Nino saves the day for Ginebra

Nino Canaleta: from high leaper
to streaky shooter

In a match billed as "Manila Classico" by the InterAKTV brain thrust (FireQuinito et al), basketball fans were treated to an exciting ball game that had its share of drama and suspense-- in the form of a bloodied Mark Caguioa who had to leave the game to get treatment for his boo-boo.

Game-wise, the Llamados and Gin Kings fought to a draw for about three and a half quarters before fizzling out in the final canto. While the commentators would have you thinking that it was more of a tight game given the talent on the floor, KKS argues that it was more because Ginebra import Jackson Vroman was riding the pine riddled with touch fouls.


Llamados counterpart Denzel Bowles was doing his thing early controlling the paint, but failed to maximize his height advantage. Energy-wise, he was just trying to use his length versus Ginebra's battalion of energizer-type forwards Vroman, Rudy Hatfield, Willy Wilson and Dylan Ababou. Though he's not a big time scorer, you'd have expected Bowles to at least come out with 20 boards against a team that features no one taller than 6"8.

Another thing that went Ginebra's way was the great "hugot" by their coaching staff of small forward Nino Canaleta. Drilling in jumper after jumper, Canaleta proved that management made the right choice by keeping him in the fold instead of letting him go in that JC Intal or even Dylan Ababou deal.

With Helterbrand and Caguioa both out, Canaleta pretty much had the freedom to call his own number. Ababou also came through on both ends of the floor by switching down to the shooting guard position and keeping the Llamados' franchise player James Yap at bay.

But, as mentioned in a previous post, the game ball should also be shared to the guy who's stepping out of the shadows and reclaiming his spot among the league's PG heirarchy: Mike "Cool Cat" Cortez.

With MC47 and JJ out, Ababou shone as the Kings' de facto SG

For the nth time this conference, Cortez was showing that same old, clutch wizardry be it ball handling, distributing or playing straight up defense against speedier counterpart, rookie Mark Barroca or streaky Josh Urbiztondo.

The way things are going, Ginebra looks like they're ready to make an even deeper run in the Commissioner's Cup behind a taller, more versatile frontline.

As for the Llamados, Tim Cone was wrong. The Llamados should've taken Dylan Ababou from Barako Bull instead of JC Intal from Ginebra. Intal's a great athlete, but he's not nearly half of the elite defender Ababou is or enjoys the basketball IQ of the former King Tiger.