A Pingris a day keeps The Doctor away

Don't let the box score fool you,
Pingris is the real MVP of this series for BMeg

For a guy whose inclusion in the upcoming SMART Gilas 2 men's basketball team raised some eyebrows for an apparent and obvious lack of offensive skillset, the BMeg Llamados' Marc Pingris is proving doubters wrong with his superb defensive exploits in both playoffs and Finals.

Tasked to shutdown the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters' postman and resident KKS Doctor Ranidel de Ocampo, Pingris has done all that and more by putting up (in the first 2 games) 10 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2 assists on average. These may not look much, but check out RDO's ugly stat line of 5.5 points and 4 rebounds with zero assists and you'll realize that yes, Pingris is getting the job done.


What's funny is, Pingris will undoubtedly be used as the 3rd power forward on the SMART Gilas 2 roster behind his current opponents RDO and Kelly Williams who have both taken turns at the PF spot for the Texters but cannot "explode" as one of them usually does-- no thanks to Pingris' tenacious and bloodhound-like defense.

We've already touched on how Pingris has pretty much played RDO in the Finals-- constantly denying RDO his sweet spots within the three point line and pretty much bodying up on all times. Pingris' rebounding numbers (which are usually solid) went down, but that's because he's fully committed in not letting RDO explode.

As we've stated earlier, the Texters' offense-- though equally distributed, relies heavily on the scoring prowess of slasher Jayson Castro (who now finds himself playing on half a good leg), clutch outside shooting of Jimmy Alapag (who has gone AWOL) and the in-and-out, Euro-game of RDO. So far, only Castro has lived up to his end of the bargain but his numbers (and minutes) are sure to go down due to injury.

Coach Chot Reyes, after a disappointing yet close loss to the Llamados in Game 3, called out RDO and Alapag by saying that they were on "vacation."

This writer begs to disagree.

RDO is still playing like he always does, trying to pick his spots on the floor and letting his guards handle the offense-- it's just that he can't get to those aforementioned spots or even free himself up because of Pingris' leech-like defense.

Alapag on the other hand, is being guarded by Josh Urbiztondo. A one-trick pony of a player whose only use on the court is his streaky outside sniping. What's the reigning MVP's excuse?

Back to Pingris and his superb, nay, NBA-level defense on RDO.

This match-up is going nowhere fast unless Coach Chot decides to have RDO on the move and set some baseline screens for him to go through just to make it tougher for Pingris. Another option for RDO is to actually keep pounding the ball inside with his back to the basket and go for hook shots (to create separation). One on one, he doesn't have the hand and footspeed to break away from Pingris so his best shot is to go right at him and get fouls.

That, or RDO should just sit down in favor of Williams or even Ali Peek.

And yes, Marc Pingris is more than just a Pinoy Sakuragi. Daresay he's the Pinoy Dennis Rodman/ Ron Artest/ Bruce Bowen.

Think about it. Take away Pingris (get him in foul trouble or piss him off enough to warrant a Flagrant 2 so he can be booted out of the game) and the Llamados are left with Joe DeVance at power forward. Bet money that RDO can score 20 plus over JDV in a heart beat. After JDV there's Kuya Yancy, but we all know that he's the Andy to RDO's Danny Seigle act.

Once RDO feels comfortable in the paint, the defense collapses and everyone is forced to help. This in turn opens the floor for Castro and Reyes to slash inside, and Alapag to pick his spots from deep. Ditto with Jarred Dillinger and Larry Fonacier. Everything just opens up when RDO is on his game.

While teammates PJ Simon, Denzel Bowles and James Yap are piling up the points and getting everyone's attention in the process, it's Pingris' defense on RDO and even the disruption he causes in the driving paths of the Texters' Three Mouse-keteers' path that is proving to be the key to a Llamados' title win.