TNT, NEW IMPORT DUEL WITH GINEBRA FOR SERIES LEAD

TNT, NEW IMPORT DUEL WITH GINEBRA FOR SERIES LEAD



WHAT THIS GAME MEANS:

Oh the swing game. You win it, and you can practically smell the Finals. You lose it, and you can start calling your relatives abroad to have them lurk the net for seat sales. There’s a good chance you’ll have some vacation time to go visit. Now I’m in no way guaranteeing that the winner here will go on and take the series.

However, it is basic mathematics: win Game 3 and you’ll have two chances to go to the Finals. Sounds favorable to me. Now that’s something even a four-year old (who drinks Nido) could figure out. But it stands even truer in this particular matchup because a) TNT is near impossible to beat when they can smell the next step and b) Ginebra is a momentum team. Give them an inch, they’ll make an expressway. Long story short, both teams can and will springboard from a huge W. It’s just how they’re built. It’s where science and passion merge in the basketball venn diagram.



Funny thing? How drastically things have changed. This is what you get when you hold an All-Star Weekend IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING SEMIFINALS: injured stars get time to recover (Mark Caguioa) and healthy stars get hurt in practice (Jimmy Alapag). Tables, consider yourselves officially turned.



WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR:

The import matchup. Vernon Macklin was able to do that (look up) to Jerome Jordan. Dude was 7 feet tall. That guy’s gone now. In his place? A much smaller, 6’5″ Tony Mitchell. I can see why Norman Black pulls the trigger on this. Jared Dillinger is out for the conference, Ryan Reyes is a question mark and Jimmy is missing at least the next game. You need someone else not named Jayson Castro to take the ball and make something happen off the dribble. In comes Mitchell, a guy who, from all signs, looks to be your prototypical superstar.

He can score, he’s athletic, he’s young and he can score. Also, the man can score. This means they’re pretty much saying that Vernon Macklin will be defended by Ali Peek, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Harvey Carey and John Ferriols. Yeah. It’s an experiment, alright. To be fair though, where does Ginebra find a guy on their roster who can contain the NBA D-League Rookie of the Year? If only they had a Rim Protector!



WHO TO WATCH OUT FOR?

Jutaca. Ranidel De Ocampo was excellent in Game 2. Anytime he was on the floor, TNT either trimmed Ginebra’s leads or built their own. In fact, Ginebra only really got momentum when RDO was saddled with foul woes and had to sit. If De Ocampo keeps up that aggressiveness, with more room inside to operate after Jordan’s departure, and with a sense of urgency considering their injury problems, it might be a long night
for the Ginebra power forwards.

That’s where Rim Protector Kerby Raymundo will have to put in the work. Will he have enough gas though to keep up his own excellent offensive play after banging and bruising with Ranidel on D? We can only wait and see.

PS

Over-under for Mark Caguioa minutes is 15. What you got?

Photos c/o Interaktv


Source: Slamonlineph.com