Saturday, June 11, 2011

Governor's Cup is back! Rain or Shine wins 95-82 over B-Meg

PBA commissioner Chito Salud keeps doing himself right, this time by bringing back the Governor's Cup and effectively remedying what to me has been its one fatal flaw-- how to separate it from the Commissioner's Cup which also makes use of hiring imports.

In case you haven't heard, the top teams in the recent Commish Cup won by Talk N Text will field in imports of around 6"2 max in height, while the cellar dwellers get guys up to 6"6 tall. And while I am amazed that the PBA never went back to getting 7"0 imports like they did a few years back (which they should reconsider because since most of today's Pinoys are uber talented and no longer just "role" players, why not let them strut their stuff while being backed by foreign giants who do the dirty work?), this current arrangement is quite acceptable.

On to the game then.

B-Meg, parading its 6"2 import, Darryl Hannah and new acquisition Joe DeVance from Alaska, lost to the Rain or Shine Elastopainters who have found a gem of an import yet again in dreadlock-sporting Arizona Reid who scored 36 and hauled down 17 boards.

Credit of course goes to RoS since this team is playing with pretty much the same roster while adding an import who automatically fills up its hole in the middle (since RoS head coach Yeng Guiao still doesn't look like he's convinced that Beau Belga is a legit, 48-minutes center/power forward). On the other side, BMeg coach Jorge Gallent is still trying to look where Joe DeVance fits in his rotation, while also trying to make room for his import.

Gallent opted to sit steady point guard Jonas Villanueva in favor of his import (who shot an awful 4-23 from the field and finished with 8 points) and even tried to get something out of Pong Escobal (who, at this point, is just not a PBA player). JDV scored in the post, but it's clear that BMeg needs to unload some of their post players to get better point guards and wings.

JDV, Jerwin Gaco, Marc Pingris, Don Allado all took turns in the paint which is good, but there was no fluidity in their game at all.

James Yap did his usual thing, as did super sub PJ Simon (who should be traded and start for another team), but they just looked really lost out there. Maybe it's because point guard Roger Yap wasn't in the rotation, or maybe they just need more time to jell.
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