Billed to be one of the more intriguing quarterfinals match-ups in the Philippine Cup, the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings- Rain or Shine Elasto Painters game lived up to all the hype and more in a game marred with physicality, Mark Caguioa's hairdo Photoshopped on just about everyone and Yeng Guiao celebrating with his arms up, fist pumping like we've never seen him before.
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| Lee rises in big games versus Ginebra |
The Gin Kings were in control early behind the almost God-like sniping of Mark "The Spark" Caguioa who is easily back as the league's premier scoring threat (with Gary David sliding back to being 2nd best). The curled up spitfire guard was drilling jumpers from just about everywhere which opened things up inside for beastly center Rico Villanueva.
Enjoying as much as a 17 point lead, things were starting to get testy with usual suspects such as JR Quinahan, Beau Belga and little-used Gin Kings' center Billy Mamaril. Even RoS' guards Lee and Ryan Arana got into it with Mamaril at one point, and the Kings' own "Cool Cat" Cortez having a word or two with his on court opponents.
While the Gin Kings were drilling shots from everywhere, the Elasto Painters were struggling to find any rhythm over the zone defense. Ronjay Buenafe went back to his indecisive self, Jeffrei Chan couldn't see the light of day (guarded mostly by taller guys such as JC Intal and Nino Canaleta) and Lee was, well, being PBA Paul Lee (why his 3s aren't falling is beyond me, back in college and the amateurs, this guy was good at least 40% of the time). Credit should be given to RoS' Quinahan for playing like a beast and keeping his team in the game.
In the 4th, the Gin Kings were still up but a few hard fouls and some drama here and there quickly changed the tempo of the game. Ginebra wasn't attacking as hard, and RoS went from trying to knockdown jumpers to forcing its way into the lane behind the exploits of "Master Kick-out Artist" Lee.
Once Lee started breaking down the Ginebra zone with drives to the lane (and being fouled), the game was RoS' for the taking. Chan drilled in a three to give RoS' its first taste of the lead in what felt like forever, followed by clutch plays here and there.
Unfortunately, Ginebra answered back with a Willy Wilson save and under-goal stab that sent the game to overtime much to the delight of the good sized Friday crowd.
In OT, the Gin Kings looked a bit lost while RoS was their usual, "take no prisoners" self which saw guys like Gabe Norwood, Lee, Chan, and even beefy Beau Belga take over.
Does Lee deserve all the love for this win? I'd say yes, but not as much as you'd think. Quinahan kept RoS' in it with long balls while his teammates were out of it. Yes, he fouled out, but the technical he drew from a Mike Cortez' second motion allowed his team to inch a little more into the game in the dying moments of regulation.
Lee, love him or not, did the smart thing and started driving into the lane to try and create things for his guys. They say that the only way you can break a zone is to have knockdown shooters-- well, yes, but also if you have a solid ball handler who has the strength enough to battle bigs in the paint which is what Lee is all about.
Did the refs give Lee a lot of FTs to work with? Not at all, the guy was getting hit a lot while chasing guys on defense in the paint. Some of the FTs he took came from technical fouls being his team's designated shooter.
All in all, the biggest difference came from a coaching standpoint. Siot Tangquincen has been tinkering with his line-up for weeks now and when the time came that someone not named Caguioa needed to takeover, guys were afraid of making mistakes.
Guiao on the other hand, has all the faith in the world in his guys (okay, maybe not with Buenafe) and trusted them enough to keep them in the game for long stretches and wasn't going nuts over bad or hurried shots (which RoS did a lot in OT).
Also, too much freelancing for Caguioa (not his fault since he was on fire) that hampered the other guys from getting into any shooting rhythm. Personally, I like John Wilson's "in your face" defense on Lee, and Villanueva should be fed inside the paint a lot more.
