Ray Parks vs Phoenix defenders. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—Bobby Ray Parks Jr. was a napalm burst for TNT in its Game 2 matchup against Phoenix in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals, but as he was tearing nylon with every shot he took his team wasn’t as lucky.
The Fuel Masters may have allowed Parks to torch them for 41 points, on 10-of-14 shooting from deep, the Tropang Giga failed to follow suit as they fell 110-103 to Phoenix for a tied series at 1-1.
Phoenix head coach Topex Robinson said that he and his team know Parks’ scoring prowess, but he’s not in a hurry to change his defensive game plans and focus solely on the high-volume scorer.
“We know that Rayray could really light it up,” said Robinson Friday at Angeles University Foundation. “We know that, we honor him, and we respect him as a great scorer.”
“But as long as we focus on what we have control of and that’s how we’re gonna play our defense and also our offense. We don’t have control of Rayray scoring 41 or even scoring 50 which he could do.”
Parks finished the eliminations as the third-best score with 20.1 points a game and his scoring outburst against the Fuel Masters saw him tie the RR Pogoy’s franchise record for most-made threes in a single game.
The 6-foot-4 guard also bumped his average scoring numbers to 26 a game, from 18.5 points per game, in the playoffs thanks to his firebrand performance against Phoenix.
TNT still had four other players score in double figures but two of them, Troy Rosario and Pogoy, went a combined 9-of-31 from the field.
Of the Tropang Giga who attempted at least five shots only Parks, Poy Erram, and Simon Enciso had respectable shooting percentages of at least 40 percent.
Robinson said that, coming into Game 3, the most important thing for them is to play as a committee and not have one player stray away from the system.
“The important thing for us is to make sure everybody’s involved on our end defending Ray parks, it’s not just one guy’s responsibility but the rest,” said Robinson.