PBACC The Finals: Game 7

Walang atrasan.
(Photo credits to Mr Paul Ryan Tan)

First thing's first.

I'm the realest.

No, cross that one out.

What I am, is a proud Rain or Shine fan. I started as a Ginebra fan, thanks to the greatness of Robert Jaworski, Sr., and when he moved on to politics, stayed to the very last of the Marlou Aquino-Bal David-Noli Locsin era (Vince Hizon, always the smartest of the group, flew the coup first, moving over to the MBA via the Iloilo MegaVoltz). After that, I chose to follow Aquino, which I considered as the best of the three, over at Santa Lucia. My decision to switch allegiances was made easier thanks to the presence of fundamentally sound power forward Dennis Espino, and later on the inclusion of PBA MVP Kenneth Duremdes.

When that team folded, I was lost. A basketball fan without a home. Until Yeng Guiao took over the RoS franchise. That's when I started loving the team. Then Paul Lee came into the picture. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Now that I've made all of that clear (if I haven't already on other social pages, come on now), let's move on to the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals between the Elastopainters and Talk'n'Text Tropang Texters.


We are down to one last game: Game 7. Whichever side you are on, you cannot help but agree that this has been an unexpectedly entertaining (by way of sheer brutality) series between the two camps. See, styles make fights, and the Texters and Elastopainters run the same share-the-wealth philosophy that not a lot would enjoy (because rooting for maybe one or two megastars and asking them to win games is a lot easier than to, say, memorize all of the names of each player on the floor and try not to act surprised when they make a crucial play or basket here and there). Only the Texters run it better, simply because they have better personnel (they have a legitimate PBA MVP: Kelly Williams, still in somewhat of his prime, coming off the bench).

Pre-Gilas Pilipinas, people wouldn't even readily recognize the Elastopainters outside of Lee and head coach Yeng Guiao. Jeffrei Chan is a stellar sniper, but is surprisingly not the first name when you ask a bystander for the Top 3 PBA shooters today (it's usually a toss up among James Yap, PJ Simon and maybe a Gary David). Gabe Norwood is solid, but even the longest RoS fans are not at all in awe of watching him play every single night (because some nights you get FIBA Gabe, most nights we get bored Gabe). And really, Beau Belga's only fun to watch when he's out there trying to try and hurt someone.

Other than that, who is this JayR Quinahan, Jonathan Uyloan and Jireh Ibanes?

But here we are, getting ready for a Game 7 of a Finals series that has seen players getting their teeth knocked in/out, balls thrown at their faces, elbows, bumps, fighting stances and what not.

Hell, Chan basically played Game 6 on one foot (ditto if he plays Game 7) and somehow managed to score 11 points to help his team win and force the clincher.

So here's what we know:

Talk'n'Text isn't afraid of getting down and dirty, thanks to the growing body-of-work of Ivan Johnson.

Yeng Guiao won 2 games (2, 3) by making the first key adjustment of the series, putting Wayne Chism on Ranidel de Ocampo and a local big on Johnson.

Jong Uichico responded and won 2 games back (4, 5) by making another switch this time by putting Harvey Carey on Lee, and clogging all of the passing lanes off the P&R.

Guiao hit back late in Game 5 by trying Norwood on Johnson, saw that it worked, and tried it again in longer stretches in Game 6 (which RoS won)

A Plantar Fascia tear is NOTHING to Jeffrei Chan.

Larry Fonacier is back and taking names.

Ranidel de Ocampo is going to sneak his way into, should TNT win it all, another PBA Finals MVP trophy.

Jayson Castro is Superman.

Paul Lee is Batman.

You can throw all of the numbers out. Basically, the team that hits 100 and scores more than the other wins. That's all there is. Okay that was silly, how about, "whoever takes care of the ball more/ forces more turnovers and converts, usually wins (check the stats)?"

It will be very surprising to us if TNT or RoS try something new in Game 7, simply because it could throw their whole game plan off if players try to over-think situations. We can see more of Carey on Lee, and now, Norwood having some dance time with Johnson even if he's giving up a lot of weight in the paint.

As long as Chism can keep off foul trouble, he's the one guy that basically brings RoS from being a good team to a great team if they are to win against TNT.

What we are a little cautious of, worried even, is retaliation and escalation. See, Johnson's had a free pass the whole Finals for all of his extra motions and some rough play. Game 7 is the last of the conference, so win or lose, this will be the last time this year that they'll see one another... and you just know that RoS hasn't forgotten all that TNT's bruiser has done to them in the Finals.

Lee. Uyloan. Guiao. Quinahan. Arana. Tiu.

Some of the guys we see getting involved with Johnson in this series in some way.

Belga's been quiet since that Ginebra match. Perhaps he's saving his very best for last?

For Game 7, we'd love to see more players be involved for TNT. So far, it's been Castro, de Ocampo and a little Johnson and Fonacier. Where's Kevin Alas? Where's Matt Rosser? Those two have been pretty quiet in this series.

RoS? We hope that they can focus more on the game instead of trying to just play gulangan basketball. They tried it already, and 3-3 means it can and can't work. Do you really want to gamble and try to start a ruckus in Game 7? Or do they want to win it all?

We are still sticking to our initial prediction, which is for RoS. But if TNT should win, then so be it.

We can't wait to see the look on Ivan Johnson's face when TNT loses. He's basically become to Bayan ng RoS what Belga is to Ginebra.