KKP 2: Thoughts on Day 2 of the Philippine Cup

Author's note: now that I think about it, maybe I should have stayed with the "Off the bench" thing since I could always use "Bench Press" for sports tidbits. Then again, there's always that sick/lame/cheesy Pinoy humor to go with so I guess Kili Kili Power works just fine.



- Who else wasn't surprised with Chris Lutz' efficient 19 points on 9/9 FT showing in Petron's 73-69 win over B-Meg? With Dondon Hontiveros suffering an injury early in the game, Petron head coach Ato Agustin made it a point to go to Lutz on offense. The impressive part of course, is Lutz' defensive prowess and high basketball IQ which complimented lockdown defenders, veteran teammates' Denok Miranda and Arwind Santos (who continued his monstrous ways from last season with 18 rebounds).


- P.J. Simon was a revelation today, and just as I called it, he'll play the Jeffrey Cariaso "firestarter" role while James Yap waits for his turn to takeover in the 4th. Problem was, Simon ran out of gas while Yap couldn't get into a rhythm.


- Ren-ren Ritualo, when given the green light, can and will always score in double figures. Such is the luxury jumpshooters enjoy over today's athletes. It's why Allan Caidic could still score 50 points in an exhibition game (on a ton of shots of course). 19 points as the main man for Shopinas.com in a loss to Gary David's 31 and the Powerade Tigers? Not bad.


- Franz Pumaren still has it. If only he could get a scorer to pair with Ritualo much like they did back in DLSU with Mark Cardona.


- John Ferriols is B-Meg's best post player by a wide margin. Too bad he didn't get to play longer minutes. Then again, with B-Meg's "Samapayan brigade" in tow, who do you sit? I say Rafi Reavis should go. There was a time when Arwind Santos was as skinny as Reavis, but no one remembers that now after only FOUR years.


- Watching the PBA on AKTV is fun because there are "no commercial breaks" save for the AKTV vignettes. With all the teams, you'd expect an Alaska commercial to pop out somewhere right? Not.


- Mark Barroca had a forgetful debut and that's just fine. He needs to move the basketball, call plays and keep his head up-- things he's been known for in the past but was probably caught in all the hoopla and excitement. Blame it on rookie jitters. Or that Petron sent pitbull Denok Miranda on his ex-FEU understudy from the get go. Shiyet. Now I can't wait for Miranda to take on Paul Lee. In case you're the average basketball fan and didn't know, Miranda is the league's best perimeter defender outside of buddy Arwind Santos and could lockdown guys from Mark Caguioa to Willie Miller and even James Yap.


- Barroca also needs to get on the Paul Lee "Appeton" train and put on some weight. Dude looked skinnier than Ritualo.


- Mark Agustin played with more passion and hustle than he did his entire UAAP Adamson career. 


- B-Meg's best line-up is R. Yap- PJ Simon-J Yap-J Ferriols-J DeVance


- Petron will shut teams down this conference behind Lutz-Miranda-Santos


- Marcio Lassiter needs more isolation plays, Gary David needs to share the basketball every now and then


- Tim Cone will never NOT wear a necktie for PBA games (I only saw him do it once when he opted for a polo barong which was flat out weird). I say PBA players should observe a dress code as well and start wearing polo barongs to work instead of hip-hop joints.


- So far, Lee still has the crown for most impressive debut with Lutz at a close second. Lassiter's a far third, while Barroca's dead last. Can't wait for Friday and see if Dylan Ababou can get his ass off the bench and not play back-up to his old UST back-up Allein Maliksi.