Game-winning shots earn Cabagnot PBA weekly honors

Making a game-winning shot is a thrilling experience for every player. Making two straight puts one in 7th Heaven. That must be how San Miguel’s Alex Cabagnot feels right now in the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup. San Miguel's southpaw guard helped the Beermen pull off back-to-back close wins behind his last-second baskets, making him the unanimous choice as the Accel-PBA Press Corps' Player of the Week for the period of October 25 to 31. What made Cabagnot's twin feats extra special for San Miguel was the fact that he helped the Beermen improve to a 5-1 win-loss record to join Talk 'N Text on top of the standings in the season-opening All-Filipino Conference. "Alex is a smart player," said SMB coach Ato Agustin of Cabagnot, who helped stretch his own winning streak to four. "He can drive, he can shoot, kaya I always tell him, 'pag libre ka, take the shot.''' Cabagnot did his end-game heroics first against Alaska, releasing a floater with only three-tenths of a second left to propel San Miguel to a 99-97 win on October 27. The basket had Cabagnot finishing with his first double-double in the young season as he ended up with 10 points and the same number of assists. Three days later, the No. 2 pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft did it again. With the count tied at 83, Cabagnot came up with a reverse lay-up in the last second, lifting the Beermen over defending champion B-Meg Derby Ace, 85-83. In both instances, Cabagnot provided the poise for SMB as his game winners – eerily coincidental – came off what were supposed to be pick-and-roll plays off SMB timeouts in the final 14 seconds. True, Agustin wanted the ball in his starting playmaker's hands, but there were other primary choices in SMB’s star-laden lineup for the final shot. The former MVP turned coach will not complain about the identical results, however. "Ang sabi ko, pag nagipit siya, dish off and for the receiver to go hard to the basket kasi penalty," Agustin said after the Llamados game. "Alex did a good job, parang nu’ng sa Alaska din." – JVP, GMANews.TV