Santos, Fazekas spark a rejuvenated Petron
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote how the Petron Blaze Boosters were in a bit of a funk, losing their first two games in the Commissioner's Cup to extend to five a losing streak that started back in the Philippine Cup semifinals, where they blew a 3-1 series lead.
Since then, Coach Ato Agustin has made some adjustments and tweaked his rotation, and the result is a three-game winning streak for the Blaze Boosters that has put them back in the mix of things.
Petron started righting the ship last February 19 with an 84-77 win over sister team B-Meg as import Nick Fazekas, his job probably on the line, led five players in double digits with 23 points to go along with 16 rebounds. Agustin's biggest adjustment was sliding Arwind Santos back to the power forward spot, and the high-leaping forward finally got untracked with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Ten days later, Fazekas put to rest any talk about him being replaced as he came up with a monster double-double of 45 points and 22 rebounds in a 102-88 win over the Air21 Express. Santos had another double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Alex Cabagnot and Denok Miranda also scored in double digits.
Last Sunday, Petron moved over the .500 mark for the first time this conference with a 110-103 win over the Rain or Shine Elastopainters. This time, it was an Arwind Santos show as the Spiderman exploded for a career-high 34 points. Fazekas had 22 and 17, while Cabagnot had a conference-high 24 points. Hard to beat the Blaze Boosters if Santos and Cabagnot are both scoring almost at will and their import comes up just three boards shy of a 20-20. With Chris Lutz out with an injury, Cabagnot got more shots and he cashed in, taking 17 attempts and making eight of them.
A lot has been said about Fazekas's lack of athleticism and quickness compared to other imports, but he's actually been the most consistent among the reinforcements. His 22 points against RoS has been his lowest output so far, and say what you want about his awkward-looking shot, but it's proven to be effective and almost impossible to block.
"After losing Game 2, we had a lot of adjustments," Agustin said, referring to their 22-point blow-out loss to the Meralco Bolts last February 15, a game where Santos was held to only two points. "We played defense with intensity and we were aggressive. We had energy, ngayon okay na ang adjustments namin with our import. Dati we were just watching our import. Ngayon our locals stepped up especially Arwind. Lahat nagcontribute and our shots were falling."
Santos' resurgence earned him the PBA's Player of the Week honors, his 34-point performance against RoS punctuated by a 5-for-7 effort from three-point land. He and Fazekas have obviously adjusted already to each other and have formed a pretty scary rebounding and shotblocking tandem.
"Iba kasi kapag may import, siyempre kailangang medyo baguhin mo laro mo," Santos said. "At saka di rin nagpapabaya iyung mga kalaban kaya kailangang medyo mag-adjust ka rin ng kaunti sa depensang ibinibigay sa iyo."
Lost in the shuffle is center Rabeh Al-Hussaini, who has come back from an ACL injury but finds himself on the bench again, the biggest casualty of Agustin's changes in his rotation. Al-Hussaini played the four position in Petron's first two games, forcing Santos to play small forward. But the experiment didn't quite work out the way Agustin planned, and he has gone with a smaller line-up while putting Santos back at the four spot. The problem now for Al-Hussaini is he's been relegated to the fourth big man on the team, playing behind Fazekas, Rob Reyes and Danny Ildefonso in a crowded frontcourt, and he hasn't seen a single minute of action in the last three games.
Agustin will also have to figure out what to do with Jay Washington when the forward comes back soon from injury. Most likely he will take up the minutes currently being given to Reyes, although he could also back up Fazekas. Whatever the outcome, it will be a happy problem for Agustin, and he'll probably just cross that bridge when they get there.
For now, a big match-up looms this Saturday in Legazpi City against the Powerade Tigers, who are trying to arrest a two-game losing skid. The loser of this encounter will absorb its third loss, so there's a lot at stake as the elimination round approaches its halfway mark.
E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com. Twitter: @Sid_Ventura.
