Rain or Shine triumphs, heads to Pinoy Cup Finals

Sige mag usap muna kayo jan,
ititira ko muna ito

For the record, the San Mig Coffee Mixers did whatever they could to try and salvage a win and extend the series for another night. And though top gun, 2x PBA Most Valuable Player, James Yap had another rough outing (relentlessly being hounded by the Rain or Shine Elastopainters) their other superstar PJ Simon went to work early to give the Mixers the lead in the first half.

Simon looked to be unstoppable, as he kept draining jumper after jumper right at hapless Paul Lee's grill as though the bald-headed reigning PBA Rookie of the Year wasn't there. Marc Pingris also looked like he was up for another big night, jumping all over the place and hauling down monstrous one-handed rebounds over the Elastopainters' frontline. Then there was also Joe DeVance, taking advantage of the mismatch in skillset and scoring time and again against either smaller or slower defenders asked to guard him. Truly, save for Yap going AWOL, everything was clicking for the Mixers. Even when things started to get chippy the Mixers appeared to be well in control, ending the first half with a Yap triple (which, for Mixers fans, was a great sign).

Then came the second half.

The Elastopainters simply started to go back to what they did- spread out the floor on offense and look for the open man (or to simply get superstar Jeffrei Chan free with various screens) and play physical defense. They stopped looking over their shoulders waiting for the referees to make calls and that helped them focus on the task at hand.

Credit should be given to unsung hero TY Tang who brought the Mixers' rising point guard Mark Barroca back to earth after receiving all sorts of praises the last couple of games for his stellar work on both ends of the court. When it was pretty clear that Lee isn't capable of keeping instep with Barroca, Elastopainters head coach Yeng Guiao simply reached into his back pocket and called the steady Tang who is arguably the most under-rated back-up (now 3rd string thanks to buddy Chris Tiu) point guard in the PBA.

Suddenly, Barroca wasn't able to get to his spots as easily and was being shadowed by Tang relentlessly. Simon also started to lose steam as the Elastopainters started paying closer attention to him with more physical, leech-like defenders switching non-stop. And of course, Yap was having another off-night, probably wishing for the nightmare to end-- the so called "Big Game James" was so fatigued that he kept bricking free throws (when players don't have the legs to shoot, they try to compensate with their arms which is always a no-no *Arwind Santos being the exception*).

Of course, you could argue that Mixers' head coach Tim Cone was playing his stars to the ground and milking them dry. But that's what superstars like Yap, Simon, DeVance, Pingris and now Barroca are supposed to do-- play heavy minutes and win championships. We've heard of the "Big Two's" and "Big Three's" in the basketball world which is almost always a sure recipe to win titles, so enough with the excuses and even blaming Coach Cone. They were simply outgunned and outmanned by a team that epitomizes the very word to a "T."

Moving forward for the Mixers, there needs to be some balance. Their best five started the game last night and it worked, but at the same time, they weren't getting the stops that they needed. Simon, Yap and DeVance are too much of a defensive liability individually that they shouldn't be playing together all at the same time for long stretches. The Mixers discovered this one the hard way, though they looked to be in control early, they were never really running away from the Elastopainters or forcing stops.

Also, Yap deserves the blame for this series. Last season, we saw a Yap who was changing his game to fit his coach's demands-- rebounding, defending, hustling. In this series, Yap was playing like another PJ Simon, only he wasn't shooting quite as well. Granted that he couldn't do squat against the Elastopainters' defense, but what about the other facets of the game? Yap could've and should've taken the lead and demanded that he be the one to play defense on the Elastopainters' Chan. Or even a Lee. That's what true superstars do on the court, they play both ends with gusto and fire. They don't take plays off on one end to better concentrate on the other, they do whatever is necessary to win and Yap regressed from last season's stellar improvements.

You could say that we're getting on Yap's case a little bit too much, but that's because we see potential. He's already established himself as a scorer in the PBA (a 2x MVP at that), but can Yap take that next step to help his team? The way this team is currently built, they need a small forward who can play defense while providing ample support on offense-- the Yap and Simon combination isn't the answer. That means either JC Intal needs to step up soon, or they look for someone else. Pingris can always be that guy, but you want him playing down low for the rebounds.

Great series nonetheless for both teams, not a lot of blatant cheap shots to go around as compared to the Talk 'n' Text-Alaska match-up. Hard fouls but all in the name of competitive basketball. Proud to have seen Chris Tiu deliver a smash hack on Simon last night, he's now a true-blue Yeng Guiao disciple.

P.S.

Gabe Norwood's jumper still remains spotty at best and will always be a soft finisher, but the brother was doing some nice board work last night and playing defense on Barroca, Yap and Simon as well. We're still waiting for a Jones Cup Encore here Gabe, maybe in the Finals?