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| Will Alaska's "We Not Me" philosophy prevail or will "Slash Brothers" Stanley Pringle and Terrence Romeo lift GlobalPort to the finals? PBA (file photo) |
By Ivan Saldajeno
IT'S a new year, and the PBA Philippine Cup will go a notch up with the daily semifinal round. First in the list is an interesting showdown between Alaska and GlobalPort.
History: The Aces mauled the Batang Pier in their previous meeting, 123-104, on Nov. 20. That was despite a 33-point output from Terrence Romeo as eight Aces scored ten points or more. Talk about a club living to its battle cry.
What Now: That loss actually took a toll in GlobalPort's outright semifinal bid. The Batang Pier, should a three-way tie for the second berth with the Aces and the San Miguel Beermen have taken place, would have fall to fourth place because of having the lowest quotient among the three. A loss in their final elimination assignment against the Talk 'n Text Tropang Texters further pulled them down to fifth, although they secured a twice-to-beat advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Alaska and San Miguel would make the semis outright thanks to a Rain Or Shine loss to NLEX. GlobalPort clobbered Barako Bull in the first round before beating Ginebra in a controversial knockout quarterfinal match.
Key Match-Up: Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle vs. Calvin Abueva and Vic Manuel-It looks like it will boil down to both teams' stars. Abueva and Romeo have seen tremendous improvement because of their FIBA Asia Championship stints, while Manuel became more mature thanks to the FIBA 3x3 tournaments. Pringle, on the other hand, made doubters wrong by successfully blending with Romeo's scoring prowess.
Stat to Watch Out: I mentioned a bit about Alaska's battle cry these recent times, "We Not Me". The Aces averaged 19.7 assists per game during the eliminations, but no player averaged at least four a game. Five players, however, dished an average of two dimes or more a match with R.J. Jazul the team leader at 3.4. On the other hand, the Batang Pier averaged 17.9 assists a night after the quarterfinals, but Romeo (3.2) and Pringle (4.2) account for a little less than half of it. Curiously, both the "Slash Brothers" are also the club's top scorers, combining for 45 of GlobalPort's 99.6-point average. So as long as Alaska plays superb team basketball and contains both Romeo and Pringle, everything will be fine for the top-seeded club.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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