Bentaheng 2-0 target ng Alaska: Purefoods babawi

Depensa ang naging mabisang sandata ng Alaska Aces upang ma-kuha ang Game One ng kanilang titular showdown kontra sa Purefoods TJ Hotdogs kamakalawa sa pagsisimula ng finals ng Samsung-PBA Governors Cup noong Linggo.

Malabakod na depensa kay Derrick Brown, ang no. 1 contender para sa Best Import Award sa kumperensiyang ito, ang ipinamalas ng Aces para makuha ang 1-0 bentahe sa best-of-seven serye.

"I think the big key was we did a good defensive job on Derrick Brown," ani Alaska coach Tim Cone, matapos ang 79-73 panalo sa Game One sa Araneta Coliseum kamakalawa.

At ito ang inaasahang muling gawin ng Aces sa kanilang muling pakikipagharap sa TJ Hotdogs para sa Game Two ngayong alas-6:30 ng gabi sa Big Dome.

Naging epektibo sina Bryan Gahol at Migs Noble sa pagdedepensa kay Brown na siyang naging susi para makarating sa kanilang kinala-lagyan ngayon.

"I guess the edge we have is that we can throw three or four guys against Derrick Brown as well as one or two guys from the other teams can. In terms of size and quickness, we had Bryan and Migs do a really good job of covering him," dagdag pa ni Cone.

Hindi naman naalarma ang batang interim coach na si Ryan Grego-rio matapos makauna ang Aces. "We have to make adjustments with the things we usually do. There’s no doubt that we have to win Game Two because we don’t want to have to come back from a big deficit in the series," aniya.

Sa katunayan, binibigyan pa ng kaba ng Purefoods si coach Tim Cone.

"This team is so resilient. We were up by 11 points in the fourth quarter and they just kept coming back at us. That shows you they can still come back and we have to prepare for their comeback," wika nito.

Kung muling malilimitahan si Brown, kinakailangang umangat ang kanyang katuwang na si Kelvin Price gayundin sina Alvin Patrimonio at Rey Evangelista na parehong contenders para sa Best Player of the Conference award.

Ang tambalang Ron Riley at James Head pa rin ang inaasahang ba-bandera para sa Aces ngunit kailangan ang ibayong suporta mula kina Rodney Santos, Jojo Lastimosa at Don Allado na kandidato rin para sa Best Player of the Conference. (CVOchoa)