Caguioa Still Hurting From Loss

Caguioa Still Hurting From Loss

By WAYLON GALVEZ
July 23, 2012, 5:38pm

MANILA, Philippines — Since 2001, the year he first played in the PBA, Mark Caguioa’s career with Barangay Ginebra has gone through ups and downs.

But their defeat to B-Meg in a do-or-die match for the second finals playoff berth last Friday probably hurt more than others.

“I’m still recovering… this one hurts the most,” said Caguioa in a phone interview Sunday night.

He said the Governors’ Cup was something special, one that he and his team fought hard to win. They had wanted to dedicate to Robert Jaworski, the Ginebra icon whose jersey was retired recently.

“It would have been great if we’re in the finals to honor him,” he said.

Such was their keen desire to win the title that a rare team meeting was held before the start of the semifinals to bond the team together.

“We haven’t had a meeting for a long time. So everybody let their feelings out, everyone got to talk. After that, everyone played as a team. I really wanted to win the game for Kerby (Raymundo) as it was against his former team. And also for Cedric Bozeman, he’s such a nice guy, he never complains,” he said.



They almost made it to the finals

After winning four of their five semis games, trhey arranged a knockout match against B-Meg. But the B-Meg Llamados won the game and Barangay Ginebra was dealt a stinging blow in its bid to face first-time finalist Rain or Shine.

But a collateral damage from that loss is Caguioa’s bid to win the Best Player of the Conference and the Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards.

Caguioa is among the leaders of the race but having failed to enter the finals, he may be surpassed by Philippine Cup Best Player winner Gary David of Powerade, Petron’s Arwind Santos, B-Meg’s James Yap, Talk ’N Text’s Jason Castro, Barako Bull’s Willie Miller, Petron’s Alex Cabagnot, Alaska’s LA Tenorio of Alaska, Rain or Shine’s Paul Lee and Alaska’s Sonny Thoss for the MVP Award.

One thing going for him though is that the points from the semifinal games have yet to be tallied.

The race for the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) though is another matter.

He and David occupy the top two spots with 33.00 and 29.93 Statistical Points, respectively, followed by Pingris (27.69), Yap (26.13) and Lee (26.08).

Both David and Caguioa were recipients of the first two BPC awards, as the former won it during the Philippine Cup and the latter bagged it in the Commissioner’s Cup, making them outright contenders for the MVP trophy.

Another BPC for either Caguioa or David (also eyeing his first MVP) will likely put them on solid ground to win the coveted individual award.

Caguioa said he’s not after the award, as is more concerned with winning a championship.

“I’m not really after that. I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t get it. That’s not my goal. My goal is to win the championship,” he said. “I’ll give it (the MVP) to Gary . Though they didn’t make it to the semis (this conference), he deserves it as they made the all-Filipino finals.”

In the MVP race, the stats from the Philippine Cup are worth 40 percent, while the conferences with imports – Commissioner’s Cup and Governors’ Cup – have 30 percent each. The Leo Awards is Sunday before Game 4 of the finals.

The 6-foot-1 Caguioa plans to have a vacation for a couple of weeks in the United States next week. When he returns, for next season starting in October, the 32-year-old guard knows the things he needs to improve.

“I need to work more on my legs. Running is one of the things I need to do, mabilis na talaga ang laro ngayon,” said Caguioa. “I told my teammates that we build on this, I don’t want to come back here again and feel the same thing. It’s a lesson for us.”

Source: Manila Bulletin