Peaking at the right time

MANILA, Philippines - Ali Peek is seasoned enough to know when to crank up his game.

And he just did in the matches Talk N Text needed to win, propping the Tropang Texters to a coveted PBA Philippine Cup goal and earning for himself the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week honors for the period Dec. 6-12.

To get the No. 1 spot at the end of the eliminations and be rewarded with a win-once advantage in the ensuing quarterfinals, TNT needed to prevail over Barangay Ginebra and Air21. Peek picked his spots and helped deliver the crushing-blows.

“Ali is such a luxury to have. We don’t run any specific plays yet he delivers when needed,” noted Texters coach Chot Reyes. “Can you say ‘monster’? That’s the type of game he played the last three times out.”

Especially against the Gin Kings last Friday, when the 35-year-old center-forward turned in a 25-point, nine-rebound performance that resulted in a 109-102 victory. He highlighted that with all 17 of the Texters’ points in a nine-minute stretch spanning the last two periods, a feat unheard of in recent memory.

Peek “slacked off” a bit against the Express with eight points and six rebounds. But TNT still managed a cruising 103-89 triumph that enabled it to finish the elims with five straight wins, an 11-3 slate and a tie at the top with early finisher San Miguel Beer. The Texters, however, emerged No. 1 due to a better 1.05 to 0.951 quotient.

Peek has chipped in his ample share by emerging as the most consistent among the Texters, averaging 17.4 points (on a rock-solid 34-for-48 field shooting) and 9.2 rebounds in those five games and 16.5 and 7.5 in the last two.

What makes Peek’s recent performances more impressive is the fact he averaged only 10.8 points in TNT’s first nine games.

Reyes has the likes of Jimmy Alapag, Kelly Williams, Ryan Reyes, Ranidel de Ocampo, Harvey Carey and Jason Castro to turn to in the playoffs.