First blood for Powerade, TNT

Do I have your attention now? Under-rated no more,
GD20 is just a win away from moving closer to the Finals 

Don't look now, but the Powerade Tigers are a game away from pulling of a rare upset against PBA Philippine Cup top seed B-Meg Llamados behind the efforts of Gary David and rookie Marcio Lassiter.

David takes care of the scoring, Lassiter provides the quintessential Scottie Pippen: Michael Jordan type of play by picking his spots and playing tight defense while the rest of the guys work on getting possessions for the Tigers' cause.

For the Llamados to win, head coach Tim Cone needs to squeeze whatever defensive tenacity he can from top guns PJ Simon and James Yap who were just as good as their Tigers' counterparts on offense, but not on the other end of the floor.

Daresay Cone might be forced to sit Simon if he continues with his subpar defensive play and try to find someone who can at least challenge David's shots. Yap? We all know he won't be benched anytime soon given his renewed superstar exploits under the triangle.

Should Cone try to put ace defender Marc Pingris on Gary David? I'm not sure if Cone's that much of a wildcard, but we have seen Pingris lockdown smaller, quicker guys (L.A. Tenorio back in a previous Finals match-up against Cone's then own Alaska Aces). This might also allow Cone to bring in more height with Kerby Raymundo and Joe DeVance on the block.

Also, Mark Barroca needs to get more involved in the offense and slash into the lane given his speed (and some height) advantage over the Tigers' Jayvee Casio, Rudy Lingganay and Celino Cruz.

For the Llamados to win, they need to get the Tigers' guards in foul trouble and force the ball out of their hands. This ploy would put the pressure on the Tigers' bigs Doug Kramer, Rommel Adducul and Alex Crisano-- and based on their collective talent, they're more bangers/ enforcers than go-to-guys.

In the other game, the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters continue to win despite an injury-plagued line-up behind the brilliance of guard Jayson Castro.

True Grit: Can't take the ball away from The Blur

We will probably never know how to properly classify Castro, other than him being a combo guard and the Pinoy version of the Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose, who scored the game-winning lay-up over the Barako Bull Energy's Dylan Ababou to send the darkhorses home on an 81-79 count.

While I placed my bet on the Energy based on their veterans' collective pride led by Mick Penissi and Willie Miller, the Texters answered back with sheer heart. Reigning MVP Jimmy Alapag suited up to score 15, Ryan Reyes-- while still hobbling, played a few minutes and Japeth Aguilar was as in control as we could ever hope for.

The victory allows the Texters to recuperate since they won't be playing until January while it's back to the drawing board for the inconsistent Energy.