WHERE does Mikh McKinney rank among the premier guards Jimmy Alapag has seen in his career?
For the San Miguel Alab Pilipinas head coach, the Fil-Am gunner ranks right up there with the best of them.
"He's up there on the top," he testified.
It was the second time in a span of 10 days that McKinney has had a scoring outburst against the defending champions.
The 6-foot-1 playmaker scored 40 in Macau's 116-103 rout of Alab back in Feb. 27, and once again had the touch and went for 50 on Friday. This time, though, the Black Bears could not pull off the W as the home side took the gritty 101-96 victory.
What makes McKinney's feat more impressive is the degree of difficulty he's getting his shots down, scoring on tough defenders like Renaldo Balkman, Bobby Ray Parks, and Pao Javelona.
"Again, a lot of those shots were contested. He's just a big-time shotmaker and he competes every possesssion," he said.
And Alapag didn't shy away from telling McKinney how impressed he is after the game.
"I told him, 'I've been around this game for a long time and I've seen a lot of good point guards, and you're up there on the top.' I know he plays for Macau, but he has that Filipino spirit, too.
"Again, I hate to see him drop 50 on us but I'm always going to respect a great performance from a great point guard," he said.
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