Tim Cone will never be an underdog

Who's your daddy?!?

Prior to the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, people pencilled in the participating teams as how everyone saw them. The mighty Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters as the rightful favorites, going for their 4th title in 5 tries and the rising BMeg Llamados as the underdogs, the "good but not great" squad ready to takeover the local basketball scene.

Three games in, and we couldn't have been any more wrong.


At the very least, the Llamados look like they're just as good- if not better than the Texters at this point. Offensively, they still lack the players to allow head coach Tim Cone more options on the floor. That being said, Cone has opted for a simpler approach-- give it to whoever has it going. PJ Simon, James Yap or Denzel Bowles. None of the tricky Triangle Offense, not even simple screen and rolls-- just plain "pass it to the open man" basketball (easier said than done, but still, simple).

So while their offense is taking its time to click, Coach Tim has them doing something better-- playing championship defense.

Anchored on do-it-all, Pinoy Sakuragi Marc Pingris and import Denzel Bowles, the Llamados have won by controlling the tempo of the game and lost Game 2 only because Jayson Castro went all Derrick Rose on them. Credit goes to their non-traditional point guards, Simon and Josh Urbiztondo who are gunners by trade but have embraced this slowed-down philosophy of Coach Tim. The slower the game, the better chances of scoring and the less chances of the Texters running all over the court.

Rebounding would also improve because the frontline (which now includes superstar, 2x MVP Yap at small forward) has enough time to set-up shop around the paint.

Of course, there's still the matter of the Llamados not having as solid a bench as the Texters, but Coach Tim has remedied that by shortening his line-up. Apart from his first five of Simon, Yap, Pingris, Bowles and Urbiztondo, he relies exclusively only on Mark Barroca and Joe DeVance with Jonas Villanueva and Yancy de Ocampo coming in only for short stretches to spell tired teammates. This usually creates for a bad, tired and turnover-prone team come the fourth quarter, but that's where the slower pace helps yet again.

While the Petron Blaze Boosters beat a tired Texters squad, the Llamados are doing it by simply being the better team. Armed with the best coach in the land.