King James provides Llamados big boost

MANILA, Philippines - A true leader knows when to crank up his game and inspire his teammates and B-MEG Derby Ace’s James Yap did just that in earning the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week honors for the period Feb. 8 to March 6.

With his Llamados team depleted by injuries to center Don Carlos Allado and forward Rico Maierhofer and on the verge of matching its longest losing streak in years, Yap took charge and led the team to the morale-boosting back-to-back wins over Air21 and Barangay Ginebra.

Results were two explosive games by the two-time MVP that got translated into victories as Derby Ace surged from near the bottom and into the middle of the Commissioner’s Cup field.

In those much-needed victories over Air21 and Barangay Ginebra, Yap averaged 23.5 points, anchored on 50 percent three-point shooting, on top of 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 blocked shot in powering the Llamados’ rise from a 0-2 start in the mid-season tournament.

“James is slowly getting back to his game-shape so he’s starting to play the way he should be playing,” said Llamados coach Jorge Gallent. “He also knows he has to go a step higher due to the injuries of key players.”

Yap said it was part of his responsibilities as team co-captain with Roger Yap, and refused to take all the credit for the team’s resurgence.

“When we lost our first two games, we played individually. That’s why I told them that we have to help each other, that we must know our roles in the team,” said Yap in Filipino.

“They took it to heart, that’s why there’s a big change in our last two games,” he added. “We helped each other out and everybody played with extra effort.”

Yap delivered 22 points in Derby Ace’s 121-92 win over Air21 last Wednesday. KG Canaleta actually led all scorers with 28 points, but Yap’s 18 first-half points set in motion the Llamados’ charge that checked their alarming skid.

In the follow-up 96-89 win over Ginebra last Sunday, Yap poured in a team-high 25 points and added 10 rebounds for his first career double-double since the 2006 Philippine Cup.

Yap knows his team is still far from its objective of finishing the nine-game eliminations within the top six and he is willing to do whatever it takes to realize that.

“Every game is important that’s I’ll do everything for the team,” he said.