SAN Miguel and NLEX made it a three-way tie on top of Group B in the PBA Governors Cup after notching their second straight wins on Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen overpowered an import-less Blackwater side behind a huge-second half tear to score a 128-108 victory, while the Road Warriors survived a big endgame scare against hard-fighting Phoenix Fuel Masters for a 100-95 win.
With their respective 2-0 slates, San Miguel and NLEX created a logjam at the top of its group together with Rain or Shine, a 73-64 winner over Barangay Ginebra in Candon, Ilocos Sur on Saturday night.
Here are some of the takeaways in the Big Dome doubleheader.
1.ADAMS’ 50-POINT ERUPTION – as if San Miguel’s current roster isn’t explosive enough, here comes Jordan Adams showing his offensive side behind a 50-point production in a 128-108 blowout of Blackwater. One could make a case the Bossing were without an import, but even so, the former UCLA stalwart was just too hot to handle on this night. The 30-year-old import had 26 in the first half when he carried the offensive load for the Beermen, then had 24 the rest of the way as the other Beermen joined the fray and buried the Bossing behind an avalanche of baskets to out the game away. Adams sizzled for a 6-of-10 shooting from three-point range in capping the season-high scoring output.
2.BLACKWATER LOCALS CAN COMPETE – With no Ricky Ledo around, the Bossing showed it had a lot of fight left, engaging the mighty Beermen point for point in the opening half which ended with them leading, 63-56. Troy Rosario, sophomores Christian David and James Kwekuteye, top rookie Sedrick Barefield, and even veteran Jewel Ponferrada carried the Bossing on their shoulders in a bid to topple their heavily-favored opponent. But there was no upset on this night as Blackwater couldn’t sustain their form for the entire 48 minutes, eventually yielding against the Beermen’s firepower.
3.RICKY LEDO’S ‘WHAT IF’ CASE AT BLACKWATER – Ledo’s early departure left a lot of questions begging for answers especially with the way the former NBA player performed in pre-season games. Based on tapes and videos teams were able to gather, it was a consensus the 31-year-old import could be a major force for Blackwater’s bid to make the playoffs. But pre-season is different from actual games, and Ledo failed to deliver. He left a trail of a 0-2 record and average of 9.0 points on a dismal 15.8 percent shooting.
4.PHOENIX’S 0-2 RECORD NOT REFLECTIVE OF ITS CHARACTER – The Fuel Masters’ record is obviously deceiving as it doesn’t indicate how they fought tooth and nail the San Miguel Beermen and the NLEX Road Warriors. The Beermen didn’t get the job done against Phoenix until CJ Perez hit a dagger four-pointer in the final minute of a 111-107 victory, while the Road Warriors had to scramble back in the endgame to pull off the 100-95 win in a game where Phoenix overhauled a 23-point halftime deficit. In all, the team lost its first two games by a margin of 4.5 points.
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