Talk ‘N Text has the best players, but are they the best team?

MANILA, Philippines – Reality check: Talk ‘N Text has the best players, but they’ve shown that they’re far from the best team.

The Tropang Texters’ Richard Howell and Jayson Castro won Best Import and Best Player of the Conference awards right before Game 3 on Tuesday night. That’s the top two individual plums distributed in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Castro himself beat fellow teammate Ranidel de Ocampo for the BPC award, which only means TNT has the top two local players in this conference to say the least.

But the Tropang Texters are still two wins away from being the best team in the PBA.

Talk ‘N Text went on to dominate the conference with a 13-0 record before entering Game 1 of the best of 5 finals and seemed to be on their way back to the top of the PBA scene. But three games into the finals the Tropang Texters are on the brink of elimination.

Before Game 3’s tip-off, Howell and Castro were formally named as the best individual players, and the troops of head coach Norman Black had the ultimate chance to cap the big night with a win.

But the Tropang Texters failed to show their championship form and succumbed with an anti-climactic finish. Up 75-71 in the final 75 ticks, the Mixers – behind James Yap and James Mays – delivered the jarring blows that enabled them to take a 2-1 series lead.

TNT is not yet the best team.

Not when Larry Fonacier averages 51.4% from three-point land in the elimination but is only 2/8 in 3 finals games combined.

Not when your captain Jimmy Alapag is shooting a miserable 3/16 from the field in the finals, and is only scoring 2.3 points per game.

Castro and De Ocampo did carry the Texters with 33 PPG in the finals combined, but if you talk about teamwork, the Mixers have six players scoring at least 7 points a game in the finals.

Excluding import James Mays, Peter June Simon leads the pack with 12.3 markers per outing but he says their bench has given them a huge lift.

“I am sometimes surprised when coach (Tim Cone) keeps us on the bench for quite a while, but the second unit has been showing a good performance and they can sustain it. It has been a big help for us (starters),” said Simon.

Defense wins championships

What about defense?

In Game 3, Talk ‘N Text had more rebounds (50-47 including 24-11 in offensive boards), more steals (7-3), more turnover points (16-5).

But take away those statistics and San Mig will show you what defense really means, outside of the stat sheets.

San Mig clogged the paint, hounded their opponents, and made sure to challenge every shot. This intimidating, shellacking defense shut down Talk ‘N Text to just 32.6% all game long.

This is also the reason why the Texters got buried to a 9-23 hole early in the match, and went scoreless for three minutes in the fourth quarter which kept the Mixers in the game.

Richard Howell, who only mustered 10 points, said his team is on the losing end of Tim Cone’s unforgiving defense.

“Jayson (Castro) likes to get into the paint but San Mig just collapsed on the paint. Those little things hurt especially when it is just a one or two-point game,” he said.

Castro was 8 of 24 from the field, and just 3 of 11 from beyond the arc. No thanks to James Mays and Marc Pingris manning the best player almost every time he touches the leather.

The newly-crowned Best Player of the Conference ended with just a single assist in 34 minutes and forced most of his shots as he was visibly bothered by the Mixers’ suffocating defense.

Castro admits forcing the issue, and vows to be more aggressive the next time around.

“I still try to be aggressive but yes, we only had 9 free throw attempts in Game 3 so I need to keep attacking,”

Game 4 is on Thursday, May 15 at the PhilSports Arena. San Mig shoots for a virtual grand slam, having won the last two conference trophies while Talk ‘N Text – who have kept fighting every conference only to fall short – has two more chances to prove they should finally be called the best team in the league.

– Rappler.com