PBA Player of the Week Belga keys Rain or Shine's recovery

MANILA, Philippines – Rain or Shine’s rise from the ashes of a winless start in the PBA Philippine Cup has been due to the integral play of one of its old guards.

Beau Belga has put up numbers rarely seen in recent seasons in wins over Converge and Blackwater that helped put Rain or Shine in a better position after dropping their first four assignments.

“I need to step up a little bit more,” said Belga, whose performance in the two games earned him the nod as the PBA Press Corps-Pilipinas Live Player of the Week for the duration of March 31 to April 7.

He averaged 23.0 points on a 56% shooting clip with 9.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists to lift the Elasto Painters into a 3-4 record, enhancing their chances of making the quarterfinals of the all-Filipino tournament.

The veteran big man had to raise his game at this point of the eliminations, not only after the rough start but also with rookie center Keith Datu out with an injury and new signing Papot Paredes needing to get a feel of how things are run at Rain or Shine.

But Belga is glad that his teammates such as Santi Santillan, Andrei Caracut and Shaun Ildefonso are also delivering key contributions during the winning streak.

“Kailangan ko talaga magdouble time dahil si Papot nag-aadjust pa at wala si Keith,” said Belga. “Buti na lang sa tulong mga kasama ko, mas dumadali ang laro.”

The 37-year-old Belga was picked by the men and women covering the PBA beat as the week’s best over the likes of NorthPort’s Arvin Tolentino and JM Calma, NLEX’s Robert Bolick and San Miguel Beer’s CJ Perez.