Friday the 13th
Last Wednesday, Miller erupted for 29 points but couldn’t tow
Cardona garnered 1,488 points to Miller’s 1,016 in the two-way race for honors. Miller won in the players’ poll, 173-95, but lost out in the stats department and the votes from the media, ABC-5 and the PBA.
Miller started out hot, banging in 12 points in the first period, but went blank in the third as Talk ’N’ Text staged a furious rally. He hit 11 in the last 12 minutes in a courageous effort to reverse the tide.
It didn’t help that Aces import Rosell Ellis hyper extended his left knee in the first half. He lost his lift and couldn’t elevate to throw up his jump hook that was so effective previously. Ellis scored only three points in the third period and none in the fourth before fouling out. Cone said an MRI will be taken to determine the extent of the damage in Ellis’ knee.
“We panicked and started to play too much one-on-one,” sighed Cone. “We were called for a series of offensive fouls and Mike (Cortez) got his fifth personal. It wasn’t Donbel Belano’s defense but foul trouble that made Mike tentative.”
With less than two minutes to go and the game slowly slipping away from
“It was about Don (Allado) pushing Sonny (Thoss) setting the high pick,” said Cone. “The refs told me they’d call it but they never did so I asked when they were going to call it. That’s when I got the T.”
After a jackrabbit start, the Aces ran out of steam down the stretch. It surprised Cone why they got tired because of the two-day rest from Sunday’s Game 2. The Aces just couldn’t match the Phone Pals’ energy level in the second half.
Talk ’N’ Text coach Derick Pumaren said despite the rousing win, it didn’t establish a trend, one way or the other, for the rest of the series. “We’ve got a long way to go,” he said.
The Phone Pals’ comeback was reminiscent of
Down by 16 at the half of Game 3, Pumaren berated the Phone Pals in the locker room for playing listlessly. “It was like an inter-village scrimmage for us,” said Pumaren. “We were flat. We had no intensity. We weren’t aggressive. Luckily, we broke out in the second half.”
For the first time in the Finals, Talk ’N’ Text had more assists, 19-11, the Phone Pals bench outscored the Alaska relievers, 13-10, and the Aces were held to less than 40 percent field goal shooting.
Pumaren’s finishing unit of J. J. Sullinger, Jay Washington, Don Allado, Belano and Cardona got the job done.
“It can’t be just a Sully and Mac-Mac show for us,” said Pumaren. “The other guys have to do their share and they did.” Belano tallied 13 of his 14 points in the second half.
Now, it’s
Additionally,
If Miller gets lucky on his birthday,
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