CHICAGO - With a 10-2 won-lost record, the NLEX Road Warriors are the top seeds entering the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup playoffs.
It’s a feel-good story and a great achievement given the challenges of navigating a dense schedule.
But those flowers come with pointed thorns: Nobody really takes the Road Warriors seriously as title contenders.
READ Top seed NLEX tunes out 'least favored' talk ahead of TNT playoff
They are the “introvoys” of the MVP Group, wonderful, likable guys who bears the Magnolia template of doing well early before flaming out late.
Against No. 8 seed TNT in the quarterfinals, NLEX is destined to suffer the same familiar fate.
AND HERE’S WHY.
Despite underwhelming in the elimination round with a 6-6 card, the Tropang 5G have more talent across the board with infinitely more playoffs experience.
Bol Bol likes to shoot 3s and he is horrible at it, just 10-of-48 for 20.8 percent. And he’s squat from 4, a lousy 0-for-11.
But when he attacks the hoop and activates his midrange assault, Bol converts a high 60 percent of his shots (171-of-284).
NLEX has a terrific import in Cady Lalanne (26 points and 15.5,rebounds per game) but he doesn’t command the same attention on defense and doesn’t have the firepower of Bol’s 38.1 points per game output.
NLEX has a great coach in Jong Uichico. But TNT has a Hall-of-Famer in Chot Reyes.
Robert Bolick is averaging 24.6 points per game while hitting an insane 39 percent from 3.
CAN”T WIN THE BIG ONE.
Bolick is a star. He also has a giant asterisk that says zero PBA titles.
TNT’s Jayson Castro, Calvin Oftana and Roger Pogoy, on the other hand, have won a combined 17 championships.
Elimination-round play time is over, which means TNT will shred NLEX twice to book a semis seat.
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