Fastbreak: RoS shackles Bowles, SMC

Barako Bull Energy Cola (91) – (86) Air21 Express

Best: Welcome back to relevance, JC Intal. The Rocket scorched the Express for 16 points, including 3 triples. He also blocked 2 shots and had no turnovers in 32 minutes. His performance pretty much canceled out the production of Express ace, Niño Cañaleta.

Worst: Air21 dropped the ball in the fourth quarter, squandering an 11-point lead thanks to some not-so-ideal perimeter defense. Also, Mike Cortez with 5 turnovers? Yikes.

Josh Urbiztondo might just be the league’s top PG right now: Coming into this game, Urbiztondo had the fifth-best Player Efficiency rating in the league. During the first three quarters, he pretty much sucked, but he lived up to his Fireball moniker in crunch time. He ended up with 15 points, 5 dimes, and 4 thefts. Is he the best PG right now? Quite possibly.

Rain or Shine Elasto-Painters (93) – (65) San Mig Coffee Mixers

Best: Jervy Cruz continues his strong play from the Philippine Cup by registering 16 points and 6 rebounds in just 13 minutes. Now THAT is efficiency. He made up for Bruno Sundov’s pedestrian double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. Oh, and Chris Tiu impressed as ROS’s chief playmaker with 15 points and 8 assists.

Worst: Uh, so Denzel Bowles was a flop in his first game back. This guy didn’t play a single minute for the Zhejiang Golden Bulls in the Chinese Basketball Association, and here he plays 34 minutes. Clearly, he wasn’t 100%, and it showed — 4-of-12 from the field, 4-of-8 from the line, and EIGHT TURNOVERS. Maybe SMC was too quick to pull the trigger on Matt Rogers?

Is there any remedy to SMC’s malady?: Bowles was not at his best. James Yap got injured. PJ Simon, Joe Devance, and Marc Pingris combined for 10 points on 4-of-14 FG shooting. The Mixers were -19 in rebounds, -8 in assists, and turned the ball over 7 more times than ROS. They’ve now lost all their games by an average of nearly 16 points. SMC needs to check-in at the nearest ER. And fast. – Rappler.com