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| From "Most Dominant" to "Most Vocal" |
Those were the magical words spoken by slick-haired Meralco Bolts head coach Ryan Gregorio following last night's triumphant march to solo third at the expense of the free-falling Barako Bulls, 83-75.
Last season, the Bolts were lost in trying to build a non-expansion-like team from the get go, grabbing players left and right in an effort to contend RIGHT NOW behind Mac Cardona and Asi Taulava. Despite all the starpower and endless financing from Team MVP, the Bolts still lacked cohesion and maybe another star to lift the burden off "franchise player" Cardona.
Credit has to go to the Bolts' management for addressing that problem faster, say a conference later (something Ginebra management should learn from), and landing star combo guard Sol Mercado. And while this writer, along with just about the entire Filipino basketball community, thought that a Cardona-Mercado pairing wouldn't work coach Ryan Gregorio showed us that all he needed was just a little more time to designate roles for his two stars and others in his rotation.
This Philippine Cup, the Bolts started on the wrong side of things with Mercado out with an injury and then Cardona getting hurt early in the conference as well. However, those injuries forced Gregorio to go to his other guys-- and new recruits such as steady Gabby Espinas (who is slowly finding his niche in the pros and showing why we were all agog over a Kelly Williams-Arwind Santos-Espinas holy trinity a few years back in the Draft-- spoiled by surprise! Joseph Yeo and the Coca Cola/ Powerade Tigers), Chico Lanete and even a resurgent and seemingly rejuvenated Asi Taulava.
What fans were then treated to was a blue-collared, hard working team that was built to win behind its defensive patterns. True enough, Espinas, Taulava and Lanete have all shared scoring duties while waiting for the return of Mercado and Cardona. The minute the two stars came back into the line-up, you could see that a certain hierarchy has been established within the Bolts' ranks.
Cardona will always be the go to guy-- as proven by his late game heroics a few days ago. Mercado is option 1b, that is, when Cardona's shooting his foot off and forcing it a bit too much, Mercado has the freedom to call his own isolation plays much like how B-Meg's James and Roger Yap play off each other (the difference being of course is, J. Yap doesn't mind not scoring or deferring while that is a cardinal sin with Cardona). When one of them tires out, Gregorio goes with Lanete as his second scoring option next to whoever among Cardona and or Mercado is left on the floor.
Inside there's Gabby Espinas, who has the range and freedom to create offense for himself as long as it is within 17 feet. Mark Isip is the next option (an undersized power forward who actually has a lot of solid moves in the paint) and you have to believe that when he comes back from an injury, Reynel Hugnatan could only be another asset in Gregorio's pocket.
Lastly, there's the ageless Taulava. Playing with the same hunger that he had back in his rookie year, Taulava seems to be having relapses of his heroic SMART Gilas campaign and has taken on a more vocal approach to his young team. Honestly, it's about time Taulava takes on leadership duties. With Talk 'n' Text, he deferred to Jimmy Alapag (who wouldn't?), but with a young team with two temperamental superstars in Cardona and Mercado, Taulava can now play the role of "wise old sage" and steer the Bolts where he pleases.
Now that Gregorio's rotation is looking more and more solid, it's just right that his team is finally being rewarded for their hard work. Hopefully, the string of victories (and improved health) continues so we could see a different kind of "family act" in the PBA Finals (because no one's really betting on a Barako Bulls-Shopinas.Com Finals now).
