Trade pays off for B Bull – for now

Games tomorrow (Cuneta Astrodome)

5:45 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs Meralco

8 p.m. – San Mig Coffee vs Alaska

MANILA, Philippines - Barako Bull’s decision to trade away all its draft picks for tested veterans was frowned at by many. The Energy Cola proved it was a correct decision after all, at least for this one particular game.

Drawing strength from the players it traded its precious rookie picks this year for, Barako Bull flattened Air21 with a clinical 88-75 victory last night to open its PBA PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup title bid with a bang at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

“I’m happy with the win, the players really want to prove something,” said Barako Bull coach Bong Ramos, who came on board to succeed former Gilas coach Rajko Toroman of Serbia just a week before the conference started.

“Our plan is to really try and get tested players, which we did to help us win this first game,” he added.

Denok Miranda, who was one of the several players that came after the franchise dealt away draft picks prior to the season that drew flak from social media, teamed up with Mark Isip in sparking the telling run.

Miranda, a member of the 2005-2006 All-Rookie team with averages of 6.0 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists in his last playing year with Petron in just 16.9 minutes per game, fired 10 points while Mark Isip had 16 points to seal it for the Energy Cola, who led by as many as 33 points, 63-30.

The victory gave Barako Bull an early share of the lead with crowd darling Brgy. Ginebra, Rain or Shine and Talk N’ Text, which likewise hurdled their respective opening games to go 1-0 (win-loss).

Ramos, however, was quick to say that it’s just the first game.

“This is just a first game, we haven’t proven anything yet but I believe we can pull some surprises because the team works hard and push themselves,” said Ramos. “Hopefully we continue to upset more teams.”

Air 21, led by Joseph Yeo’s 22 points and KG Canaleta’s 18, managed to close the gap when the game was beyond reach.

Ronjay Buenafe and Mark Macapagal scattered 11 and 10 points, respectively, to help in the Energy Cola’s cause.

In the nightcap, Petron Blaze turned back nitty Global Port, 97-87, to nail its first triumph and grab a piece of the lead.