Coffee or paint?

I must admit that I’m a bigger fan of the old PBA over the present one and I can’t seem to adjust to or accept the fact that it’s coffee against paint for a PBA championship, and an All-Pinoy one at that. If the coffee was Great Taste starring Ricky Brown, then that would be fine, but it’s San Miguel (Beer) serving the caffeine. Beer and coffee? Well I guess these are the times. Then paint as an opponent? Call me old school but I preferred the Redmanizers against the Tamarraws. Oh well. The good news though is that they’re still playing the same basketball.

So far, the San Mig–Rain or Shine series has been a story of match-ups, better execution and coaching. One of the biggest reasons why San Mig is up 3-1 is due to the fact that they’ve been able to go with a line-up that causes a lot for problems for Rain or Shine. Coach Time Cone has done a great job of bringing out the best from his team, a trait that is ironically supposed to be Coach Yeng Guiao’s rare gift. After all, isn’t Guiao known to have the most unpredictable player rotations with anyone capable of stepping up anytime? Cone has done a remarkable job of going with three, instead of the traditional two big men with Marc Pingris, Rafi Reavis and Joe Devance. Devance ends up playing like a roverback who has the green light to play either like a wingman or a post player. He usually draws a mismatch-up against someone like Jeff Chan.    This has given the entire offense a different look with James Yap, PJ Simon and Mark Barroca always there ready to score. Pingris and Reavis have also done their part, and with a deep rotation, Cone has also squeezed out quality games from rookie Ian Sangalang, Alex Mallari and Justin Melton. You’re talking about nine players who are giving RoS the fits. Just check out  Game 4’s stats. Yap, Barroca and Sangalang had 17 points each, while Simon and Devance had 12 apiece. In Game 3, Simon had 14 points, while Yap and Devance had 13 each. Sangalang added 12. In Game 2, the scores are Simon (14), Yap and Devance (13), Pingris (11) and Sangalang (10).  Nobody has had a 20-point ballgame, but who cares? They’re clearly winning as a team with everyone pitching in his share and being selfless. The result? Better fluidity, trust and execution on offense.

Meanwhile, we’re supposed to be describing Rain or Shine’s players like we just did for San Mig Coffee, but we just can’t do it. Only Paul Lee has been consistent with everyone else strangely looking ordinary and not the way the magician Guiao plucked them out of his top hat.  Lee scored 28 points in Game 4 and 23 in Game 3.Chan led the attack in Game 2 with 18. The usual strong support base of scorers behind the team’s leading scorer is sadly missing, something that RoS isn’t used to as a team. Guiao has gone deep into this rotation and has even given players like Chris Tiu and TY Tang some playing time just to find that someone who might just suddenly erupt on offense.

What we may be seeing now is Tim Cone outcoaching Yeng Guiao by using a line-up that is tailor fit against that of Rain or Shine from a match-up perspective. It doesn’t necessarily mean that San Mig is better on paper. They just happen to be pushing the right buttons and are making Rain or Shine look inferior. This is where defense also sets in as a key for San Mig. Lee may score over 30 points if he wants, but if San Mig can limit the other players, then that’s perfectly fine.

But let’s remember it takes four games to win a championship, and as long as RoS is still in the series, lingin gyud ang bola! It isn’t over ‘til it’s over. I have a funny feeling that Guiao has more Aces up his sleeves and he isn’t giving up at all. You can expect Norwood and Chan to breathe fire in today’s Game 5 to support Lee. We can also expect defense to tighten up against all the scorers of San Mig. Expect tonight’s game to be more physical as RoS attempts to throw San Mig off balance by pushing them around.

So bring out the coffee and paint the town red. But can we replace the coffee with the real San Mig?

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Time-out: Happy wedding anniversary to Henry/ Pinky and Bebot/Pinky. >>> You can reach me at [email protected].