WHEN one goes to war, he wants a
fully-stocked arsenal.
It is not surprising therefore for
Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio to beam the most when his
primary weapon returned from a forced exile, rose to the
occasion, spewed fire when it mattered most and led his Giants
in a battle for survival.
"It’s just great to have your MVP on the
court," he said, referring to James Yap who led his team to an
89-81 victory over Sta. Lucia Realty last Wednesday that
forced a do-or-die game in their Smart PBA Philippine Cup
best-of-seven championship series.
"He showed and led us the way and we
finished strong. That’s the reason why he’s one of the best
players in the league right now," Gregorio added.
Those compliments, so close to fawning, are
but to be expected, especially when one was among the close to
15,000 that jammed the Araneta Coliseum and witnessed
first-hand how Yap demolished the Realtors practically by his
lonesome.
Marc Pingris carried the burden for
Purefoods when Yap struggled in the early goings, finishing
with 19 points on top of a career-high 21 rebounds. Kerby
Raymundo had a career-high 11 assists and Roger Yap had 11
rebounds while anchoring the defense on Sta. Lucia star Kelly
Williams.
But it was clearly "Big Game James" who
stole the show by scattering 20 of his gamehigh 30 points in
the fourth quarter, seemingly making up for his one-game
suspension in a 76-88 loss in Game 5 last Sunday. That
performance enabled him to outscore all Sta. Lucia starters by
three.
James simply said it was all part of his
job. Besides, he wants to fulfill a personal guarantee of a
Game 7 on Sunday, also at the Big Dome, main reason why he had
to defer a planned Thailand vacation with wife Kris that would
have started on Saturday.
"Ang mind-set ko lang every game,
makatulong sa team. Alam ko naman na isa ako sa mga talagang
insaasahan sa team ko kaya ganu’n ang mindset ko parati," he
said after the game.
His performance and the win were extra
special, however, since it prevented the Realtors from
wrapping up the series and copping their first-ever
All-Filipino crown, while keeping alive the Giants’ bid for a
record-tying fifth A-F title.
"Ngayon may chance pa kami, kaya sana kunin
na namin sa Sunday," he said. "Kaya ang mind-set ko, go all
out pa rin sa Sunday."
Sta. Lucia trailed by as many as 10 points
but clawed back and even had a four-point lead early in the
fourth period. Then came James’ explosion.
Williams was limited to nine points, his
lowest score in 26 games, while co-starter Nelbert Omolon was
scoreless in 20 minutes of action. Yet Realtors coach Boyet
Fernandez blamed his team’s defensive meltdown most.
"We didn’t recognize the shooters,
especially James Yap. I thought we did a pretty decent job on
him in the first three quarters by limiting him to just
1-of-11 from behind the arc and 3-of-18 from the field
overall," said Fernandez.
"Iyun nga lang, nag-collapse ang defense namin kaya he came
up with those crucial baskets."
