Alaska Aces Game 9: The Ninth Conundrum

The Ninth Conundrum

Ginebra 79 vs. Alaska 68

by rick olivares with pic by tunying p

November 14, 2010

Araneta Coliseum

After the Alaska Aces lost to the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters last month, Tim Cone fretted about the game and its consequences. “Not enough energy,” he muttered. Then facing his team, “This was a sorry loss, gentlemen. We’ve got some really quality teams ahead of us and one of them is Ginebra. And they are playing well.”

Two more losses and one win after that Talk ‘N Text match, Cone was still searching for answers. “We’re up against the hottest team in the league (Ginebra). They’ve finally figured things out while we have not.”

The Kings, even dating back to last year, looked really powerful on paper. But chemistry problems and injuries did them in. The obvious diagnostic looked this way -- too many stars and not enough role players. Save perhaps for forward Willy Wilson, all the other on the roster played key roles for their former clubs. With roles seemingly defined, Ginebra arrested their early 1-2 skid and have rattled off four consecutive wins.

They were frightening because as good as their record was, it was obvious they were not yet firing on all cylinders as they lost JC Intal to injury while Eric Menk was on the road to recovery.

Alaska, on the other hand, might have the perfect balance of veteran stars and up and coming talent. The starting unit of Sonny Thoss at center; Joe Devance and Tony dela Cruz at forward; and Cyrus Baguio and LA Tenorio at guard is arguably one of the best in the league. They also added the high-leaping Elmer Espiritu and two former San Miguel Beermen in center Samigue Eman and swingman Bonbon Custodio who were both eager to show what they could do with more minutes. But the strength and the weakness of the Aces lay in the starting five.

Their starters play the longest minutes in the league for an average of 34.8 minutes per game. Their opponents? Their starting unit logs 28.4 minutes. Those numbers do not vary whether Alaska wins or loses. Suffice to say that their starters play a huge chunk of minutes. Of the five, it is only dela Cruz who has seen significant mileage in those legs as he is in his 11^th season.

One former player for the Aces opined that the preponderance on the starters must come with the triangle offense. “You can see that with the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers – their starters play heavy minutes.” He said.

The Triangle Offense. Perhaps the most famous offensive scheme the game has seen since Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls won two waves of three-peats in the 1990s. With that offense, Tim Cone has won 13 championships with the franchise.

If the Aces want to be in a position to win title number fourteen, they need everyone – from the San Miguel refugees to former Ginebra King Cyrus Baguio to fully grasp the intricacies of the offense.

In their previous match against the Powerade Tigers where Alaska ended their four-game slide, the Aces ran their flummoxed foes ragged. Even when they emptied the bench, the party continued. But there were obvious flaws.

During one halfcourt set, guard-forward Bonbon Custodio threw the ball down the post to Mark Borboran. Rookie Elmer Espiritu who was at the right corner of the arc was supposed to cut down the baseline. If his man didn’t follow then a hand off or a bounce pass was forthcoming. If Borboran’s man switched off to Espiritu before the hand off then the former could spin inside for the lay in. Those were just two options on the basic sideline triangle.

But Espiritu cut right above Borboran and that brought his man unintentionally for a double team severing the top two options. The ball went back out to Custodio who instead of hitting Borobran on the re-post or even swinging the ball over to the weak side lofted a shot that had no chance of going in.

The triangle might have set options but the beauty about it is learning to read what the defense gives. That ultimately determines the kind of shot that is forthcoming. It requires a lot of quick thinking and some intuition from those who run it. One of the problems with it is that anytime there are newcomers to the team is that it takes a while not just for the newbie’s to adjust but everyone else.

The Bull no longer goes by that name. He’s suited up for all the San Miguel teams after a sterling stint with Red Bull where he once won an MVP Award. In a team like Ginebra, touches are scarce unless your name ends in Caguioa or Miller. And since the fourth game of their Philippine Cup campaign,  Villanueva has played well.

And right from the get-go against Alaska, he took it inside against his former national teammate Sonny Thoss. Villanueva battled inside and when he drove in began to attract double teams the way he routinely used to when he was the main man over at Red Bull. He finished with 12 points and 5 boards before Mamaril took over.

At the half, although down by two at 34-32, Thoss’ performance was endemic of Alaska’s frontline. “We need our bigs to be more aggressive. That’s why our guards are taking all sorts of shots,” underscored Cone with some urgency. LA Tenorio led the team with eight points and five assists. “They are taking the shots they want. We have to get back and impose our will on the game.”

The Aces heeded their mentor’s call as Devance, Thoss, Eman, and dela Cruz combined for 18-points in the third quarter where the Aces took a 56-54 lead after 36 minutes of play.

But in the fourth quarter, Ginebra King Mark Caguioa, no longer his old flying and barreling self, strung up a series of shots to keep pace with Alaska. Then midway through the quarter, former Alaska Ace Willie Miller went to work against his old team. 

“Thriller” hit three consecutive baskets to help give the Kings a sizeable 70-63 lead. Now in a close match, a three-point lead is a luxury. A seven-point lead that shot up to ten after a Jimbo Aquino trey? That was a close to whupping considering that Ginebra won their last four matches by an average of 18.2 points.

The Aces once more faded in the latter half as Ginebra outscored them 25-12 for a 79-68 win.

After the match, Cone bemoaned his team’s sudden demise during the fourth quarter. His team sat quietly and looked to him as if they too were looking for answers. “Take the day off tomorrow and I’ll see you on Tuesday,” said Cone hoping that the day off would give their weary bodies a little rest and maybe time to stew on their loss, their fifth in six matches. “I’ll watch the videotape and see what’s going on but we have more we have to do.”

It was quiet for quite a bit more inside the Alaska dugout.

Ginebra 79 – Miller 16, Caguioa 14, Villanueva 12, Wilson 6, Tubid 6, Cortez 6, Helterbrand 6, Aquino 5, Menk 4, Hatfield 4, Mamaril 2

Alaska 68 – Devance 17, Tenorio 12, Thoss 10, Eman 8, dela Cruz 8, Baguio 7, Borboran 4, Custodio 2, Robinson 0, Hugnatan 0

Notes: The win put Ginebra at 6-2 tied with idle Talk ‘N Text for second place in the Philippine Cup standings. Alaska fell to 4-5. I rode with LA Tenorio on the way to Araneta Coliseum (we live kinda close to each other) and he was surprised that I understand the way the triangle is run. You see when I used to coach my Midgets and Juniors teams here in IVS, I ran the triangle. We made four championship berths and won two titles.