No sweep, Tigers alive anew

Tigers' rallying behind Sean Anthony's hustle

The Best Player of the Conference awardee, specially when playing in the PBA Finals, is usually jinxed by the very same award that praises his efforts and serves as the goat for his team.

Well, not in tonight's Game 4 of the high scoring and super tight series between the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters and Powerade Tigers, and definitely not with Gary "Bataan Bomber" David who scattered 35 points behind 11/12 free throws.

There's no other way around it. The Texters lost this one behind a half-assed, "back to his Marlou Aquino tendencies" effort from Ranidel de Ocampo. The KKS proclaimed "Doctor" scored 3 points the entire game and was out-hustled on all fronts by the double-double machine Doug Kramer and ageless Rommel Adducul.

Is it time for the Texters to panic?

Hardly. They played their worst game of the series and still only lost by 3 in a tight (and tied) ball game going into the fourth. Jayson Castro could've played much closer to the basket, while more effort should be squeezed out from the likes of de Ocampo and Jarred Dillinger (who was man handling Marcio Lassiter in the last two outings).

Can the Tigers claw their way back and force a Game 7?

The way things are going and how the series is being played (guard-heavy, with superstars feeding into their own respective egos and trading 3s) don't be surprised if the Tigers force a Game 6 (a 7th game would take us by surprise and would start a maddening rally for "benta" which the league doesn't need at the moment).

Again, we wonder why Texters coach Chot Reyes hasn't decided to take control of the chaos and commotion, ask his boys to play half court basketball and pound the rock with de Ocampo, Ali Peek and even garbage man Harvey Carey. Adducul is playing quite nice, ditto with Kramer, but once those two guys are caught in foul trouble, the Tigers' title hopes are over.

And, after going berserk in Game 3 and scoring 25 (albeit in a losing cause), Sean Anthony provides the sidekick scoring punch usually reserved for Lassiter with 19. At this point, only Kelly Williams can cancel this guy's hustle out. Asking de Ocampo to guard him is a little too much for the talented Caviteno-- who owns Anthony in the paint, but shouldn't be expected to chase Hatfiel 2.0 all over the court.