Fastbreak: Alaska back on top

2013 PBA Commissioner’s Cup

Meralco Bolts (103) – (92) GlobalPort Batang Pier

The Best: How about Eric Dawson pumping in 14 of his team’s 32 points in the final canto? He also collected 13 rebounds, had 5 assists, and 2 steals. No wonder he was the NBA D-League’s Impact Player of the Year in the 2011-2012 season.

The Worst: It’s official — the Batang Pier are the bring-up-the-rear team of the PBA. Sol Mercado is out for the conference, Willie Miller’s offense is on hiatus, and Japeth Aguilar just isn’t productive alongside Sylvester Morgan. Call it quits and then on to the next conference?

The Return of Captain Hook: The biggest takeaway from this game was the 30-point outing of Mac Cardona. Captain Hook shot 10-of-14 from the floor, including making all three of his triples, to spur the Bolts to a .500 record. If his resurgence lasts for more than a couple of games, then the Bolts could be dark horses for a deep Playoff run.

Alaska Aces (92) – (84) Petron Blaze Boosters

The Best: You gotta love the heart of former San Sebastian Staglet and UE Red Warrior Raphy Reyes. Here’s a guy who sat on the bench for long stretches early this season, watching JV Casio orchestrate the offense. Now that Casio continues to sit out because of his injury, Reyes has seized the chance to strut his stuff. Against Petron, the scrappy guard scored 11 points and scattered 3 assists with no turnovers. Hardly stratospheric numbers, but for someone like Reyes, those already indicate a meteoric rise.

The Worst: So Petron just cannot catch a break with its imports. Balkman was awesome on the court, but was more volatile than an active volcano. Now they have Rodney White, who’s pretty tame both off and on the court. White shot just 1-of-9 from the floor in 21 minutes of action.

Vive Le France: French-American Rob Dozier was mighty impressive here after Alaska’s big loss to San Mig Coffee last weekend. Dozier dominated in the fourth period, scoring 16 of his 32 points to stave off the late challenge by the Boosters. He also grabbed 18 rebounds, had 4 assists and 2 blocks as the Aces regained the top spot ahead of the Elasto-Painters. – Rappler.com