Miller shrugs off trade rumors, wins PBA weekly honors

Alaska playmaker Willie Miller is one guy who’s already immune to rumors of being traded by the Aces to another Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) ballclub. But for the two-time PBA most valuable player (MVP), he would rather concentrate on his work inside the court and let his game do the talking. Miller stepped up big time in Alaska’s last two wins submitting averages of 17.5 points, 5.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds as the Aces, last conference’s runner-up, got themselves back-on-track in the ongoing Fiesta Conference. “I don’t see he’s affected by those rumors. Proof of that, he has been named Player of the Week," said Alaska’s grandslam coach Tim Cone. Cone added that Miller is an integral part of his team just like Jojo Lastimosa, Kenneth Duremdes and Johnny Abarrientos before. “There were inquiries about him, but we were really not interested and we have no plans of trading him, that’s for sure," said Cone. In Alaska ’s game against Air21, Miller tallied 15 points in a 105-95 triumph last Wednesday. Against Derby Ace, in an out-of-town game in Cagayan de Oro, Miller had 20 points, including the winning basket that enabled the Aces to complete a come-from-behind 83-81 victory over the Llamados. That victory over Derby Ace (Purefoods) was a sweet one for Alaska after being swept by the Llamadaos in the last conference finals. The Aces also bucked the absence of import Diamon Simpson, who fouled out with still 3:43 left in regulation. But Miller stepped up when he was needed leading a furious Aces rally that erased the Llamados’ 10-point spread. “Willie has been here many times before and has been bailing out a lot of times, which makes him more special to our group," said Cone. The Aces are now 2-2, tied with the Llamados from sixth to seventh places in the 10-team field. “We’re slowly getting back into the groove. Diamon didn’t have much of a problem as he had an idea how the Triangle Offense is being run. They used to do that several times with the Los Angeles D-Fenders in the NBA D-League," said Cone. - GMANews.TV