|
By Eddie G. Alinea, Contributor
WHERE Kelly Williams goes, Sta. Lucia Realty
goes.
This is what both the Realtors and the Purefoods
Giants realized in Game 3 of their best-of-seven series for the
Smart-PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.
Williams, hero of the Realtors’ Games 1 and 2
victories, was finally contained to a measly 10 points— his lowest
output in 23 games—by the combined defense of Ardy Larong, Marc
Pingris, Robert Sanz and Roger Yap and the Giants won, 118-107, to
escape falling to a dangerous 0-3 situation where no other team has
surmounted in the 33-year history of the league.
Coach Ryan Gregorio and his Giants’
hard-earned triumph, likewise, moved them into the threshold of
preserving their reputation of one of only five teams to bounce back
from a 0-2 deficit in a best-of-seven series.
Besides limiting Williams to that lowest output,
Gregorio also found a way to pacing scoring machine James Yap well,
preventing the former UE Red Warrior from tiring out like what
happened in the first two games of the series.
Despite thwarting his bid for a more comfortable
3-0 advantage, Sta. Lucia rookie coach Boyet Fernandez remained
undaunted saying his loss just came in time for him and his boys to
learn in what department they will have to make necessary
adjustments to prepare them from what is fast becoming a long,
winding series.
“It’s okay. That loss means we have to make
some minor adjustments in both our defensive and offensive rotations
in Game 4,” Fernandez, a former Purefoods campaigner himself, said
a day after the setback.
“Kelly has to re-adjust to the defense put up
by his defenders in Game 3 after successfully eluding them in the
opening two games. That also means we have to focus our defense also
on [Jun] Simon, who effectively spelled James [Yap] in the shooting
department when James was resting on the bench,” he assessed.
“I think we also have to watch out the others
who are capable of stepping up. As you probably noticed, we
surrendered 118 points against them from an average 89 or something
in our previous outings. We have to solve that,” he added.
The Realtors spent the whole day Thursday
viewing the tape of Game 3 after which they went into a light
skirmish.
The same goes for the Giants who also spent the
eve of match to, according to Gregorio “freshen our legs and
prepare our mind for another big game ahead.”
“We’ll definitely go to tie the series on
Friday by using the same formula we employed in Game 3, that is
limit to Williams in his production by alternating anew Larong,
Marc, Sanz and Roger against him,” he said.
“Kerby [Raymundo] and James [Yap] will again
be the first offensive options, but others like Jun [Simon], Jondan
[Salvador], Marc [Pingris], and Rommel [Adducul] will be given
longer playing times, “ he said.
|
