Gary David: This David is a Goliath

This David is a Goliath

by rick olivares pics by nuki sabio

Do not be deceived by Gary David’s boy next-door looks. He isn’t the chiseled sort like Asi Taulava. He isn’t like one of those sleek aerodynamic cruise missiles like Gabe Norwood. Heck, doesn’t even look like a baller when out of those sweats.

But make no mistake. Gary David is an assassin in tank tops. Every bit as lethal as James Yap. Able to put points on the board in a hurry like Jeff Chan, Mark Caguioa, or Peter June Simon. He’s a lifetaker and a heartbreaker.

You see, it’s the Holiday Season yet for everyone, yet for the B-Meg Llamados and their legions of followers, it might very well be a reverse Valentine’s Day for broken hearts.

Powerade was teetering on the brink of elimination when David, the Tigers’ 33-year old shooting guard went on a scoring rampage of Jordanesque proportions. In Game One of their two-match series with B-Meg, David tacked on 32 points. In a game of no tomorrows, he bettered his output by scoring 37.

After seemingly coasting for much of the game, David caught fire after a near fight between B-Meg’s Josh Urbiztondo and Powerade’s Celino Cruz. After the match, he admitted that Cruz’ ejection and pre-series prognostications that his team had no chance of beating the Llamados, who topped the eliminations with a 10-4 card, served as motivation.

David who proceeded to score 23 points in the fourth period and the five-minute overtime period to help overhaul a 17-point deficit to forge overtime.

Once in extension, David showed that he wasn’t finished as he scored the first 10 points for his team before Marcio Lassiter hit a booming triple that helped finish off the Llamados, 131-123.

The Llamados’ Kerby Raymundo, Simon, and Yap all scored over 20 points each but they lacked in effect as compared to the Tigers’ 52.4% shooting from three-point land where they hit 22-42 shots. David accounted for eight of those treys.

Through the first three quarters, David hit only 5-13 shots. But with the game on the line, David, he without the legions of fans, without the mad hops, or brute force for post-play, showed that he is definitely, a force to reckon with.

Any one care to debate that?

Notes: Powerade is the third eighth seed in PBA history to send the number one team in the conference packing in the opening round of the playoffs. Ginebra shocked Mobile in the 1999 All-Filipino Conference while San Miguel ousted Talk ‘N Text in the 2002 Governors’ Cup. I am one of those eating crow here because I tabbed B-Meg to walk over Powerade. I both stand and sit corrected.