Samhan, a defensive and rebounding specialist out of St. Mary’s College in California, will reinforce the Texters.
MANILA, Philippines—Talk N’ Text and Powerade, fierce rivals in the recent Philippine Cup finals, open their bid for another title shot against separate opponents Friday in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.
The Tropang Texters, who eventually captured the all-Filipino championship, will test 6-foot-11 import Omar Samhan against Jarrid Famous and the Meralco Bolts at 5:15 p.m.
Dwayne Clinton Jones, another 6-11 reinforcement with gaudy credentials, will anchor the Tigers in the middle when they take on a Rain or Shine side that will finally take orders from coach Yeng Guiao, who is back from a vacation in South America.
Splitting their first two outings, the Bolts are in the final stretch of their run opposite elite teams with coach Ryan Gregorio hoping to duplicate their runaway victory over the Petron Blaze Boosters on Wednesday.
“With the tournament format, it’s very important to win as many games at the start of the conference,” said Gregorio after the Bolts rebounded from a defeat to B-Meg with a 105-83 whipping of the Boosters.
Famous, a 6-10 NBA Developmental League campaigner, will be challenged by Samhan, a defensive and rebounding specialist out of St. Mary’s College in California.
The 265-pound Samhan was the WCC Defensive Player of the Year on his senior year, and one of only two players in the school’s history with at least 1,000 rebounds. He also ranked second in school history with 1,846 career points.
With Samhan alongside either Ali Peek, Ranidel De Ocampo or Harvey Carey, TNT has a formidable frontline indeed.
“When you play elite teams, you need to combine hard work with intelligence,” said Gregorio. “This is what we need to do against another elite team in Talk ‘N Text.
“I told my players to always look for the edge and we found it against Petron.”
The Elasto Painters have a promising import in Duke Crews but failed to keep up with the Alaska Aces in their conference debut.
With Guiao back, Rain Or Shine should regain the ferocity to redeem itself from a semifinal collapse against the Tigers in the last conference.
Powerade coach Bo Perasol still has his Tigers intact despite a pending trade that will ship sensational rookie Marcio Lassiter to the Boosters for sophomore reserve players Nonoy Baclao and Rey Guevarra.
The impending sale of the Coca-Cola franchise could also pose a distraction, and Perasol needs to calm his Tigers down and focus on the job at hand.
On paper, the Tigers have a seasoned import in Jones, who had stints with the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Bobcats and the Phoenix Suns from 2005 to 2010.