Talk ‘N Text, Globalport post contrasting victories

MANILA: Obviously more used to each other now, Norman Black and Talk ‘N Text are definitely back in the groove.
With a solid second half, Black and his defending PBA Philippine Cup champion Tropang Texters ripped Air21, 96-89, for a third straight win and the solo lead in the season-opening tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The Texters wriggled out of a tight first half with former MVP Jimmy Alapag leading the way.
Alapag, the 5-foot-8 point guard who won the MVP two seasons ago, hit his fourth trey of the contest in the third period as the Texters zoomed to a 72-59 lead and were never really threatened the rest of the way.
“We played much better in the second half. We switched bigger players (on their big men inside) to make it a little harder for them to score in the paint,” said Black, whose first victory in his PBA comeback last week wasn’t as pretty as this one.
Alapag reached a milestone by knocking down the 1000th triple of his career and had 16 points – half of them coming in the breakaway third period.
“We just ran a free flowing game in the second half. We tried to do set plays but it didn’t work for us (in the first two quarters), so I just told them to go back to what they do best,” said Black.
The Texters are trying to adapt to Black’s more deliberate, slow-down pace of a game, a far departure from the ‘dribble drive’ philosophy of former coach Chot Reyes.
Ranidel de Ocampo paced the Texters with 19 points, with his jumper with 3:37 left giving history-seeking Talk ‘N Text a 93-79 lead.
Talk ‘N Text is trying to become the first team in 30 years to win the all-Filipino title for a third straight time, a feat last achieved by the defunct Crispa Redmanizers under Baby Dalupan in 1982.
Meanwhile, Globalport waxed hot in the fourth quarter earlier in the night and dealt Meralco a heart-breaking 105-104 defeat for the Batang Pier’s first victory in its PBA life.
Rookies finished what the veteran two-time MVP Willie Miller started, with Jason Deutchman hitting two clutch treys and Alfred Mandani completing a key three-point play.
Globalport won for the first time in four games and it came on the night when the Meralco dugout was ransacked by thieves, with coach Ryan Gregorio losing more than P100,000 in gadgets and valuables.
Miller, who won his MVP trophies while playing for Red Bull and Talk ‘N Text, rifled in 33 points – his highest scoring game in four years – and kept the Batang Pier in the game.
But it was Deutchman who put the Batang Pier in the lead to stay with his second straight triple with 73 seconds left for 100-99, before Mandani, also a Fil-American rookie like Deutchman, sealed the deal with a three-point play off Mac Cardona heading into the final 17 seconds.
“This is a big thing for the players because their morale (coming into this game) was very low,” coach Glenn Capacio said. “The players showed a lot of heart. Luckily, we played well in the last four minutes.”
Globalport trailed, 78-92, with under nine minutes left, only to show tremendous fighting heart to nibble away at that deficit and steal the win in the endgame.