The records set last night made the 2012 Philippine Basketball Association All-Star Game worth remembering.
In a match devoid of all the excitement because of its lopsided nature, several scoring standards were broken with James Yap of the Veterans and Dylan Ababou of the Rookies-Sophomores-Juniors now owning the all-time mark in individual scoring with 44 points each.
Other than that, and aside from the several gravity-defying moves by Gabe Norwood and Arwind Santos of the Veterans, there was nothing much to watch in a 176-144 demolition job of the RSJ at the oven-hot Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena here.
“That’s the good thing about coaching the Veterans, they are so good that they actually don’t need much coaching,” winning coach Ryan Gregorio said. “They were in cruise control for most of the night.
“And like most everyone in the building tonight, I was also a very interested spectator.” The 176 points that the Veterans scored easily surpassed the 163 that the South scored in a five-point overtime victory over the North in the 2008 edition of the game in Bacolod.
And the 32-point winning margin now stands as the widest in the history of the event, eclipsing the 28-point (146-118) decision that the Veterans had over the RSJ in 1990, the year Samboy Lim won the MVP for scoring 42 points, the mark that Yap and Ababou broke.
Ababou, the former Santo Tomas superstar in the UAAP, had the record to himself until the final 9.2 seconds, when Yap drained a triple from way, way out to forge the tie.
The Veterans were in business mode right from the opening tip, connecting from inside and out to open up a 53-30 lead after the first quarter before moving ahead by 31 at the half with a mind-boggling 93-64 score.
“We knew the way the players were playing that the team would go on to establish several scoring records,” Gregorio, who replaced Chot Reyes on the Veterans bench, said. “And it was a joy to watch.” Sharing the limelight with the Veterans was Nino ‘KG’ Canaleta, the Barangay Ginebra forward who won a fifth Slam Dunk title after leaping over three people to finish with two perfect dunks in the final round.
Canaleta defeated B-Meg’s JC Intal, 100-99, in one of the most closely-contested editions of the dunk contest.
Intal, despite being cleared to slam with the league’s best only the day before, hit two scintillating slams in the final round, the second a full 360-degree slam spinning to the left side for his version of a perfect 50.
Sensing that he needed to do something outrageous to prevail, Canaleta lined up two sons of Ilocos Norte representative Rudy Farinas together with Asi Taulava, before leaping over them to throw down a tomahawk and get the crowd roaring.
Canaleta later on admitted that the plan was for the 6-foot-9 Taulava to get out of the line.
“But you know Asi, he would gladly do anything to please the fans, even to the point of risking injury on himself,” Canaleta said.
Canaleta’s left thigh, after already converting on the attempt, did hit Taulava in the head.
The Ginebra forward, who finished in a second place tie with Josh Urbiztondo in the 3-Point Shootout won by Mark Macapagal on Friday, later on declared with finality that he won’t join the dunk contest again.
“I have nothing more to prove,” Canaleta said. “And besides, it was evident that I have already lost some spring in my legs already after clipping Asi’s head.” The annual spectacle will head south to Boracay next year.
Veterans rip RSJ behind Yap’s record 44
