As I watched Sonny Thoss and Reynel Hugnatan toil against Purefoods’ defense, I sympathized with Alaska’s plight. The league’s top-ranked team at the end of the elimination round, fueled by a disciplined attack was helpless. In the final meeting of a 4-0 sweep, Purefoods’ octopus defense strangled the Aces and never allowed Alaska’s triangle offense to breathe.
Ryan Gregorio signed up Rafi Reavis and Rico Maierhofer at the start of the season with one thing in mind. Once combined with Marc Pingris and Nino Canaleta, all four elongated defenders form a system armed with eight tentacles. It’s Manny Pacquiao with eight arms. How frustrating it must have been for Thoss, Hugnatan and Joe Devance to find daylight in a flurry of simultaneous right-left combinations. Devance personified Alaska’s exasperation. All throughout the series, Devance was flustered by Reavis’ length, Pingris’ speed and Kerby Raymundo’s smarts. Devance went 0-10 in Game 4. Although it wasn’t a blowout, one felt Game 4 was never that close. Somehow Alaska’s end-game meltdown in Games 2 and 3 was too much to recover from. Even when the Aces made a run to bridge the second and third periods, Alaska still looked like a deflated bunch. I wanted Alaska to win because a) I was scheduled to cover Game 5 for Solar TV and b) a proud team like Alaska deserves to hope for several more days. While watching the first half, however, basketball instincts, the kind that tells us to expect comebacks or warns us about impending defeat, cautioned me not to expect. And so the teams’ contrasting fates played out. Back-to-back hits by 15-year veteran Jeffrey Cariaso allowed Alaska to cling to the past - marked by the best record after the elimination round and the sweep of Ginebra. Back-to-back hits by PBA rookie Maierhofer, on the other hand, gave Purefoods a glimpse of the future – spurred by a defensive frontline that could run the 4 x 100 meter relay. With less than 6 minutes left, the series came to a close. Devance, the tortured soul who missed crucial free-throws and committed a controversial last-second foul in Game 2, missed back-to-back attempts in the 4th period; the first had no confidence, the second had no chance. James Yap countered with back-to-back baskets; the first was all-confidence, the second was all-net. Roger Yap, Purefoods’ Renaissance man in the playoffs, delivered the knockout blow with a turn-around jumper to give Purefoods a 10-point lead, 75-65, with 4:55 left. Alaska saw that it took nothing less than precision to score against Purefoods. Solar TV Analyst Andy Jao a.k.a. Dr. J aptly stated that the Aces are human beings who, faced with the energy of Purefoods’ hyper-defenders, wonder how they’ll run plays to perfection for four straight quarters for four straight games. The burden was too much. In truth, Purefoods’ defense proved too feisty even for a stringent team like Alaska. Gregorio’s octopus defense emerged unbeatable in the Finals. The championship trophy trapped in its tentacles is tangible proof. -
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