Meralco solves Ginebra's Gulpi de Gulat style

No Asi, No problem for Bolts
with Hodge a.k.a. Kelly Williams 2.0

Gulat kayo no?

To the weak of heart, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel's newfound run-and-gun, "let all hell break loose" open court style would mean an immediate end to whatever fight one could muster. After all, what's there to do when L.A. Tenorio brings the ball downcourt in a little under 5 seconds, finds Allein Maliksi cocking for a jumper, Chris Ellis looking for an alley oop, Rico Maierhofer doing all sorts of crazy and energetic things and Billy Mamaril waiting for drop passes.

And if that wasn't enough, reigning PBA MVP Mark Caguioa is just waiting in the wings like the king lion of a pack followed by buddy Jayjay Helterbrand, Kerby Raymundo, Rudy Hatfield and solid role players Mike Cortez and Willie Wilson.

Well, don't tell that to the Meralco Bolts. Though they were caught with their pants down early in the first quarter, they buckled down to work from mid-2nd onwards to put a halt to Ginebra's run-and-gun fun and take the lead.

How did they do it?

First, Ginebra lost its backup guard Mike Cortez to a freak accident (head butt that opened him and the Bolts' Hugnatan up while they were diving for a loose ball) meaning Tenorio was left to fend for himself. Say what you will about the Gatorade endorser, but it was pretty clear that he was out of gas at time. The Bolts' Mac Cardona and Sol Mercado also took turns in punishing the pint-sized Tenorio by ensuring that there's always contact on every single play (kumbaga sa karne, ginawang tapa si Tenorio sa kakatadtad).

Helterbrand's continued lackadaisical play (injury and age) wasn't much of a help either. So once Tenorio started to slow down, so did the Ginebra juggernaut.

Problem solved.

As we said before, the only way this system works/worked is because of Tenorio's genius. He's the one guy who can make this odd-ball line-up of athletes and scorers work because he's the one who can dictate and command who goes where. Once he was gone (and Cortez out), it all went downhill for Ginebra and they simply went back to their one-on-one game.

For the Bolts, this pseudo-Dribble Drive system of theirs works. If only because these guys are hellaciously gritty and fearless. We know about Cardona and Mercado. And we know that veteran Reynel Hugnatan is the baddest mofo this side of his late 30s, but rookie Clifford Hodge is looking better than advertised.

May tulog kay Calvin Abueva itong si Hodge.

Hodge was hustling, working around the paint, scrapping for everything and was simply unafraid to take hits. The kid, who's not exactly the biggest guy out there, was getting in the heads of Ginebra's Mamaril and Raymundo, and even the usually poised Tenorio. He wasn't doing anything dirty out there, just hustling like every possession counts. And it did.

Really, we've been saying this before and we'll say it again. Hodge is the Santa Lucia Realtors-era Kelly Williams. This kid is just a workhorse who doesn't let anything faze him on the court. We'd go as far as saying that Hodge is better than Williams' rookie year simply because he has shown a knack for hitting his perimeter shots while it took the former PBA MVP time to develop an arc on the ball (ang tulis ng mga tira ni KW21 noon kala mo shotput).

They might be missing a legit center, but it would be very unwise to take the Bolts for granted this conference.