TNT KaTropa’s Roger Pogoy had just explained his hot shooting start in the PBA Governors’ Cup when he suddenly pulled a punchline referring to a regretful showing in a recent overseas stint.
“Sana nung World Cup ganun no?” Pogoy said as he recalled Gilas Pilipinas’ winless showing in China – no thanks to an atrocious shooting by almost everyone who donned the national colors.
Pogoy and some of his Gilas comrades are making up for their World Cup struggles on the domestic front.
Pogoy is among the five top three-point shooters after two weeks of action in the season-ending conference, making 61 percent of his attempts while posting 20.8 points per contest to help TNT lead the standings with a 4-0 record.
His presence was hardly felt during FIBA’s centerpiece event, making just 3-of-12 from rainbow country.
Teammate Troy Rosario was 1-of-10 from beyond the arc for Gilas but is averaging 18.3 points highlighted by a 63-percent clip from three-point area.
Meralco is off to a 3-1 start in the Governors’ Cup with Raymond Almazan playing one of the key roles.
After producing just 0.6 points and 0.6 rebounds in the World Cup, Almazan posted 16.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks for coach Norman Black, who is thrilled to see his vision realized when the Bolts acquired Almazan in May.
“He really could not get his bearings in the last conference, but I wasn’t really concerned about that because I knew he was new to the team and he really didn’t know the system that well,” said Black.
“But we’ve had a chance now to get him comfortable with the team,” added Black.
Kiefer Ravena, who took the brunt of fans’ criticism for the World Cup woes, is emerging as one of the conference’s top players, putting NLEX in a good position for a playoff spot with a 4-1 slate.
Ravena is averaging 18.6 points with a 45-percent clip from downtown, but he’s also posting 7.2 rebounds and 9.4 assists. He hit a game-tying three to end regulation and dished out 17 assists Saturday when NLEX stunned Ginebra 113-111 in Dubai after being down by 28.
The emergence of rookies CJ Perez and Robert Bolick are translating very well in the ongoing PBA tourney.
Perez is averaging 24.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.3 steals for the 2-2 Columbian Dyip while Bolick scored 16.0 points, grabbed 5.8 rebounds and making 6.8 assists despite a 1-3 record by the NorthPort Batang Pier.
