As of this writing, 2 teams have already secured their places in the Semifinals of the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup: Talk and Text Tropang Texters and Powerade Tigers. Talk and Text making it to the Semifinals was expected, but for Powerade Tigers, winning twice against top seeded B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados, it was like David and Goliath but this time, David (Gary David) had lots of help.
The first game of the quarterfinal series is where Powerade showed that they can be a title contender. Behind the efforts of Gary David who had 32 points all in the first three quarters, Marcio Lassiter with 24 points and an improved game from Doug Kramer who contributed 10 points and 13 rebounds in a sorry loss by B-MEG over Powerade, 97-88.
With Powerade getting first win, the pressure was with the Llamados when Game 2 happened last Sunday. The lone knock-out game packed crowd as well, as spectators were interested to see whether B-Meg can knock Powerade or Powerade as a true contender and it proved the other way around: Powerade eliminated the Llamados, 131-123 in a comebacking effort from the Tigers who did well on the rainbow country by hitting 22 3-point shots and still behind the efforts of Gary David who had 37 points, Marcio Lassiter and Jvee Casio.
What Powerade did to beat B-Meg was nothing extraordinary: It was playoff basketball, Gary's team mates in Game 2 knew that when he's hot, He can score in bunches. With B-meg's defense running towards Gary, Gary has other options, Marcio, Jvee and even the likes of Josh Vanladingham, Will Antonio, Doug Kramer and Rommel Adducul inside the paint. Jvee Casio, despite being matched up with guards like James Yap, Roger Yap and PJ Simon knew how much he should work harder - as hard as how he did for him to be included in the Gilas National team. Indeed, it was Powerade's heart that brought them back to the Final 4 - the last time they had advance to the series was during the 2004 Fiesta Conference, back when they were still known as Coca Cola Tigers.
With their achievement, It was fitting enough for Gary David to get the Player of the Week award this conference.
The Powerade team today is different from the past years - They can give ROS or Ginebra a good fight at the Semifinals, they can prove themselves as a contender. I wouldn't give a straight forward prediction though: I would be an interested spectator on how Bo Perasol, his coaching staff, the players do well in Semifinals.
The author is not a Powerade fan but is a fan of the PBA. She has respected every team in the league and is trying to write for all the teams in her web blog, News Bits Online.
3:56 AM
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