PBA Commish Cup semis: Proud Texters fight back

Before RDO's clutch 4th quarter and Castro's blurry ways,
Alapag was there to save the day for TNT

For the first three quarters, it appeared as though the resurgent Barangay Ginebra San Miguel were well on their way to having one foot placed at the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals' doorstep. They were cohesive on the floor, scoring from all angles and getting major contribution from just about anyone and everyone that Ginebra head coach Alfrancis Chua brought in.

Then came the 4th quarter.

That's when the battle-tested (or should we say "weary") Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters, down 0-1 in the Best-of-Five and already at the brink of suffering yet another defeat, took a gallant stand. At the forefront was future PBA Hall-of-Famer Jimmy Alapag, our bet to make the save, finishing with 17 points and 8 assists while playing a team second-best 35 minutes. Jayson Castro also showed up, appearing to have realized that while LA Tenorio is a passable defender, Castro has a few inches and pounds over his Ginebra counterpart. That, plus noone would ever confuse Tenorio's backup, Josh Urbiztondo, with a young Wyne Arboleda.

And finally, there was Ranidel de Ocampo. Hounded by cheap/ dumb fouls early in the game, RDO came up big in the decisive 4th quarter when the Texters came back to turn around a 59-68 deficit. For the first few minutes of the 4th quarter, the Texters started to look like the Texters. They were missing key guys Kelly Williams, Jared Dillinger and Ali Peek. Star sub Larry Fonacier has been playing like Wesley Gonzales the last few games (he finished with 0 points tonight on 0/5 shooting while playing 31 minutes) and Ryan Reyes was also unable to contribute.

No matter, when push came to shove and all the chips were down-- they turned to their new weapon under head coach Norman Black: defense.

Ginebra could only muster a measly 11 points as compared to the Texters' 26. It's not that they were misfiring, it was more of they just couldn't get any looks at the basket when they needed it.

We said in our preview that Castro, Alapag and Reyes will be the key to this series since they are more complete offensively and defensively than their Ginebra counterparts. We also said that RDO needs to flex his muscles and put Kerby Raymundo to work so that they'd hopefully cancel each other out (which they did, RDO finished with 16 while Raymundo had a Ginebra-high 17).

Come Game 3, expect the Texters to keep going to what has worked in the 4th quarter of their Game 2 victory. It would also help their cause if Fonacier ever decides to join the party and discover his range. That's been the missing link to the Texters' attack as of late, the three-ball coming by way of other guys not named Alapag.

For Ginebra, they played great in the first three quarters but just couldn't find any semblance of a set play in the 4th. Is it time to bring in Mark Caguioa? Perhaps, but is he healthy enough? Tenorio needs to do a better job spreading the floor and sharing the ball. In 40 minutes of play Tenorio finished with an unimpressive 7 points and 2 assists, completely being dominated by his Texters' counterparts Alapag and Castro. Is the minutes getting to him? Can Tenorio keep up his stellar play while being endlessly attacked by the Texters' guards and banged relentlessly in the post (KKS note: that didn't read right LOL)?

We're down to a Best-of-Three affair, who're you betting on to make the Finals?