PBA semis will come down to matchups

There’s always a spirited debate whenever the PBA reaches its playoff stage and one team has rested early while its opponent had to grind out the maximum number of games to book a date in the next round.

Before last Wednesday’s openers of the pair of best-of-seven series to determine the finalists in the PBA Fiesta Cup, coaches surely had to field the inevitable questions on rest and rust.

Early semifinalists San Miguel Beer and Talk ‘N Text had the benefit of resting and preparing their teams for over two weeks, while B-Meg Derby Ace and Alaska went the entire stretch of the five-game quarterfinals against opponents that were also eager to move forward.

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So was B-Meg tired and battered when it lost to San Miguel? Maybe.

The lead that was established by Jay Washington and his squad of deadly snipers that day may have taken the spunk out of a Llamados side that suddenly felt the burden of playing its sixth game in two weeks.

Keep in mind that there were practices in between all these games and tape-viewing sessions that can tire out both mind and body.

But what about Talk ‘N Text against Alaska? The supposedly rested team didn’t have its usual edge in the second half while Alaska seemed driven by an urgency to win the game with patience and fluidity.

Alaska got a lift from its bench, and Topex Robinson and Larry Fonacier lengthened Tim Cone’s rotation, giving LA Tenorio some valuable bench time.

The rested team supposedly having the edge over the battle-weary opponent doesn’t seem to hold water unless that team was nursing a ton of injuries and aches.

The battle-scarred team will lose its grip occasionally, because no matter how well-conditioned or determined you are, there will be those lapses that may be extremely difficult to recover from.

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One can only speculate on the psychological make up of a team once gametime approaches. A team can start out flat but suddenly come to life once a run on the floor gets going, or a squad that opens the game with all cylinders pumping can fall limp and lame at game’s end when it matters most.

Consequently, coaches will constantly have to take stock of their teams in this phase, finding out why they established leads and spurts on the floor or determining why they are a step behind in dealing with specific offensive moves.

This will lead to the key coaching agenda for this phase: personnel adjustments.

That simply means checking on which bench will play a bigger role in the semifinals.

There’s not really much that the coaches can tinker with as far as the defensive and offensive options are concerned. Teams will go with their strengths at this stage.

But the team that makes better use of its subs should have the edge. Even if the zone defense is back in vogue in professional basketball, it will still come down to match-ups.

The teams that pull out surprises from rarely used players could get a much-needed lift and spark in a semifinal that looks like another one of those long engagements.