MANILA, 8 May 2008 — Maybe Jong Uichico was wrong when he said that there was “nothing wrong” with his Barangay Ginebra squad.
Reinforced by an import they now like and with Eric Menk returning to active duty, the Gin Kings still fell just the same after failing to convert in the clutch to be routed by Air21, 97-88, in the Fiesta Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Air21 victory came just five nights after the Kings finally broke through, and the Express were supposed to be the perfect second victims after Ginebra had succeeded in signing up 7-foot-1 giant Chris Alexander.
Instead, the Express dealt the Kings their sixth loss in seven games, keeping the crowd-darlings in the cellar with Steven Thomas having a performance that was nothing short of spectacular.
Thomas more than held his own against Alexander with 37 points and 22 rebounds, both PBA career highs, as his brilliance rubbed off on the Express who won for the second straight night and climbed to 4-3.
Also proving to be crucial was the fact that the Kings were held to just 10 points in the final period, as their baskets came in trickles with even Mark Caguioa having a hard time finding his mark. There were only three players who finished in twin digits for Uichico, with Jay-Jay Helterbrand leading the way with 19, Alexander with 18 and Caguioa with 16. The trio scored just a combined six points in the last 12 minutes.
The others, especially Junthy Valenzuela and Ronald Tubid, combined for just 12.
“Bottom line of our game plan was to control their (Kings) transition offense,” Air21 coach Bo Perasol said. I believe we were able to control them in their game.”
Uichico will now have to get back to the drawing board to find out what really is bugging his team, which scored a 102-99 victory over Purefoods last week only to come into the game far from the team that won that game.
Overshadowed by the Express’ upset of Barangay Ginebra was Red Bull’s 105-78 demolition of Sta. Lucia in a fight-marred first game that included imports Adam Parada and Wesley Wilson.
Parada, the 7-foot Mexico native, left the game at the 3:45 mark of the fourth period and the Barako already putting the outcome beyond doubt with an 89-65 lead, after shooting 17 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and blocking four shots.
The Red Bull import got penalized for the coming to the rescue of a fallen teammate and getting entangled with Wilson, who planted a forearm to the face of Parada while both were being pacified by the proverbial cooler heads. “He just can’t do that to my teammate,” Parada said on the way to the Red Bull locker room. He was ejected because of a fighting foul, while Wilson was canned because of a flagrant 1 foul.
Both have been summoned to appear before the commissioner this afternoon, and if replays of the game tape show that they threw punches, hefty fines and suspensions could be handed out. Red Bull’s victory actually gave the Barako the solo lead at 6-2, while the Realtors lost for the third time in their last four outings to be a 4-3. The victory was also special for coach Yeng Guiao, who called for his team to treat the game as special and give the winner bragging rights as to who the best defensive team in the league is.
“They (Realtors) take pride in saying that they are the best defensive team in the league,” Guiao, who also questioned the decision to can Parada even though it appeared clear that his import just tried to protect himself, said later.
“I guess we just played better defense against them today.
“We held down (Kelly) Williams and (Ryan) Reyes to manageable outputs,” Guiao added. “And I guess all around we played a better game because we were able to run our breaks and make our outside shots.”
