Giants vs Realtors: Keys to winning

PUREFOODS CHUNKEE GIANTS may have already secured themselves of an automatic semis berth but that doesn't mean battling against the Realtors will be like a walk in the park.

SLR, who have won against TNT last night, on the other side, might be in cloud nine. The fact that they fought minus Duremdes and their headcoach ejected, added to their morale going to Sunday's game. I'm sure they'll prepare well for the Giants whom they've never humbled in three games dating back to the Fiesta Cup.

But what are the keys in defeating SLR?

I have three.

Defense. In their first encounter, the Giants have allowed SLR to shoot 48.3% percent from the two-point field goal. It seems alot to get worried about considering that inclusive of this high percentage was Espino's 10-of-19 shooting from the field which produced 31 big points for the fellow. However, it all went to naught as the Realtors had a miserable 4-of-28 (14%) clip from beyond the arc! You don't win a basketball game by throwing alot of low percentage shots! This made the job alot easier for the Giants defensively. Their defense held up in the second quarter (where they only allowed 9 points), and from then on, the Realtors never recovered.

TO points. In that same game, SLR committed 18 turnovers and the Giants with 15. The numbers were decent for the entire ball game but what's more telling were the points scored in each error a team commits. This was another area in which PCG edged out SLR. The Giants scored 19 TO points as opposed to SLR's 11. That's already an 8 point difference that might've changed the complexion of the game in favor of PCG.

Sharp shooting. If ever Kerby Raymundo would sit out this Sunday, undoubtedly, it would be another task for the Giants to challenge SLR's frontline. Aquino and Espino are great defenders and it would be very difficult to penetrate the middle. The key to offset this huge frontline is of course constant movement, proper positioning and more importantly better shot selection. And when I said sharp, I meant sharp. In their first meeting, James Yap shot 4-of-9 from rainbow country and 10-of-12 from the field for a total of 34 points. This remarkable shooting has paralyzed the frontline defense of SLR particularly the zone and in turn enabled the Giants' bigmen (Limpot, Pingris & Raymundo) to score in double digits.

Interestingly, both teams are coming off huge wins against similar opponent and are admittedly inspired going to the ball game. PCG won against TNT in the absence of key players and Eugene Tejada. SLR won against the same team sans Al Chua. But which inspiration could work in favor of whom this time?

PCG defeated SLR 3 times this year, would the law of averages finally work against the Giants?

Your guess is as good as mine.

But considering how the Giants are playing as of late, add the fact that should they win this Sunday, they'll end up number 1, it seems to me that they have a bigger motivation and slight advantage.

But who's to know?