CHICAGO - Nenad Vucenic, the active consultant who actually wields the clipboard during Meralco's games and whose defensive genius catapulted the Bolts to the PBA Philippine Cup title last year, rarely speaks to the media.
Even if you locked him in an interrogation room, handcuffed and with a briefcase full of sharp instruments on a table, you still can't peel out of Nenad's mouth the words that Meralco's head coach told SPIN.ph today.
"They've added a ton of dominant players that you built the team around. You've got Troy Rosario, (Jamie) Malonzo, the second pick of the draft is back. You've got RJ (Abarrientos)," head coach Luigi Trillo said.
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"That's an All-Star na national team unit. And then, you've got (Justin) Brownlee," Trillo added.
The slobbering high praise could just be gamesmanship designed to lure a strong Ginebra team into complacency and put pressure on them as the prohibitive favorites who have everything to lose.
To me, though, Luigi's comments echoed like a predicated excuse that will bounce off the walls of the press conference once Ginebra takes care of business and advances to the semifinals.
GAMESMANSHIP?
While it's convenient to talk about what Ginebra has right now, we shouldn't ignore what the Kings didn't have when they were decimated by injuries and lost Brownlee to a Fiba suspension.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone hasn't seen a microphone he didn't like but I don't remember him complaining about the holes that have decimated his roster in recent conferences.
Yes, Ginebra is the better team on paper, what with the starry, starry names at Cone's disposal. But Meralco ain't a tomato can by any stretch of the imagination, either.
When healthy and playing, import Akil Mitchell is averaging 23.8 points on 52 percent shooting from 2. Cliff Hodge is still a manic defender and obsessive rebounder. while Chris Banchero is having a renaissance conference.
Late in the elimination round, the Bolts were ranked fourth on offense with 102.3 points per game, and oh by the way, Chris Newsome is still doing Chris Newsome things.
The Bolts have enough to win. Nenad would have told you that if he weren't so averse to talking to reporters.
IS NP READY FOR PRIMETIME?
Coach Bonnie Tan has done a great job steering the Batang Pier to a 9-3 record and a No.1 seed. But can they handle a streaking Magnolia team with a now healthy Ricardo Ratliffe and a smoldering Zavier Lucero?
Which NorthPort team shows up in the playoffs, the one that Phoenix beat or the version that trumped Ginebra?
Believe it or not, I'm rooting for coach Chito Victolero here and keep the faith on his vaunted calling card - a tenacious, lockdown defense that carried the Hotshots in a KO game where they held NLEX to 81 points while putting up 112.
In the other twice-to-beat pairing, I believe TNT and RHJ are too good for fast fading Hong Kong Eastern who look like they want to be anywhere else but at home right now.
The Converge-Rain or Shine duel is delightful. The Fiber Xers are the better team talent-wise but Yen Guiao is absolutely the better coach and you never know what he'll come up with in the lab.
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