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| Uh-oh. They're bringing the "back hand slap" back! (Photo courtesy of PBA InterAKTV) |
Newly-installed head coach Gee Abanilla and co. have done a tremendous job in evening out the minutes and assigning roles in their solid nine-man rotation which features import Elijah Millsap, Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos as their steady 30+ minutes guys to end-guy Chico Lanete playing for about 12. This, after former coach Olsen Racela would constantly introduce change looking for a "winning line-up" once they were without NBAer Renaldo Balkman (Millsap is good, but there's a reason he has yet to make an NBA season roster).
We've always maintained that Cabagnot (12,4,4) and Santos (12,8), though immensely gifted, are not your cookie-cutter superstars who can win you games outright. They'll get lucky from time to time and look borderline stellar, but they are great support players at best- think Scottie Pippen not Steve Kerr. With Millsap (27,13) taking care of offense, Cabagnot and Santos have worked quite well off their import along with locals Junemar Fajardo, Doug Kramer, Chris Lutz and Ronald Tubid.
Cabagnot has been happy sharing the basketball these days instead of dribbling the air off it, while Santos has been well-behaved when it comes to him simply jacking up shots, seemingly waiting for someone to make YouTube clips of him good enough for an NBA tryout.
The continued growth of Fajardo (10,8) is also proving to be rather invaluable. He is the team's leader in shot blocks despite playing in only 25 minutes a game and leaving the rest to burly backup Doug Kramer. Kramer, for his part, has blossomed into a great replacement for now Barako Bull slotman Dorian Pena- grabbing boards, making open shots and pretty much just being quicker on his feet than Pena ever was.
Can Petron sustain their current run to the top of the standings or are we in for another meltdown?
We doubt it.
This team was already ready to get over the hump and leave their Petronovela ways behind them last conference save for a freak, televised incident. Guys were sacrificing shots in order to move the basketball and they were really buying into the team concept to win.
Petron's always had the talent, now let's enjoy the show and see where it takes them this time around.
It should be nothing short of a finals berth for Petron to call this season a success. They're just too good (at least on paper) to not be the favorites this conference.
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