Live by the three, die by the three

Mandani's D makes him better suited
to play alongside David, Mercado

For a minute there, the Global Port Batang Pier appeared to be poised to run roughshod over the competition this PBA Commissioner's Cup.

Ace player Gary David is back to his deadly, gun-slinging ways from deep, rookie AJ Mandani continues to impress and prove to be the steal of this year's PBA draft and new recruits Japeth Aguilar and Sol Mercado are fitting in seamlessly with the latter further solidifying his claim to Most Improved Player of the Year (if they win a title or two this year, Mercado's our vote to cop the Most VALUABLE Player title- real talk). Then there's solid import Justin Williams who has a tremendous work ethic let alone a mean defensive streak dow low (averaging 5 blocks a game) plus grizzled coach Junel Baculi throwing in some of that Pinoy old school macho swag we love and tip our hats to-- yep, the Batang Pier are as solid as they come.

So why the 2-3 start?

Well, they're playing a freelancing version of the dribble-drive offense anchored on both Mercado and David. When Mercado's orchestrating, he pretty much either barrels into the lane for kamikaze layups or kicks the ball out to his shooters (10+ assists a night to mid-to-long range snipers which include bigs Aguilar and Williams). When David feels like calling his own number (team best 23 points per outing), he simply runs through screens asks for the rock and throws up a long ball whenever, wherever.

In the games that they've won, either Mercado proved to be unstoppable bulldozing his way versus smaller guards, or David waxed hot from deep. But in the losses, specially the one last Sunday versus the Meralco Bolts-- it showed that there are still some adjustments to be done here and there.

While David is one of the best shooters in the game today, he has his cold streaks from time to time (he's still human after all). He hoists a lot of shots still, and that pretty much plays 50-50 for Batang Pier. Then there's Mercado-- in the losses versus Barako Bull, Talk 'n' Text and Meralco (elite-coached teams mind you) the defensive ploy was simple: play zone and force Mercado to make the early pass instead of him simply driving into the lane and causing all sorts of problems. Petron couldn't do it because they didn't have the tools. Ginebra couldn't do it because that team's not playing like a team these days. The other three, aside from being well coached, worked as one and made all the sacrifices on the defensive end.

We'd love to see the Batang Pier squad explore more Pick and Pop plays for Mercado and Aguilar (since Aguilar is more jumpshooter than post up player or slasher). Paying more attention to man-to-man defense and not just letting import Williams make the save every time down the court would also help.

On a side note, we feel for rookie Jason Deutchman whose minutes at the 4 have gone to Aguilar and at the 3, to David

Also, here's a toast to Rudy Lingganay's short stint at the headlines.