Whatever happened to Paul Lee

Asan na ung Angas ng Tondo?

Basketball is a team sport, it is not played by any certain individual no matter how dominant he may be on the hard court. A guy can score 100 points, average 50 for his career and still have only about a handful of rings while other, lesser talented individuals win more than you have fingers (Wilt Chamberlain: Bill Russel). There are times however, when these "superstars" stand out just because of what they can do and how others need to adjust to them.

For the San Mig Coffee Mixers, there's James Carlos Yap. The 2x PBA MVP who has become so unparalleled that it took a highly-motivated, vastly improved Jireh Ibanes of the Rain or Shine Elastopainters (with some help from today's "loose" PBA officiating that allows holds, grabs, bumps and what not) to keep him at bay (not even stop him, just enough to keep him from blowing up and dropping 30 points). Yap has been the barometer for his team in the on-going series between the Mixers and Elastopainters. When he's off, they lose, and the only time they won with him having an awful game (Game 5), it took a concerted effort among his teammates to do so.


As for the Elastopainters, the obvious advantage was supposedly at the guard spot. They have in their possession reigning PBA Rookie of the Year Paul Lee who was coming off shoulder surgery but playing like it never happened prior to the series. In front of him was Mark Barroca, an average-sized point guard (at best) whose only advantage would only be taken into consideration had this been a foot-race. Jonas Villanueva, the Mixers' other guard, is on-and-off after battling injuries and a bout with dengue.

So, two games in, Lee dominated his match-up with the usual display of power-point guard plays. He's too big for Barroca, and just to crafty for subpar defender PJ Simon. It was so one-sided that Coach Tim Cone had his defensive ace Marc Pingris try and cover for his guards just to keep Lee in check.

Well, everything changed after Game 3.

Before that game, Lee went on air to say that he is battling some rib issues (bruised ribs perhaps?). Guess all the Appeton baby fat he put on couldn't protect him from getting hit (he's a power guard who loves to use his body when driving into the lane, raising his arms to shoot leaving his mid section vulnerable). After that,  Lee's averages quickly went down. The craftiness was gone, he looked as though he's been forcing a lot of shots (mostly versus Barroca) and anything and everything you can say about a brick-shooting ball hog pretty much applies to Lee.

Granted, he did calm down in the 2nd halves of both Games 4 and 5. But not enough to propel his team to victory in Game 5. If anything, Barroca has won the last three games in their head-to-head match-up even blocking the "Angas ng Tondo" spot-on the last time around.

If the Elastopainters are to win this series and advance to their second straight Finals appearance in as many attempts, then Lee needs to be a part of the equation. He doesn't have to put up 20 points, but they will need him to orchestrate specially now that the Mixers have learned that all they really needed to do was slow things down, control the tempo and grind-it-out.

Lee needs to play off the ball and maybe consider planting himself inside when matched up against the smaller Barroca. That, or he should just give his minutes to Chris Tiu and/ or TY Tang.

Yung pressure talaga, na kay Lee. Kasi nanalo na (nag champion pa nga) ung Rain or Shine nung wala siya kontra Mixers. Ngayong anjan sya, kelangan nya gumawa.