Top heavy

Championship-hungry
(Photo credit: abs-cbn.com)

While the league is having its PBA All Star Break, allow this writer to make his (hopefully) triumphant return with this "catch-up" entry.

So far, we've seen a lot of impressive performances from most of the PBA imports: Alaska's Corey Jefferson and Phoenix's Jameel McKay are lighting it up while Blackwater's Greg Smith is beasting the boards. Ginebra's Justin Brownlee is also low-key doing his thing, being the most versatile of the lot and leading the imports in terms of sharing the basketball and keeping his teammates involved.

As for the locals, 3x PBA MVP Junemar Fajardo, Jayson Castro, Terrence Romeo and other bonafide stars have taken the backseat as expected. The guards: Castro, Romeo and Alex Cabagnot have managed to stay afloat, thanks to their passing skills. Still, it's quite clear that teams are relying heavily on their imports this conference to help get them into better PBA Playoffs seating.


The San Miguel Beermen, fresh from their PBA Philippine Cup title romp, are once again seated atop with a 5-0 record. Unlike the rest of the field however, they do not rely heavily on their import which allows their superstar core to just carry on and do what they do best: pick-your-poison basketball.

Joining the Beermen are the Meralco Bolts, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, Alaska Aces, TNT Katropa and Star Hotshots. Of the five, it's the Bolts who have turned a lot of heads thanks to their much improved play which is eerily similar to how they fared last season .

To be quite frank and with the way things are going, it wouldn't be that surprising to see the Beermen back in the Finals. We're putting our money on the fact that the defending champions, Rain or Shine, won't be able to make a return trip, primarily because they remain largely inconsistent under coach Caloy Garcia. We're also going to go as far as to say that the top six teams will most likely be the ones duking it out in the Playoffs and that darkhorses like Phoenix and GlobalPort will most likely fall short yet again.

We'd love to bet the farm on either Ginebra or TNT making it into the Finals, with both being great draws for sure with a lot of backstory.

Just some other bits and pieces we'd like to throw into this piece:

- Terrence Romeo sure as heck is struggling.
- It's amazing that Yeng Guiao hasn't murdered anybody yet at NLEX.
- We love that PBA teams are either resting or monitoring their Gilas' players' minutes.
- RJ Jazul is coming into his own as a full-time PBA starting PG with Phoenix.
- Nino Canaleta can get buckets, which is why he'll never be without a PBA team.
- Gary David is just plain unlucky as of late.

That's all we have for now, until next time. Hit us up @kilikilishot on Twitter