Llamados hitting their stride
Make that three in a row now for the B-Meg Llamados.
After an embarrassing loss to an import-less Talk 'N Text crew last February 29, a game where they clearly underestimated their opponents, the Llamados have righted the ship and gone on to beat Air21, Barangay Ginebra, and most recently, Alaska, to get a lock on one of the top two seeds in the elimination round of the PBA Commissioner's Cup.
With a 5-2 record, B-Meg will now finish no lower than fourth. That's good enough for a quarterfinal berth, but Tim Cone has his eyes on the bigger prize, now that his team is just half a game behind the pacesetting Tropang Texters.
"We'd like to get to the top two seed," Cone said. "That's the ultimate goal. Five (wins) guarantees you a playoff. It doesn't guarantee you the top two."
Getting ahead clear of the pack is very important in this short conference, especially now that there's a big cluster of teams jostling for position in the middle. The Aces are at third with a 4-4 card, followed by Ginebra, Air21 and Powerade, who all have 3-3 records. The Meralco Bolts and Petron Blaze Boosters are just behind them at 3-4, while Barako Bull (2-4) and Rain or Shine (2-5) still aren't out of it.
Against the Aces, the Llamados took control in the second period and never looked back, winning comfortably 90-75. It was the third straight win by B-Meg against Cone's former team, and though the final score wasn't close, there was still a bit of edginess all around.
"It's nice to win back-to-back games and to be able to play at a high level," said Cone, who coached Alaska for 22 years before moving to B-Meg last August. "We knew we were gonna be pumped for Alaska and they're gonna be pumped for us."
Alaska, which was coming off a big win against Petron two nights earlier, led 27-25 after one quarter, and went ahead by five when Mac Baracael hit a trey to open the second period. The Llamados then put up a superb defensive display, limiting the Aces to just five points for the rest of the period while scoring 23 of their own to enter the halftime break up 48-35.
In the second half, the Aces could make no headway, trailing by 14 after three periods and 15 at the end of the game. The key, Cone said, was limiting Alaska's scorers, namely LA Tenorio, Cyrus Baguio and Bonbon Custodio.
"We were concerned about controlling LA, Cyrus and Bonbon," said Cone. "Parada is big and strong, and he's gonna have his way, but we really concentrated on controlling those three."
Parada had a double-double of 24 and 12 while Tenorio got his points with 18, but Baguio and Custodio, who combined for 36 points in the win against Petron, could only manage 7 and 1, respectively, shooting a combined 3-for-15.
Meanwhile, Llamados import Denzel Bowles put in another solid performance with 35 points and 18 rebounds, while James Yap chipped in 14 and helped harass Baguio into a poor shooting night. Cone praised both players, who have both been instrumental in this three-game winning streak.
"James is playing really good defense for us," Cone said. "He is surprising me with his effort and his concentration. Denzel had a wonderful game tonight. He has overpowered guys and he's starting to realize the importance of the game plan and his teammates. He's maturing right in front of us. He seems to be really locked in."
B-Meg wraps up its elimination round campaign against Rain or Shine and Powerade, and winning at least one would assure a playoff for the second seed and the automatic semifinal ticket that goes with it. Alaska plays Powerade in its final game on March 23, needing a win to boost its chances of making the quarters.
E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com. Twitter: @Sid_Ventura
