Star eyes share of early lead

Star is going great guns in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, and the scary thing about it is that the Hotshots aren’t even in full force yet.

Marc Pingris will sit out a fourth straight game as Star tries to stay unbeaten, clashing with Mahindra and its new import on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A Hotshots victory would mean a share of the early elimination round lead.

Pingris, the team’s heart and defensive pillar, is still out with a hip injury, and the Hotshots will be contending with an import they barely know in the 4:15 p.m. contest with the Floodbuster to unveil Keith Wright.

Once the starting center for Harvard where Jeremy Lin also played, Wright comes over to take the place of James White, whom Mahindra had to let go of for reasons beyond statistics.

“It wasn’t anything based on numbers,” Mahindra coach Chris Gavina told the Inquirer over the phone after the only practice Wright had with the team on Tuesday. “We just felt that we need an inside presence with the (local) personnel we have.”

Wright has just come from the NBA D-League and is in great shape.

“He’s ready to bang,” Gavina said. “Hopefully he brings us to the right path and brings us stability on both ends, which we have been lacking.”

It would be interesting to see how “big” Wright plays, as he will be ranged against Tony Mitchell, a workhorse of a reinforcement who has been chiefly responsible for Star’s 3-0 start.

Star is loaded on all fronts even with Pingris sitting it out, with Paul Lee and Mark Barroca leading a battery of talented backcourt men that coach Chit Victolero could rotate.

While Star tries to stay spotless, GlobalPort and crowd darling Barangay Ginebra shoot for first victories in the 7 p.m. contest, with the Gin Kings coming off a sorry 91-94 loss to Phoenix Petroleum in their debut on Saturday in Davao.

Justin Brownlee finished with just 12 points in that game and was out for majority of the fourth period because of an undisclosed injury.

The Kings have the edge in manpower, even if Brownlee is one of the shortest imports here, because of a solid local crew led by LA Tenorio and Joe Devance.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Commissioner has slapped a P30,000 fine and suspended San Miguel Beer swingman Ronald Tubid for the Beermen’s next two games because of a flagrant foul 2 infraction on Meralco’s Chris Newsome last Sunday.

Commissioner Chito Narvasa handed down the penalties after proving that Tubid hit Newsome with a closed fist that resulted in the Meralco guard sustaining a swollen right eye.