MANILA: Barangay Ginebra is a team on the rise, and things couldn’t look better for the defending champion Gin Kings.
Ginebra pounced on an import-less Talk ‘N Text crew last night, breaking away late in the second quarter on the way to a 97-90 victory for the Kings’ fourth straight in the PBA Fiesta Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.
And with that winning streak tucked under their belts and playing with the confidence that they finally have the import they need, the Kings also announced that gunslinger Mark Caguioa is slated to return next week to further bolster their stock.
Caguioa has been out of commission since the end of this tournament last year, and coach Jong Uichico has said before that he will not allow his top local scorer to return unless he is in 100% playing shape.
With David Noel proving to be a perfect fit and with the locals playing to their true worth, things are indeed looking rosy for the Kings, who rose to 5-5 with last night’s win and are looking to be every inch as title contenders again.
“What more can you ask for, he passes the ball, rebounds, very coachable,” coach Jong Uichico told reporters when asked if he thought that he has found the right man for the job, even though he’s two inches short of the required height limit of 6-foot-6.
“He does the things that are needed, really.”
Noel, the 2006 US NCAA Slam Dunk champion while playing for North Carolina, scored 21 points, had 19 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks without committing a foul in 44 minutes.
The last of his blocks was the biggest of the night, which came off Mac Cardona with 16.8 seconds left and sealed the win for the Kings, the defending champions who actually blew a 21-point lead early in the third quarter.
That block got Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes racing inside the floor to confront a referee, contending that a goal-tending violation should have been called on the Ginebra import.
He was slapped with a technical foul, and Jay-Jay Helterbrand promptly made the charity to put the game away for the Kings, 95-90 as Talk ‘N Text lost for the second straight game and dropped into a tie with Ginebra and idle Rain or Shine.
Tiras Wade was given the pink slip and left at dawn yesterday as coaching staff opted to play without an import rather than deal with his tantrums.
Gary Forbes, a national player of Panama who played in the 2007 Tournament of the Americas , will take his place. The former Massachusetts standout in the US NCAA is slated to arrive today.
“We just couldn’t afford to lose that one,” Uichico added.
And while Ginebra continued to get great games from Noel, Purefoods got very little from Marquin Chandler earlier as the Tender Juicy Giants leaned on its 1-2 punch of James Yap and Kerby Raymundo to scrape past Sta. Lucia.
The National team mainstays drilled the baskets that mattered in the stretch for the Giants, who won a second straight game after scoring a 93-91 victory over the hard-fighting Realtors.
Raymundo and Yap combined 19 of the team’s 29 points in the fourth quarter and nine of the Giants’ final 12 - all coming in the last 4:12 — as Purefoods survived the loss of Chandler because of fouls and completed the come-from-behind win.
“I was talking to him the whole time, asking him if he was tired,” Gregorio said of Chandler, who was good for only 11 points and eight rebounds last night after finally feeling the effects of jetlag.
He fouled out with more than two minutes left and the Giants trailing, 84-88, before Yap and Raymundo put on a show.
Chandler made 30 points and had 12 rebounds in his debut on Wednesday, just three nights after arriving from the United States and taking the place of Jhamar Thorpe.
