Yap Awakening

Size, speed and shooting: James Yap

Any time you are able to pair a solid, nay, good big man with an ever-improving All Star guard, chances are your team is bound to contend no matter the odds. Throw in a bunch of great role players led by this side of Asia's most tenacious forward and you may have just enough firepower to overcome and overthrow a dynasty.

In the pivotal Game 5, the B-Meg Llamados went to their 1-2 punch of 7"0 6"10, Best Import of the Conference, big man Denzel Bowles and the suddenly rejuvenated and reloaded guns of 2x PBA MVP James Carlos Yap. Scoring 28 and 30, respectively, Bowles and Yap were pretty much "superstar-ing" their way all over the hapless Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters who still cannot squeeze anything off trusted National vets Ranidel de Ocampo and reigning MVP Jimmy Alapag.


With Bowles, he did what all giant imports are supposed to do-- score, rebound, block shots and be a presence for his team. You can't really fault the Texters on this one, we all thought they figured Bowles out by bodying up on him with their 6"7 6"8 import Donnel Harvey, followed by 6"4-ish Ali Peek and Harvey Carey. Well, it worked in Game 4, not in Game 5. Instead of trying to bulldoze his way through brick walls, Bowles went to what was working-- knocking down high arching Js that Peek and Carey could only dream of challenging, let alone sending back to the stands.

The biggest surprise here is Yap's re-emergence as a primetime, Big Game player.

When was the last time Yap scored 30 points in a game? It's been so long that this blogger wasn't alone in claiming that the title of "Big Game" should be forfeited by virtue of Yap settling for averages of 18 points max.

Not on Game 5.

Determined to take his team to the next level and claim its overall supremacy (though in his quiet way), Yap was not only hitting his shots, but he was playing superb defense (alternating with JC Intal) on the ra-ra Daredevil Jarred Dillinger. That, plus he managed to grab 9 boards off of Bowles, Marc Pingris, RDO, Peek, Carey and Harvey.

Not bad for a guy who's not exactly all too fond of physical contact on the hard court (a far cry from his UE days).

Are the Texters done? Are the Llamados the new face of the San Miguel family? Has James Yap evolved into a monstrous, Pinoy Michael Jordan-like force under the watchful eyes of Coach Tim Cone and the KKS Vince McMahon?

The next game (or two) could very well answer all those and leave lingering doubts going into the 3rd conference for the Texters, and more importantly, their National team core. Are the elongated seasons (form playing well into the Finals of the last five conferences) finally catching up with Alapag, Jayson Castro, Ryan Reyes and de Ocampo? Are the wheels starting to fall off?