RAIN or Shine coach Caloy Garcia wasn’t kidding when he said James Yap would be a “different player” in his second conference with the team.
Yap put up his best output in a Elasto Painters uniform as he led the team to a 113-105 win over NLEX on Friday for a stirring start to its PBA Commissioner’s Cup title defense.
The ROS star fired 26 points – also his highest in over the last three years, hitting five three-pointers, the last on a stepback off an ankle-breaking crossover on Bradwyn Guinto that quashed an NLEX comeback and left the Smart-Araneta Coliseum crowd in a frenzy.
Yap shot 9-of-15 from the field overall and finished with three boards, one assist, and one steal in 28 minutes as he drew solid support especially from his big men.
When: 17 MARCH 2017
Events: PBA COMMISSIONERS CUP SERIES 2017
Where: SMART ARANETA COLISEUM
Raymond Almazan, for his part, showed he’s fully recovered from a calf injury that caused him to miss half of the Philippine Cup as he chipped in 18 points after making all but two of his nine shots on top of adding three boards, two assists, and one block.
The Final Scoreboard Result:
ROS 113 – Yap 26, Taggart 23, Almazan 18, Chan 12, Belga 9, Norwood 7, Cruz 6, Ahanmisi 6, Tiu 4, Ponferada 2, Washington 0
NLEX 105 – Chism 27, Lastimosa 15, Camson 14, Taulava 12, Alas 11, Lanete 8, J. Villanueva 5, Guinto 4, Soyud 3, Baracael 2, Anthony 2, Tiongson 2, Khobuntin 0, Rios 0
Quarterscores: 26-27, 62-52, 80-81, 113-105