THEY play for different teams with different systems, but
Sta. Lucia Realty’s Kelly Williams and Red Bull’s Junthy Valenzuela have many
things in common.
For starters, Williams and Valenzuela are stoking their
team’s respective drives in the semifinals of the Smart PBA Philippine drive,
coming up with figures that are consistently among the tops in their squads. As
a result, the Realtors and Bulls have kept in step with their highly-touted
rivals in the chase for finals berths.
The two have also been cited for the third time as the PBA
Press Corps’ Smart/Accel Co-Players of the Week for Jan. 28-Feb. 3.
"Kelly is consistent, he’s playing great," said Sta. Lucia
coach Boyet Fernandez of Williams, who has been previously accorded the same
honor in the periods Dec. 3 to 9 and Dec. 31 to Jan. 6, the latter with
Purefoods star James Yap.
"He’s been showing signs he can be a good all-around player
who can play both offense and defense," Fernandez added. "He’s been choosing his
shots lately and it’s working wonders on his field goal percentage."
Williams defied the defensive tactics thrown at him by Alaska
and averaged 24.6 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists last week.
The Realtors closed out the week with an 80-93 loss to the
Aces last Sunday, but Williams managed to cap his sizzling performance with 23
points and 13 rebounds for his 15th double-double, tying him with Air21’s Arwind
Santos for the most in the conference.
Seemingly having as much fun shredding Purefoods’ defense was
Valenzuela, who was also previously cited Oct. 22 to 28 and Nov. 19 to 25, the
latter also with Yap.
Cyrus Baguio is Red Bull’s leading scorer and he highlighted
this by sinking a difficult buzzer-beating lay-up that forced overtime and led
to a 97-88 win last Sunday.
But it was Valenzuela who often put the Photokina franchise
in a position to win, exploding the most during the payoff period with his
11.3-point average in the fourth quarter of the three games they have played.
"What makes those numbers noteworthy is the fact Junthy just
lets the game come to him. Hindi niya pinipilit," said Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao.
"Aside from those, he is the standout court leader in our
team and his teammates often take the cue from him," Guiao added.
In all, Valenzuela averaged a team-high 18 points, 3.6
rebounds and as many assists for the week while doing more than his share in
trying to stifle the Giants scorers, like Yap.
The separate best-of-seven series are tied at two games apiece, and the
Realtors and Bulls can consider themselves lucky to have Williams and Valenzuela
giving the cue in the projected down-the-wire, pressure-laden finish up ahead.
