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BOTH Purefoods and Sta. Lucia Realty will face each other without
their respective top shooters in Game 5 of their best-of-seven
Finals series for the Smart-PBA Philippine Cup crown Sunday at the
Araneta Coliseum.
James Yap, who together with Kerby Raymundo
combined for 58 points in lifting the Giants to a pulsating 106-98
win over the Realtors last Friday and tied the series to 2-2,
was slapped a one-game suspension and P20,000 fine for hitting
Joseph Yeo in the face in the closing minutes of Wednesday’s game.
“There is nothing to celebrate in our victory
in Game 4. We have to focus on our next game without James,” said
Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio, who is seeking to give the Giants
their eighth conference title and fifth All-Filipino crown since
joining the league in 1988.
The Commissioner’s Office said the decision
came late already so they have to implement the suspension order on
Yap only in Game 5, which according to Gregorio is not fair because
they may lose the momentum of their victory in Game 4.
“Winning two straight games means we have the
momentum already on our side. It’s really hard to turn the series
to our favor, but now that we have it, we are going to lose it
because without James Yap it’s like digging a deep hole in our
offense,” said the 35-year-old Gregorio, who has already two
conference titles tucked under his belt as a coach.
Purefoods management made an appeal on Friday
and asked league commissioner Sonny Barrios for reconsideration, but
to no avail.
Yeo will also miss Game 5 because of the
automatic one-game suspension for committing a very grave flagrant
foul against Noy Castillo in Game 4 on Friday. But Gregorio said
James Yap is James Yap already while the sophomore Yeo has just
started building his own career with the Realtors.
“Well, that’s it. We have to play without
Joseph [Yeo]. We told him after the game that it’s not Sta. Lucia
style. We have to be very careful because of incident, which is not
really intentional but are very clear in the book. I’m sure he has
no intention of hurting Noy Castillo. But because it happened, so we
have to accept it,” said Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez, who is
hoping to steer the Realtors to their second title after winning the
Governor’s Cup in 2001.
Fernandez said they have to make a major
adjustment particularly in their defense in Game 5. He noticed it
was already different from where they started in the long series.
“Yes, I noticed it’s different already.
That’s why we need to do something if we have to win the
series,” added Fernandez, who brought the Realtors to the finals
for the third time since joining the league in 1993 in only his
second conference as a coach.
-- Frank Calapre
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