The Mightiest?

#PUSO... wait, what?
 

Before we proceed, let us first congratulate the Mighty Sports – Philippines team that swept the recently concluded 2016 William Jones Cup en route to the gold medal.

We would like to commend Al Thornton, Vernon Macklin, Zach Graham, Migchael Singletary, Hamady N’Diaye,Dewarick Spencer, Troy Gillenwater, Jason Brickman, Jeric Teng, Leo Avenido, Sunday Salvacion, Larry Rodriguez, TY Tang and head coach Bo Perasol for a job well done. They opted to wear the “Philippines” on their jerseys, and they did not embarrass us in any point of the tournament.

They did however, directly or indirectly, send a few wrong messages.

Room for Tiu

Mabait, pero mabagsik

We would like to think that we've successfully come to peace with our testosterone-driven insecurities in relation to the Rain or Shine Elastopainters' prized pitchman/ rookie Chris Tiu. After all, he is playing for our favorite team, under the tutelage of our favorite coach, and devoid of any diva mentality rampant among most of this era's TV-basketball stars.

So allow us to once again write about Tiu, his recent heroics and how he continues to open our hearts and minds to the fact that underneath the good looks, ever-flowing charm and unwavering charisma that wins over even the most rabid of James Yap and even die-hard Ginebra fans lies a ruthless competitor who puts his team before himself all for the sake of the coveted "W."

Tiu has been playing a lot of combo guard for the Elastopainters under head coach Yeng Guiao, earning 17 minutes a night and averaging 5 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists which are paltry at best but it's the little things he does on the court that has proven to be invaluable. Also, Tiu did have those two games first versus Yap and the rest of San Mig Coffee wherein he tallied a superstar-like 15 points and 8 assists and then just yesterday afternoon when Tiu put his "clutch" cap on and drained threes and make plays enough to help his team win in a hotly contested battle versus GlobalPort.

Rain or Shine triumphs, heads to Pinoy Cup Finals

Sige mag usap muna kayo jan,
ititira ko muna ito

For the record, the San Mig Coffee Mixers did whatever they could to try and salvage a win and extend the series for another night. And though top gun, 2x PBA Most Valuable Player, James Yap had another rough outing (relentlessly being hounded by the Rain or Shine Elastopainters) their other superstar PJ Simon went to work early to give the Mixers the lead in the first half.

Simon looked to be unstoppable, as he kept draining jumper after jumper right at hapless Paul Lee's grill as though the bald-headed reigning PBA Rookie of the Year wasn't there. Marc Pingris also looked like he was up for another big night, jumping all over the place and hauling down monstrous one-handed rebounds over the Elastopainters' frontline. Then there was also Joe DeVance, taking advantage of the mismatch in skillset and scoring time and again against either smaller or slower defenders asked to guard him. Truly, save for Yap going AWOL, everything was clicking for the Mixers. Even when things started to get chippy the Mixers appeared to be well in control, ending the first half with a Yap triple (which, for Mixers fans, was a great sign).

Then came the second half.

Whatever happened to Paul Lee

Asan na ung Angas ng Tondo?

Basketball is a team sport, it is not played by any certain individual no matter how dominant he may be on the hard court. A guy can score 100 points, average 50 for his career and still have only about a handful of rings while other, lesser talented individuals win more than you have fingers (Wilt Chamberlain: Bill Russel). There are times however, when these "superstars" stand out just because of what they can do and how others need to adjust to them.

For the San Mig Coffee Mixers, there's James Carlos Yap. The 2x PBA MVP who has become so unparalleled that it took a highly-motivated, vastly improved Jireh Ibanes of the Rain or Shine Elastopainters (with some help from today's "loose" PBA officiating that allows holds, grabs, bumps and what not) to keep him at bay (not even stop him, just enough to keep him from blowing up and dropping 30 points). Yap has been the barometer for his team in the on-going series between the Mixers and Elastopainters. When he's off, they lose, and the only time they won with him having an awful game (Game 5), it took a concerted effort among his teammates to do so.

PBA GovCup Finals: RoS a win away

RoS: Winning behind "balut" chemistry

Beat.

Just, plain, good old-fashioned beat.

That's how the BMeg Llamados are, now down 1-3 after losing a 17-point first quarter lead and losing all sense of composure best embodied by newly-minted Defensive Player of the Year Marc Pingris' silly headbutt on Rain or Shine Elastopainters' kiti-kiti guard Ryan Arana.

PBA GovCup Finals: With or Without Lee

Can RoS win without Lee?

"We will win this series with or without Paul Lee."

These were the ever-defiant, fighting words of the upstart Rain or Shine Elastopainters' head coach Yeng Guiao when asked about his team's chances of winning the title minus Rookie of the Year race leader Lee who re-dislocated his left shoulder (an old injury that hasn't gotten any better).

Well, what else did you expect him to say? To call it a day, tuck his tail between his legs and go home? To burst whatever remaining bubble of confidence is left on a team that faired miserably last season post-Sol Mercado and pre-Lee?

Strugg-LEE-ng: Waiting on Paul Lee

Forgive the Quinito/Halili-esque title, but two games into the PBA Commissioner's Cup, it's pretty clear that Rain or Shine's star rookie Paul Lee is underperforming in, quite expectedly, their two losses.

Lee: Sana ibabad ako ni Coach

Averaging an acceptable, yet paltry for superstar standards, 9.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.5 steals, 2 turnovers in 25.5 minutes, Lee appears to be a bit tentative on the floor and is not his usual, cerebral self.

Granted, playing in only 25 minutes and relinquishing lead star role to top-of-the-key, iso-happy, undersized power forward import Duke Crews will do that to anyone but that's where Lee's all around offensive brilliance is being missed. Compared to last conference, Lee was playing catalyst for RoS by virtue of getting to the rim and dishing out kick-out drives. This time? Not so much.