Jay Washington and Paul Lee. PBA PHOTOS by Nuki Sabio
MANILA, Philippines — After helping Rain or Shine survive Alaska in a bruising Final Four series by hitting the shots that told in their rubber match, Paul Lee was named as the Accel-Player of the Week, the last citation that the covering PBA Press Corps will hand out this season.
Lee led the Elasto Painters to victories in the last two games as they overhauled a 1-2 deficit to advance to their second title series appearance this season opposite San Mig Coffee again.
The 6-foot former Rookie of the Year winner scored 21 points in a 123-121 overtime victory in Game 4, and then hit the final four points in a 97-94 Game 5 win over the decimated but hard-fighting Aces last Saturday.
It was the kind of performance that the Painters expected from Lee, who has shaped up to be their cornerstone in just his third full season with Rain or Shine.
Lee and Jay Washington of Globalport have been added to the Gilas Pilipinas pool and will join the team when it departs on July 11 for Wuhan, China, for the Fiba Cup.
This will be Washington’s first inclusion to the pool where he will get to see action, and coach Chot Reyes has already defined the role of the Globalport standout, and that is to be what Ranidel de Ocampo is to the national squad.
Owning a three-point shooting average of almost 33 percent for the PBA season, Washington can indeed give De Ocampo breathers in most games.
“It’s a tough spot,” Washington said of the role that Reyes would want him to play as De Ocampo’s reliever. “I’m truly grateful for the opportunity that coach Chot [Reyes] has given me,” said Washington, a former two-time Player of the Conference awardee.
Lee and Washington will join the Gilas squad in the China trip as Reyes will be leaving behind some members of the pool like Rain or Shine’s Gabe Norwood and Jeff Chan, Talk ‘N Text’s Jimmy Alapag, Jason Castro and Larry Fonacier and Marc Pingris of San Mig Coffee.
Gilas will play in the World Cup in August in Spain before flying to Incheon, South Korea less than two weeks later for the Asian Games.
Andray Blatche of the Brooklyn Nets, who was recently naturalized, will definitely join the Nationals in Spain and Korea.