If you happened to miss out on the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup’s Friday double-header slate, here’s a quick rundown to keep you updated.
Finally, an aggressive Marcio Lassiter
The San Miguel Beermen kept their conference alive as they defeated the TNT Tropang Giga in Game 6, 103-90. This best-of-seven semifinals series will go to a Game 7 on Sunday.
Main Takeaways:
- In the first five games of the series, Lassiter only averaged 7.6 points but it’s not like he has struggled with his shots — it’s just that he has not taken a significant amount of shots. Prior to Game 6, Lassiter only averaged 6.4 attempts from the field, including 3.4 attempts from the three-point line. But the veteran wing certainly answered the call today as he was extra aggressive in looking for his shots (14 total attempts), and drilled five triples on his way to 19 points. Good things come for the Beermen when Lassiter is aggressive and efficient because it forces opponents to scramble and close out hard on him, which then paves the way for the San Miguel big men to grab their share of the offensive boards. San Miguel had 19 offensive rebounds in the Game 6 win, which then resulted in 24 second chance points.
- This game was over for TNT after the first three quarters, as they saw themselves trailing San Miguel by a 24-point deficit. The Tropang Giga had a lot of open looks from outside, but the shots just didn’t fall for them. Even with scorers Mikey Williams and RR Pogoy combining for a paltry 5-of-24 shooting, offense shouldn’t be an issue for the team heading into Game 7. Instead, they should hone in on their lapses on the defensive end of the floor, as they gave up a number of breakaway buckets to the Beermen.
Sangalang, Magnolia book first Finals ticket
The Magnolia Hotshots booked a ticket to the Finals by hacking out a 93-85 Game 6 victory over the Meralco Bolts.
Main Takeaways:
- Ian Sangalang has been a regular double-digit scorer for the Hotshots this conference, but he showed a little bit of his all-around skill set in Game 6. The lefty big man finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists, then added two steals and three blocks to stuff his stat line. With Paul Lee struggling and laboring with his shoulder injury, Sangalang stepped up to the plate and was easily the best Magnolia player on both ends of the floor. It remains to be seen if Lee can recover in time for the Finals next week, but Magnolia will need this aggressive version of Sangalang to have more games like this against either TNT or San Miguel.
- Meralco gave up too many offensive rebounds to Magnolia. Failing to secure a defensive rebound doesn’t only give the offensive team a second chance scoring opportunity, but it also prevents the defensive team from trying to score in transition. The Hotshots grabbed 22 offensive boards that led to 23 second chance points, which then allowed them to set up their defense properly against the Bolts. Meralco, with its deepest All-Filipino lineup in recent years, put up a gallant stand but was simply overpowered by a more talented and experienced Magnolia team.
Advanced Stats are now available for Philippine basketball! Through Ryan Alba’s ‘Stats by Ryan’, you can now look at team and player advanced stats for the current 2021 PBA Philippine Cup (and the previous three seasons) via the Dribble Media website.
Check out this glossary for a list of the basketball advanced stats terminologies.
You can also contact Ryan via his Twitter handle (@_alba__).
