Triple double alert

The road to the PBA was long and winding but Juan Gomez de Liaño is finally back home to strut his wares. The 6-1 guard went from UAAP to PBA D-League to ABL to Japan to Lithuania to Korea before applying for the PBA draft last September. At 26, JGDL was picked second overall by Converge after Geo Chiu and is now enjoying strong connectivity with the FiberXers.

JGDL is the only player so far in the Philippine Cup to register a triple double and he’s done it twice. In his PBA debut, JGDL compiled 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists as Converge took down Titan, 129-92. Then, in his third outing, the spitfirish guard collected 17 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in a 125-108 decision over Terrafirma.

Converge has retooled to fortify its fences with coach Vice-Gov Delta Pineda bracing for tougher competition ahead. No team has deployed more players than Converge with 17. The latest to join were John Lloyd Clemente, Archie Concepcion and Larry Muyang. Ginebra is the team with the least players sent in at 11, an indication of coach Tim Cone’s short rotation.

Pineda has made a slight adjustment in his starting cast. Justin Arana, Justine Baltazar, Kevin Racal and JGDL are the regulars in the first five. Deschon Winston started the first two games then was replaced by Alec Stockton.

Up to games last Friday, 17 players have registered double doubles with Baltazar and San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo recording three each. Marking two double-doubles apiece were JB Bahio, Tony Semerad and Arana.

In four-point conversions, 20 players have hit at least one and 10, at least two. Titan’s Von Pessumal is the long bomb leader with four connections, connecting at a 50 percent clip. Eight of Pessumal’s 21 field goal attempts came from four. Phoenix and Magnolia have not knocked down a single four-pointer in three games. The leading four-point percentage team is Rain or Shine but it’s taken only four attempts, making two. That’s only 1.5 percent of its shots coming from four so it’s not a weapon of choice but only a weapon of last resort.