PBA Power Rankings Week 6

At the tail end of the first round of eliminations in the PBA but no dramatic movements in the standings, save for some surprises here and there.   The resident and rising superstars are also starting to prove their worth.  The honeymoon period is over for all teams and the 2^nd round will weed out the contenders from the pretenders.

Power Rankings (items in parenthesis indicate previous ranking)

1. Alaska Aces 8 – 1 (1) Won: Talk N Text, Purefoods  Lost: Rain Or Shine

Ended the elims with a solitary blemish in its record.  Surprising loss to Rain Or Shine didn’t rattle the Aces as they followed it up with wins against Talk N Text (avenging their loss in last year’s All-Filipino Finals) and Purefoods (in very convincing fashion).              We’ll see if they can build on this when they meet Barako Bull and San Miguel in its first 2 games in the 2^nd round.   LA Tenorio continues to cement his budding superstardom by winning Player of the Week honors (boosted by a 24 pt explosion against Purefoods).  Coach Tim Cone: “I don’t think there is anybody at the point guard position who is playing better than LA at this point of the conference. He’s doing everything you want from a point guard – defending, assisting, setting the tempo and leading the team.”

2. San Miguel Beer 7 – 2 (2) Won: Purefoods, Barako Bull, Coca Cola

The bayan’s hottest team.  Has won 7 straight after dropping its first 2 assignments.  Chalk it up to unfamiliarity.  What’s scary is that it’s last 3 wins were won with an average of 16 points, what’s scarier is that Danny Seigle hasn’t even made a whimper this year.  Its last 3 wins also saw 3 different players leading the team in scoring: Arwind Santos, Mike Cortez, and Dondon Hontiveros.  Their showdown with Alaska on Dec. 9 will be their biggest challenge to come. 

3. Baranggay Ginebra 5 – 2 (3) Won: Burger King  Lost: Sta. Lucia

Up and down 3 games for the league’s most popular team.  Injuries to stars are beginning to take a toll as they looked tired and lackluster in their loss to the Realtors.  Jayjay Helterbrand is playing hurt and 2 out of 10 shooting will never help the Gin Kings. It’s also affected other players in the team.  Rico Villanueva was outplayed by Gabby Espinas and Cyrus Baguio had a horrid shooting night in the SLR game.  Ronald Tubid seems to be the only consistent bright spot.  JC Intal had his moments but still yearns for consistent playing time.  The good news is that they still have 2 games in the elims: Talk N Text and Coca Cola.

4. Sta. Lucia 5 – 3 (6) Won: Ginebra, Barako Bull 

2 game winning streak propels them to the top 4, although this is deceiving.  After convincingly winning against a tired Ginebra team (21 pt margin), struggled and needed OT to win against Barako Bull (3 pt margin).  They seem to play to the level of their competition: almost flawless against Ginebra, almost awful against Barako Bull.  They need to better than this if they hope to make noise in the 2^nd round.  Kelly Williams, save for the puffy face, is progressing nicely, with an almost triple double performance against the Gin Kings  (26 pts, 14 rebs, 7ast) and a co-player of the week honor.  Joseph Yeo had flashes of his King Green Archer days when he almost single handedly carried SLR against Barako Bull (16 pts in a low scoring game despite OT). 

5. Talk N Text 5 – 3 (5) Won: Coca Cola, Barako Bull  Lost: Alaska

Although they have the same record as the Realtors, their wins have been against inferior competition.  Almost upset by Barako Bull, trailing by 13 eight minutes let in the 4^th quarter but rattled off a 23 – 0 run to pull the rug under the Energy Boosters.  Then got tripped by Alaska.  Coach Chot Reyes not happy with his team’s performance and feels they are under achieving.  Can’t blame the backcourt though as Jimmy Alapag , Mark Cardona, and Jason Castro carried them against Barako Bull and Alaska.

6. Purefoods  4 – 4  (4)  Won: Rain Or Shine   Lost: Alaska 

Roller coaster (or is it Ferris’ Wheel) ride continues. Trend so far has been a win, then a loss, then a win, then a loss, then…you get the picture.  Has not won 2 straight so far.  Coach Ryan Gregorio attributes this to inconsistent defense.  You can also blame the fact that both Kerby Raymundo and James Yap are scoring only 14 ppg each, kinda low from what you usually expect from these guys.  Look for them to gain ground and get consecutive wins.  They are too good and too athletic to be performing this way.  Look at the bright side: they don’t have a losing streak so far.

