top pick.
However, Powerade needs to make the semis to further establish this fact. Also that 5-point game should be his only single digit game in this conference.
GARY
DAVID
Sure, he’s Lassiter’s former
teammate but he’s also Lassiter’s biggest rival in terms of individual outputs.
Taking Powerade to the finals of the Philippine
Cup has its perks but there is no question that it would be hard for Gary
David to make another title run with Lassiter in Powerade. This is why Lassiter
needs to come back early and his former team to falter big time in the standings to solidify his position.
However, if and when Lassiter
returns earlier than expected, one man is doing damage for Petron… as well as
his chances.
ARWIND
SANTOS
Every time Lassiter misses a
game, Santos should have a double-double output. With a strong import in Eddie Basden, perhaps we can see The
Spiderman suit up in the playoffs and beyond. By the time we reach the semis,
Lassiter should have missed a lot of the Boosters’ games and it leaves Santos with
more statistical points. The Governor’s Cup has been extremely friendly for
Arwind Santos. Last year, it was in this conference that Santos went berserk
and annexed a Best Player of the
Conference Award for himself. Even if Alex
Cabagnot does well in the conference (Cabagnot should battle Casio for the Mythical Second Team), he’ll still be
below Arwind and now, it seems as if the same can be said on Lassiter.
But should we narrow it down with
these personalities?
JAYSON
CASTRO AND JAMES YAP
With Mark Caguioa in sickbay, there are two players that can “curse”
Arwind Santos’ MVP hopes. The Talk N
Text Tropang Texters will never have their grand slam this year but Jayson Castro still has a shot to win
the MVP trophy with two straight finals appearances and a lot of MVP-like moves
for the MVP-owned squad. Meanwhile, James
Yap just won the Commissioner’s Cup
Best Player Award and that should help him garner a crack for the plum.
I could go on and on about the
individual accolades but I’m reverting back to the topic at hand.
I don’t know what sick and twisted
voodoo was cast on Petron but how unlucky are they! I mean Lutz and Dondon Hontiveros are still doubtful
starters and now they have Lassiter languishing at the sidelines.
I know saying Petron has a
curse is kind of stupid and is of mere coincidence but you have to wonder what
the hell they did to piss fate off.
Game over.
think it started when Danny S was traded.
ReplyDeletehow ironic that they thought he was old & injury prone(wc was BS because siot just benched him most of the time) and since he was moved to another team... he has been healthy so far & putting up great numbers and taking his team to semis 2x.
meanwhile right after that, Jwash who was supposed to be his heir apparent got sidelined for 4 conferences. then rabeh gets injured, baclao for a short time, even marc agustin, Dondon who hasn't ever been injured seriously in his career gets an ACL, Lutz who's hamstring injury keeps recurring, then now lassiter... guess someone or some people werent too happy about the lopsided "TRADES" that Petron has been getting into (including the one that shipped out the son who carried them to multiple championships) and put a curse. iba na talaga and may pinagsamahan and they haven't lived up to that motto so its coming back to bite them. Hard.
i agree. in some ways, i think the smc is like a bunch of cradle snatchers.
ReplyDeletei love the company (if they offer me a job I might take it) but they have to do something about their bad vibes! :)