Advertisement

Yap's 30 gives B-Meg 3-2 lead

Big Game James Yap lived up to his moniker, pouring in a season-high 30 points to lead the B-Meg Llamados to an 82-66 whipping of the defending champion Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters in Game 5 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The win put the Llamados on threshold of their first title under Tim Cone, and their first since winning the 2009-10 Philippine Cup. They can wrap it up on Friday when Game 6 is played also at the Big Dome.

Denzel Bowles ably backed up Yap with 28 points, including 11 in the last six minutes that broke the game wide open and gave the Llamados their biggest lead of 18 points. B-Meg limited TNT to only 13 fourth-quarter points as they pulled away from a tight 54-53 edge near the end of the third.
 
Yap played the entire second half, although he was inflicting damage as early as the first half, where he scattered 16 points to stake B-Meg to a 41-33 advantage at the break. When TN pulled to within one courtesy of a Jimmy Alapag triple, the sweet-shooting forward converted two free throws and sank a triple just as the third period was coming to a close to give the Llamados a 59-53 lead.

“It was James at his best,” Cone said. “[That three-point shot at the end of the third] gave us a lot of momentum. It gives you a big blast going into the next quarter.”

Joe Devance opened up the fourth period with a three-point play, and Marc Pingris added a basket to continue B-Meg’s run, and it all but knocked the fight out of the Tropa, who could get no closer than seven points the rest of the way en route to their lowest point total of the conference.

“It took a tremendous effort for us to win tonight,” said Cone, who is on the verge of his 14th PBA title. “We gave our absolute all to win tonight. We rediscovered our defense and continued to hold them out in the second half. The pressure is on us to close out the series especially against a great team like Talk ‘N Text. I hope we have another effort like that, hope Denzel has another effort like that, hope James has another effort like that.”

Yap entered the game nursing an injured finger, but it didn’t seem to bother him at all as he had his best shooting night of the finals and the season.

“It’s the finals, there’s no excuse,” he said of his injury.

TNT coach Chot Reyes was perplexed about his team’s effort on the offensive end, even as he felt his players were already running on fumes.

“We’re lucky we even got 66 points. They played tremendous defense. I just have to prepare these guys. I’m sensing we have nothing left in our gas tanks. In life you gotta sense if there's something left. Motivation is overrated. At this point players must have self-motivation, players need to decide if they still want to give it a final push. The way we're playing today we need to think hard about our desire to win this series.”

Reyes then summed up their lackadaisical effort with a simple analysis.

“Coach Tim kicked my butt tonight.”

Indeed, the firepower and teamwork that allowed TNT to win Game 4 by 15 points was nowhere to be found in Game 5. The whole team labored through a rough shooting night, hitting only 36% of their shots, with Larry Fonacier and Ranidel De Ocampo, who combined for 28 points last Sunday, chipping in a total of only five points. Alapag had only six points, while Ryan Reyes and Kelly Williams both went scoreless.

TNT also committed 16 turnovers and lost the battle of the boards, 49-40.

B-MEG 82 - Yap 30, Bowles 28, De Ocampo 8, Simon 5, Urbiztondo 4, Devance 3, Barroca 2, Pingris 2, Gaco 0, Burtscher 0, Intal 0, Reavis 0.

TALK N' TEXT 66 - Dillinger 18, Castro 16, Harvey 13, Alapag 6, Peek 6, De Ocampo 3, Gamalinda 2, Fonacier 2, Aguilar 0, Reyes 0, Williams 0, Carey 0.

Quarterscores: 24-15, 41-33, 59-53, 82-66