Grand Slam or Grand Slammed?

Game Five.

Rain or Shine and Purefoods (please, I abhor their new name) tied at two wins apiece.

One more for the grand slam. One more for the grand basag trip.

There’s no more need for stats. There’s no more need for all those percentages. Throw it all out the window. They don’t belong in this setting. Only the X’s and O’s, the heart, the will, the mental toughness. Does Rain or Shine have what it takes to pull off an upset? Or will Purefoods make a prophet out of Marc Pingris once again?

Big Game James and Jeffrei Chan or No Game Ames and Effrei Chan

Remember the James Yap of old? Sure-ball free throws, mean jumpshots and one-handers? They still come out. But not on a consistent basis as we are perhaps seeing a decline in Big Game James’ game. And what about Jeff Chan in that Gilas Assassin mode? Wouldn’t that make for great fireworks? I mean seriously, if these two guys are on a good day, they’ll be torching each other’s team and I won’t be complaining. That’s good basketball right there! However, if it is Ames and Effrei, man, that’s gonna be a pain to look at.

Surprise hugot and the San Mig second unit

In my opinion, Purefoods got Rain or Shine where they wanted them to be. Until Yeng Guiao decided he wanted chaos and threw Jonathan Uyloan in the mix. It was like, mixing sugar, spice, and everything nice...but with a hint of Chemical X. Next thing you know, Uyloan was draining buckets, racing up and down the court for fastbreaks and threw in a block on PJ Simon for good measure, and Purefoods was suddenly staring at a double-digit deficit. That was the feint Guiao threw before Paul Lee went berserk with haymakers in the third period. Purefoods’ second unit is deadly and can run teams out of the arena with their energy and Run n’ Gun style anchored on Alex Mallari, Justin Melton and Coffee King Mark Barroca. Ian Sangalang ain’t shabby and If you are unlucky enough to catch Allein Maliksi on a good day, God help us, God save us.

#GuaranPing

This one used to be the domain of Rasheed Wallace and his GuaranSheeds. However, when Purefoods defensive demon Marc Pingris unleashes his #GuaranPings, you can bet your whole house and lot that he’ll tow this team to victory. The last time he did it, he went bananas and ridiculously posted people up no matter how tall or how heavy they are. I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes 1-against-5 as he plays everyone on defense with the Painters. It’s just the way Pinoy Sakuragi is. It’s up to Purefoods to make their franchise player a goddamn prophet once more.

On a side note, we also have:

Parokya ni Barroca and Iglesia ni Chris Tiu

Papogian na to! For what it’s worth, Chris Tiu is suddenly high in the favors of Yeng Guiao, moving ahead of Ty Tang in the rotation but still bungling most of the time on the hard court. With that said, I’m protecting Jonathan Uyloan in the dispersal draft over Blue Eagle legend Chris Tiu, who doesn’t even have to hoist a jump shot to make girls shriek. As for the Parokya, well, we know who’s about to go bananas later. Always. Barroca is so frustrating because he’s so good just when you need him the most.

So...

Kampihan na!

Send your letters of protest, complaints, and blind hate to @PioVGarcia