Has Captain Hook Relinquished His Alpha Status

Saludo si Captain Hook sa inyo

Following last night's 105-104 defeat at the hands of Willie Miller and the rest of the GlobalPort Batang Pier, there was one standout statistic featured on the Meralco Bolts' box score. It featured no less than "franchise player" Mac Cardona and under the label "Points" where it would usually read 18 to 24, it read 2.

TWO points.

We're not talking about on and off guys like Miller or Barako Bull Energy Cola's Danny Seigle or even  San Mig Coffee Mixers' PJ Simon here. We're talking about Cardona-- a guy who would take (and has taken) over 30 shots if he could to break the double digit scoring barrier. Of course, had the Bolts won we wouldn't even be talking about it since we could easily dismiss it as an "off night" for Cardona. Fortunately for the Bolts, there were guards Sol Mercado and recently acquired Ronjay Buenafe dropping 30-points EACH to make it a game.

But now that Mercado looks more and more like the lead guy, the "Alpha Dog" so to speak, is it finally safe to say that Cardona has willingly ceded his lofty standing in the Bolts' pecking order?