Aces Full

Nung nagsabog ang Diyos
ng kagwapuhan sa mundo,
ganito din katindi box out ni Banchero
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

It is quite astonishing how the Alaska Aces, now with a 5 wins and 2 losses slate, are managing to stay under the radar while we are all busy celebrating the Ginebra castaways over at Barako Bull, the "revived" San Miguel Beermen and the whole "Sanchir-drama" over at Ginebra.

Don't be surprised if you find Alaska making another deep Playoff run despite having a rather low-key yet ultra-efficient import in Travis Romeo (35 mpg 27 ppg 13 rpg 3 apg). Calvin Abueva (15 mpg 7 ppg 6 rpg 1 apg)? He flirted with a near triple-double last night versus Kia Carnival, but this PBA Governor's Cup campaign for the Aces has been more about their excellent guard play than Abueva's "somewhat controlled" high-octane reputation and performance.

5 wins and 2 losses?

Credit the Aces' guard play.

Not so long ago, the Aces featured arguably the most Junior Varsity looking rotation at the point guard spot with JVee Casio and RJ Jazul. What Casio had in IQ, Jazul had in YOLO gunslinging. Casio was just as well-equipped as (if not better than) Jazul when it comes to marksmanship, but for some reason never really took control of the team from a scorer's standpoint.

Now?

The Aces have bigger, "PBA-sized" guards Chris Banchero (23 mpg 10 ppg 4 rpg 3 apg 1 spg) and Ping Exciminiano (14 mpg 4 ppg 1 rpg 1 apg 1 spg) to aide Casio (25 mpg 11 ppg 3 rpg 4 apg 1 spg) and Jazul (18 mpg 8ppg 2 rpg 1 apg).

And it's not like Aces head coach Alex Compton benched the old guards in favor of the new ones, but rather, he found a balance as to when and where to play them. Casio is the lead PG, Banchero follows suit. Jazul now flirts with being a combo scoring guard, while Exciminiano is the man to call if a high-scoring point guard opponent (i.e. Paul Lee, Jayson Castro) is in the Aces' way.

These four young guards are able to carry the Aces through games, with the steadying able hands of veterans Cyrus Baguio (23 mpg 10 ppg 1 rpg 3 apg) and Dondon Hontiveros (18 mpg 5 ppg 3 rpg 1 apg) who are both 20 point scorers on any given night.

Now if only someone could tell us what's going on with that former franchise cornerstone Sonny Thoss... IMHO he's the one guy who could really help the Aces' cause once the Playoffs hits and all the opposing teams with near 7 footers start flexing their muscles in the paint.