7. Burger King 3 – 5 (9) Won: Coca Cola, Barako Bull  Lost: Ginebra

Slowly gaining ground and recovering from its spade of bad luck at the beginning of the year.  Still a long ways to go as their wins have come against the lower tier teams and they have to prove themselves against the contenders.  Ronjay Buenafe and a much improved Richard Yee seem to be the only bright spots as Gary David is underachieving (a case of Buenafe eating up his scoring opportunities?).

8. Barako Bull 2 – 7 (7) Won: None  Lost: Talk N Text, San Miguel, Burger King, Sta. Lucia

Crashing back to earth after an optimistic start.  Has lost 5 straight. Not with the lack of trying though, almost upsetting Talk N Text and controlling majority of the game against Sta. Lucia before falling in OT. Jason Webb pointed out correctly that it is their inability to finish games and their lack of a go-to guy. It was thought to be Leo Najorda (9.9 ppg) but it looks like another former NCAA MVP, Yousif Aljamal (11.7 ppg) that is emerging to be the team’s top player. Ogie Menor is the only other player scoring in double digits (10.4 ppg)

9. Rain Or Shine 1 – 7  (10) Won: Alaska  Lost: Purefoods

Still dissappointing.  Win against league leading Alaska was thought to be their breakout game (thanks to a 20 pt explosion from Don Dulay), then loses to Purefoods by 34 points.  The Elastopainters might as well file a missing person’s report for Sol Mercado (7.7 ppg, 28.8% FG) and Jay-R Reyes (8.4 ppg 35.8% FG).  Jervy Cruz has tapered off considerable after starting the year averaging a double-double (7.1 ppg 5.3 rpg).  They still have the 2^nd round but the way they are performing, it’s hard to be optimistic.

10. Coca Cola 1 – 6 (9) Won: None  Lost: Talk N Text, Burger King, San Miguel 

Just when Asi Taulava is set to return, he re-aggravates his stress fracture and is our 2 more weeks. 3 game losing streak has to have Coach Kenneth Duremdes worried. Ex Sta. Lucia stalwarts Dennis Espino (12.1 ppg 7.3 rpg), Alex Cabagnot (13 ppg 5 apg), and Norman Gonzales (9.9 ppg 5 rpg 33.3% 3PT FG) are carrying the team, along with Larry Rodriguez (9.6 ppg 7.6 rpg) but it’s clear that their lack of identity and stars are leaving them wanting for wins.

 Fastbreaks: Sayonara CJ!  Smart Gilas has decided to cut its losses by letting go of CJ Giles.  Uninspired performances, lack of focus, and rumors of poor attitude and poor work ethic broke the camel’s back and left SBP looking for an immediate replacement.  Enter Jamal Sampson, NBA journeyman and former Shaq backup with the Lakers. This seems to be a better fit.  While he may not be as freakishly athletic as Giles, he brings defense, veteran leadership and more importantly, NBA experience to the young Gilas team……This is the year of the point guard in the NBA as this year saw the influx of talented and promising court generals into the Association. Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry, Johnny Flynn, Darren Collison, Jeff Teague, Jrue Holiday, and Ty Lawson are among the names making noise this early in the season, but the most notable name is Brandon Jennings.  Dude scored a rookie record 55 points for the Bucks and is leading the team in scoring and assists.  And he was drafted only at Number 10 (Memphis mustbe kicking themselves becuase they drafted Hasheem Thabeet at no.2).  He may on to something when he said before the draft that he was better than the much heralded Ricky Rubio (who went back to Europe, saying he was not ready)…..All these new talents offsets the potential loss of Allen Iverson, who, at late,  was being considered by the New York.  They almost agreed to a deal but the Knicks changed their mind, saying that his entrance will be detrimental to team development….So why do I keep picking on AI?  He’s a perfect example of an exceptional talent whose selfishness prevails over winning, something our young hoops prodigies should not emulate.  Think of it as my version of social responsibility.