Baguio flaunts vintage form as NLEX ends 4-game skid

Delfin Dioquino

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Baguio flaunts vintage form as NLEX ends 4-game skid
'Tingin ko ito pa lang ata 'yung magandang laro ko simula noong natrade ako sa NLEX,' Cyrus Baguio says

MANILA, Philippines – Cyrus Baguio couldn’t have picked a better time to play his best game in an NLEX uniform, turning in an all-around performance reminiscent of his heydays to help the Road Warriors arrest a 4-game skid.

Baguio registered 13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists in NLEX’s 81-78 come-from-behind win over Barangay Ginebra Saturday, February 3, and had the biggest plus-minus among the Road Warriors with +14 in 25 minutes of action.

Quiet in the first 3 periods with NLEX down 55-59, the former University of Santo Tomas stalwart found his offensive niche in the 4th quarter, scoring the team’s first 11 points to keep the Road Warriors within arm’s reach before Larry Fonacier and JR Quinahan provided the finishing touches.

Tingin ko ito pa lang ata ‘yung magandang laro ko simula noong na-trade ako sa NLEX,” said Baguio, who was shipped to the Road Warriors August last year from the Phoenix Fuel Masters. (I think this is the best game since I was traded to NLEX.)

Baguio averaged just 5.3 points in NLEX’s first 6 outings, which saw the Road Warriors drop 4 straight games after winning their first two. In those 6 games, Baguio did not reach double figures.

Although his scoring was one of the key reasons for the win, the 37-year-old deflected the credit to the team’s overall defense after NLEX forced Ginebra to 24 turnovers to score 31 points.

But Baguio was not just about scoring as he also had a hand on the less glamorous end of the floor, swiping more than one-third of NLEX’ 11 steals.

Maganda lang talaga ‘yung depensa namin kanina, para sakin mas gusto ko ‘yung mga ganitong laro ‘yung dikit para lalong mag-grow ‘yung team kasi baka sakaling magamit namin sa future games namin,” said Baguio. “Pinakaimportante ‘yung depensa namin, na-stop namin sila.”

(We played great defense. I like these kind of tight games for us to grow as a team and we can use the lessons we learned here for our future games. The most important of all is our defense. We stopped them.)

With their one-month slump behind them, Baguio hopes the winning does not end against the Gin Kings as they became relevant in the playoff race again, tying Ginebra and Phoenix at 6th place with identical 3-4 cards.

Malaking tulong ‘yung panalo namin ngayon. At least nawala na ‘yung malas. The more na natatalo ka, nada-down ‘yung morale ng mga players e, nawawalan ng kumpyansa.” (This win is a big boost for us, at least, we got rid of the curse that comes with the losing streak. The more that you lose, the more that players lose their confidence.)

Meron pa kaming apat na game so kailangan lang ituloy namin at dagdagdan ‘yung ginawa namin kanina,” Baguio concluded. (We still have 4 games left so we have to continue playing like this and add more to what we did when we won earlier.)

NLEX will face the reeling Meralco Bolts next on February 9 at the Cuneta Astrodome. – Rappler.com

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Delfin Dioquino

Delfin Dioquino dreamt of being a PBA player, but he did not have the skills to make it. So he pursued the next best thing to being an athlete – to write about them. He took up journalism at the University of Santo Tomas and joined Rappler as soon as he graduated in 2017.