Aces run wild

Skyrus a.k.a. KKS Freestyler

What a difference doing away with a former coach's offensive playbook does to a player! Cyrus Baguio (25 points, 7 assists), in his best all-around outing since donning the Alaska Aces' red, black and white, led his team to a 109-100 victory over the listless Rain or Shine Elastopainters.

Unlike Friday's opening day loss to the Barako Bull Energy, the Aces looked a lot more comfortable in running a simpler, "look for the open man/ who's interested" style of play under coach Joel Banal. Really, this team has the firepower to compete with the best, and they just showed it tonight.



Granted, the Elastopainters were dilly-dallying the first three quarters before waking up in the 4th to at least make it competitive, but there was never a point in the game that the Aces looked out of control-- even when the E-Painters took a one point lead in the 4th. L.A. Tenorio (19 points) was running the offense as smoothly as ever at his first real stint as a true point guard (the triangle offense limits gifted PG's abilities and stats-- ask NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton). Import Adam Parada (24 points, 20 rebounds) and the Aces' gigantic frontline of Sonny Thoss, JayR Reyes and Samigue Eman took turns bullying their hapless counterparts.

The Aces offense was so smooth, that they held on to the lead for stretches even without Parada AND Tenorio-- something that's pretty unheard of during the Cone years. Credit goes to Eric Salamat's continued improvement as a PBA level backup PG. Even Bonbon Custodio, once a feared collegiate scorer turned scapegoat and now ill-fitting piece to any PBA team, provided some spark and finished with a respectable 12 points.

But beyond those efforts, it's pretty clear that the Aces new approach benefits and is tailor-made for Baguio who will now be referred to as KKS Freesyler (Sky-rus is cute but we have a disliking for unmanly monickers around here) joining the KKS All Star Monickers Team alongside the Bataan Bomber and Captain Crunch (who we are heavily considering to rename The Wizard).

Yes, this will definitely hurt the output of big man JayR Reyes who posted solid numbers in the Philippine Cup, but it speeds up the Aces' chances of competing in a league that puts a premium on high scoring guards.

Hopefully, we see another Pilipinas National Team-worthy performance from Baguio the rest of the conference. It would also be interesting to see just how much free rein coach Banal gives his prized guard (who played a lot of Small Forward in the Aces' Tenorio-Custodio-Baguio-Thoss/Reyes-Parada strong 5).