DEFENSE DOES IT ANEW FOR PUREFOODS

Giants make it 4 in a row; Beermen’s streak ends at 7
Friday, 05 May 2006

ANTIPOLO CITY. -- The Purefoods Chunkee Giants showed the San Miguel Beermen why they are the conference's top defensive team.

With an outright passage in the semifinal as their motivation, the Giants dealt the Beermen an 82-75 decision Friday night and put an end to a five-game losing slump at the Ynares Center.

But more importantly, the Giants put themselves in good spot that could lead them into the finals of the Gran Matador Brandy PBA Philippine Cup.

Their fourth consecutive victory and ninth overall in 12 games enabled the Giants to pull abreast with the Beermen at first place and put them closer to a free ride into the Final Four.

"That's our goal," said Purefoods Chunkee coach Ryan Gregorio, whose team played minues key players Noy Castillo and Eugene Tejada because of injuries.

James Yap showed the way for the Giants with 19 points despite shooting just 7-for-16. Marc Pingris, who hurt his wrist after a bad fall midway in the second quarter, cornered a career-high-tying 17 rebounds for the second straight game as Purefoods Chunkee outrebounded San Miguel, 49-42.

"Sometimes I'm amazed with the way my players playing. They've been showing tremendous character. They just battle and battle and make no complaints. The moment they step onto the court, all they want is to win," Gregorio said.

"We know the odds going into this game. We know how tough a team is San Miguel and we know we can't win against them on a scoring game. If we have to win we have to defend well."

And defend the Giants did.

The Giants took control in the second quarter by holding the Beermen to 35 percent shooting and 37 percent for the game. Purefoods made 45 percent of their shots (36-of-80). The loss snapped the Beermen's seven game winning run.

Prior to the game, San Miguel Beer was averaging a third conference-best 95.2 points per game and scored at least 93 points in their seven-game winning run. But against the Giants Friday night, the Beermen were held to their second lowest output in the conference, which was next only to their 75-72 loss to Coca-Cola last March 19.

Danny Seigle took scoring honors with 21 points but Pingris and Rey Evangelista – who best typified Purefoods' tough "D" -- managed to contain him when the Beermen needed his firepower.

"I felt somewhat scared when Marc was entertaining thoughts of not coming back in the game after hurting his wrist. But I persuaded him, telling him we can't win this one without him. Thank God he changed his mind," Gregorio said.

After Chris Calaguio, who had eight points, knocked in a three-pointer for a 35-28 SMB lead, Pingris scored six straight points that led to a 16-6 blast which enabled Purefoods to clinch a 44-41 lead at halftime.

The Beermen slowly got their rhythm in the second half and appeared to have regained the momentum when Dorian Pena, who recorded his conference-leading 10th double-double (19 points, 13 rebounds) pulled the SMB to within 70-71 with 6:46 to go.

But Kerby Raymundo scored on a reverse then followed up a miss by James Yap before Evangelista scored on a layup as the Giants pushed the lead to five points.

The Giants then safely protected that lead by holding the Beermen to just a field goal in the last five minutes. (DBC)

The scores:

Purefoods 82 – Yap J. 19, Yap R. 13, Limpot 10, Raymundo 10, Simon 7, Evangelista 7, Artadi 6, Pingris 6, Gamboa 2, Yee 2.

San Miguel Beer 75 – Seigle D. 21, Pena 19, Ildefonso 9, Calaguio 8, Hontiveros 8, Racela 6, Adriano 2, Noble 2, Cablay 0.

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IT was a great win for the Giants as it once again proved that they are the best defensive team in the PBA. Not only that they continued to sustain their winning streak, they now share the top spot with SMB and only few games away to get a back-to-back automatic semis berth!

The key for the win was the shutting down of Danny Seigle and the lackluster performance of Dondon Hontiveros. In the first half, Seigle seemed to be scoring at will, hitting shots after shots. There was even a point wherein he dunked the ball to the hoop while eluding the defense of Marc Pingris. Luckily, RG and KB has done the right defensive adjustment in order to slow down the SMB juggernaut. Alot of credit should also be given to Rey Evangelista, Roger Yap and Pingris as they made the right double teaming effort on Seigle which unable him to hit his stride especially in the fourth quarter. On the other hand, it was commendable on the part of our guards to have made Hontiveros commit on defense resulting to an early-foul trouble. Somehow it threw him out of his rhythm. Had he not gotten into foul trouble, he would've been another viable options for San Miguel especially in their offensive thrust, hence, another headache for RG.

And what about the rebounding?

SMB is a very tall team especially with the 3 D's in the lineup. Losing the rebound battle would have been a no-brainer. Thankfully, the Giants were able to pick the rights spots to grab those rebounds that resulted to numerous capitalized possessions. And speaking of rebounds, the team should be proud with the way Pingris has contributed in this department. Bruised, winded and all due to a bad fall, yet, Ping was able to deliver! Slowly, he's turning out to be one of the cornerstones of this franchise. He's a player who plays bigger than his height and an athlete with a big heart.

James Yap and Kerby Raymundo, as usual provided the leadership and the scoring sack. Both rose to the occassion just when the team needed them the most. R. Yap on the other hand finished were he left off in the All-Stars and scored 15 all-important points and dished out 6 assists.

All in all, it was a good game. We were able to dictate the tempo and we got our bench players, esp. Jun limpot and PJ Simon involved which is very crucial as we are nearing the playoffs. Defensively, it was superb. Looks like 80 is our magic number. We limit our opponent to 80 points or below and we shall win.

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