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Not with the reigning NBA champion Miami Heat's coach Erik Spoelstra watching intently in the stands. With a beauty like Venus Raj and other celebrities hooked into what has become an overly physical series that has surprisingly been nothing short of entertaining for basketball fans and non-fans alike.
The games are heated, BMeg Llamados and Rain or Shine Elastoplayers aren't smiling at one another like they do in the NBA where everyone's a friend. There's a growing sense of hatred once the ball is tossed until the buzzer sounds. There's intensity, tenacity and fire from both camps. And tonight, it was Yap who shone brightest and torched the hapless Elastopainters.
With his team down 1-3 and losing its cloak of invincibility under the Tim Cone regime, Yap took it upon himself to rise to the occasion despite being relentlessly hounded by defensive ace Jireh Ibanes. Import Marques Blakely also provided ample support, as well as little-used (the only coaching decision of the great Coach Tim's that we openly question) Jonas Villanueva who was playing great on both sides of the floor.
The distraction of Marc Pingris' "stiff neck" was hardly felt-- with Rafi Reavis using his length to get the rebounds and Yancy de Ocampo playing a sound, big man's game underneath. To be quite frank, Pingris has not been in his element the entire series. There's just no other way around it, he's been dominated by the Elastopainters' bruising frontline of Beau Belga, JayR Quinahan, import Jamelle Cornley and even undersized Jervy Cruz.
But what really tilted the game in the Llamados' favor (which was quite odd considering Yap's big night) was the ejection of the Elastopainters' Beau Belga on a brutal shoulder block on Blakely. A smarter play for Belga would've been to just put his arms out and around Blakely rather than trying to position himself for a charge-- before blatantly lunging towards the rival import.
The scary part here, this performance from Yap could easily turn him into a decoy Game 6 and open things up for partner PJ Simon who's been in a rut so far. With all the attention being given to Blakely and Yap, Simon could quickly find himself open for his steady scoring binges.
This writer is a Rain or Shine fan, but that was just a dirty play that could've easily taken someone's teeth out. Ditto with Pingris' headbutt.
Now that we've touched on Yap's awesome night, Blakely's relentless efforts on both ends and the support from Villanueva, YDO and Reavis, let's go point our fingers at the one guy who pretty much blew the series-clinching win for his team.
Gabe Norwood.
For all his kindness, his athleticism, his handles-- Norwood remains to be just another player who should not be expected to carry any team any where. He proved it again tonight. Looking to pass when he should've taken the shot, literally turning his back on the ball several times as though to tell his teammates that they were on their own.
In one, God-awful sequence, all Norwood had to do was dunk the basketball in (even if there was a crowd of two to three people who were all not jumping anyway and under 6"2) and opted to finesse lay-up it like the soft player we know he is.
| Willie Miller once said "ang hirap kasi ung ibang player puro porma lang" |
His back-up, TY Tang, also did his team a disfavor but that was to be expected of the 3rd string PG who surrendered a few inches to counterparts Josh Urbiztondo and Mark Barroca.
But Norwood?
A 6"5 point guard who has the highest vertical among all players this side of Blakely in the Finals? The guy couldn't get through Urbizontdo and Barroca. He couldn't post them up. He couldn't and DIDN'T do squat.
That's why everyone credits the Elastopainters as being Paul Lee's team. Even Jeff Chan's.
Norwood needs to have his minutes cut for him OR play closer to the rim. Keep his head in the game and have a nose for the ball. He did it in game 4, so what the hell happened tonight? Jojo Lastimosa said it best, "there's a difference between good players and great players."
One good game doesn't give you an excuse to bomb the next. You just have to feel for the guys on the Elastopainters' bench who could easily take the overrated Fil-Am's spot.
If I were coaching Rain or Shine, I'd bench Norwood and give TY Tang most of the playing time at PG.
ReplyDeleteYou are right - this punk's soft!!
Can't even dunk the ball at the right time - Paul Lee would dunk if he had the height of this jackass!!
Bench Norwood? Are you kidding me? Obviously youre just a bandwagon RoS fan or you dont know basketball. He's offensive game wasnt there and that missed dunk/layup was just horrible but the game of basketball has 2 sides and on defense, this guy has it. He may be not as aggressive and physical as Ibanes but he has all the defensive fundamentals and smarts. I like to compare Norwood and Jireh to Shane Battier and Tony Allen of the '11 Memphis Grizzlies team. You have 2 great defenders who can lock down their matchup in different ways.
ReplyDeleteNorwood is by far a bust as a #1 pick but to bench him? That's just plain stupid. Where's PJ Simon this series? Oh yeah, Norwood locked him down. Ever notice Blakeley contribute on the offensive end when Norwood is switched on him? Even Jolas pointed that out last night. Offensively Norwood has leaps and bounds to improve on but to bench him or cut his minutes? If you told that to Yeng Guiao he'd personally ask Big Beau to tackle you out of his gym.
Can't call out bandwagoners friend, admittedly a new RoS fan but that was when they picked Paul Lee in the draft, not because of their current run at the Finals.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I never said anything about Norwood's defense. He's tall, quick, athletic and guards positions 1, 2 and 3. What I've been constantly blasting him for is his offense-- or lack of it. He's 6"5, he's playing the PG position where there's no one in the same mold as he is.
And yet he finds it difficult to finish in traffic over guys who can't jump over an anthill. He gets pushed out of post up position by Urbiztondo-- a guy who's just a shade around 6"0 and isn't even a defender by trade.
Either he plays with aggressiveness, or he takes a seat so that he can re evaluate himself and what his team needs from him-- someone who can be a threat on offense to help spread out the floor.
Honestly now, this entire series, we've never seen Norwood- who plays PG, run a decent half court set. Not once. But when TY Tang is sent in, even a Jeff Chan or Ryan Arana-- they always have a play or two wherein they just stop the offense from up top and bark orders where their teammates should be (that's how you play PG in anyone's book anyway).
Sir, that's basically what I said. His offensive game and PG skills need improving on but on defense he is special. People/critics put too much attention on Norwood's offensive game that they forget his contributions on defense, smart/heady plays & intangibles.
ReplyDeleteZERO points is a mortal sin in a closeout game of the Finals but it doesn't merit a benching especially someone of Gabe's skill set & IQ. Right now he's just being a versatile & less physical Jireh Ibanes for RoS which won't cut it especially since Paul Lee is out.