Triangle Offense

RP Team lights up with 15 money ball conversions.

Hot-shooting Powerade Team Pilipinas bounced back with a pulsating 77-70 victory over Chinese Taipei after suffering its first setback in the hands of South Korea.

Karate Kid James Yap regained his shooting touch to finish with 23 points while Willie Miller waxed hot with 17 points on 5-for-5 from downtown including the dagger with only 13 ticks left in the game.

Both stepped up big time after a lackadaisical game the last time around.

Yap’s moment came in the second half where he torched whoever is guarding him with his patented three-point shooting to help us gain our composure back.

RP led by as much as eight points at the end of the third thanks to a buzzer beating triple by Jay Jay Helterbrand, who finally woke up to contribute eight points.

However, number 11 of Chinese Taipei, Joakim Noah and their fleet footed guards trimmed it quickly to two points, 62-60. Tseng Wen ting aka Joakim Noah finished with a team-high 21 points before running out of fumes in the last period.

The teams went at it and other players from our team joined the shooting parade, including Sonny Thoss and Kerby Raymundo who each scored timely points to keep the Taiwanese at bay.

Thoss had a decent game, who I must say should keep on converting his mid-range stabs rather than taking it inside against heftier defenders.

On the flip side, co-captain Kerby Raymundo has not been in his usual form. I wonder why? Because he is one of our players besides Jimmy Alapag who really played well back in the Japan qualifiers.

Cyrus Baguio, meanwhile, continues to be a revelation. A lot has questioned this move by Guiao and the staff of the RP squad of putting Baguio in the RP line-up instead of Mac Cardona or maybe Don Don Hontiveros who is more of a shooter.But Baguio has silenced all the doubters with his uncanny ability to score on the open court and also the way he’s been able to thread the defense of the opposing teams.

So, Team Pilipinas improves to 3-1 and I tell you, this is a good win for our team, considering the teams we have beaten so far, I mean yeah, Japan and Taiwan may not be the teams entrenched at the helm in Asia but they still play comely basketball.

Plus, beating teams such as Japan and Chinese Taipei gives our players more confidence and a more important momentum heading into the major tiff against ‘Great Khali’ Haddadi and his Iranian powerhouse squad, tomorrow at 11am.

As for now, credit RP’s three-point shooting that is gradually improving day by day.

And before I end, I just want to say that Mick Pennisi, plays no kind of defense (no weak side help, no one-on-one D or whatsoever), he’s slow, he has no lift, he doesn’t get enough rebounds as a man in the middle, come on, what does this guy do if his three-ball is not falling???

Anyway, just hit us up if you find something that Mick does (on the court).