By the Numbers: 3 "SAYANG" Numbers that Star Threw Away

Had Star won, these would have been the reasons why

Mark Barroca was 2 assists shy of a triple-double. (Photo by the PBA Media Bureau)

If you were fortunate to watch last night’s Game 3 of the best-of-5 semifinal series between the Star Hotshots and the Finals-bound Meralco Bolts, then you can just imagine the feeling of regret that Star Hotshots Coach Chito Victolero is feeling right now. 

Let’s just put it this way: the Hotshots were down double digits on multiple occasions. They were able to get back into the game and even take the lead in the 4th quarter. They were just 1 defensive stop away from extending this series to a Game 4 but the Bolts were able to score right back and the moment the extra period began, that was when the Hotshots began to falter as the Bolts held Star scoreless for almost 4 minutes in the extra period and by time the Hotshots managed to score, time was no longer on their side. 

And mind you, folks, Star almost won without Paul Lee and with Kris Acox only producing 4 points during the entire game. Given how close the final score was, Star fans can only say, “Sayang!”

The “SAYANG” Numbers:

8 Steals

If anything, we can only appreciate the defensive efforts of the Hotshots for making life difficult for the Bolts. They made Meralco bleed it out unlike in the first two games of the series where Meralco had a double-digit lead by endgame. Those 8 steals were proof that if Star had played D the way they did last night during the first two games, the series would have had a different look by now. Mark Barroca and Jio Jalalon had 3 each of those 8 steals

12 Second Chance Points

This was probably one of the biggest advantages Star had against the Bolts all night long. They outmuscled the Meralco rebounders to grab offensive boards and score 12 points off their own misses. In fact, if Star managed to score in one of those offensive rebounds during the dying seconds of regulation, they would have won the game. 

Mark Barroca’s 21 Points

Perhaps the only one who deserves to feel bad was Mark Barroca. Why? 21 points. 12 rebounds including 4 on the offensive end. 8 assists. 3 steals. A block. This is the Mark Barroca that we always know after all those years. Sure, he missed 15 of his 22 shots just to produce 21 points but what can he do? His teammates were missing. Their import’s performance was miserable. Paul Lee was absent, for good. After last night’s performance, can we all agree that Mark Barroca deserves our praise, right?

As painful as it is to hear especially for Star fans, they are done for the season, unfortunately. But this latest semifinal exit, their 3rd this season, can only make them better as they will use this setback to motivate themselves and hopefully, improve come next season.

By the Numbers: 4 Things That Went Wrong for the Slumping Star

Because basically, everything did go wrong for the Hotshots

Here are the four main reasons to their demise however

Mark Barroca was the lone starter who scored in double figures. (Photo by the PBA Media Bureau)

If you watched last night’s Game 2 of the best-of-5 semifinal series between the Meralco Bolts and the Star Hotshots, then you can just imagine how frustrated Chito Victolero is right now. 

To begin with, Victolero was already frustrated with how the referees handled the game which saw 21 fouls called against the Bolts and 18 against the Hotshots. The Bolts on the other hand, were able to regain their dominant selves as they continuously pounded in on the Hotshots’ struggles on both ends of the court as they are ONE win away from another Finals appearance after a 98-74 victory last night. 

With Game 3 happening tomorrow, with their season on the line, the Star Hotshots have a choice: Improve or, go on an early vacation.

To help you explain the frustrations of Chito Victolero and the rest of the Star coaching staff, this basketball pundit listed down the numbers that doomed the Hotshots against the league-leading Bolts:

0 – Zero Points for Star Guards

Let’s start with the simplest reason why Star lost last night. Paul Lee had 0 points. So was Jio Jalalon. So was PJ Simon. Lee, for one, only attempted one field goal that missed and was taken out of the game the rest of the way, playing for barely 4 minutes. Jalalon, another bench trooper who was supposed to be backing up Mark Barroca, went 0 of 6 in the field. The result: the Star Hotshots still have 0 WINS in this series.

1 – Only One from the Rainbow Country

Another reason why the Meralco Bolts were able to run away from the Hotshots early on was the fact that Star, as a team, only made ONE of their 8 three-point attempts in the first half. That player who made that lone long-distance bomb was the journeyman, Aldrich Ramos who finished with 8 points in 15 minutes of action. 

By endgame, the Hotshots finished with a horrible outing from beyond the arc, making 7 of their 24 shots from that area. In addition to this, only ONE starter managed to score in double figures and that starter was none other than Mark Barroca who led the Hotshots with 16 points. The result: Star is ONE loss away from another early vacation.

5 – Five Fast-break Points, Not too fast  

Unlike in the early stages of Game 1 when Star was able to run and score on the break, the Hotshots only scored 5 fast break points during the entire Game 2, another visible sign that they weren’t in sync all game long. In addition to this, Star’s defense allowed 5 Meralco players to score in double figures, led by Allen Durham, Jared Dillinger and Ranidel De Ocampo who all scored 18 points apiece. Baser Amer and Chris Newsome provided the spark in the backcourt with their 16 and 10 points respectively. 

9 – The horrible performance of Acox

One player who was visibly struggling in both games was none other than Star import, Kris Acox. In Game 2, Acox only managed 9 points on another 4 of 12 field goal shooting. If Star wants to extend this series into a Game 4, they will need Acox to escape that horrible shooting slump that he endured in the first two games of the series and score more because if not, Allen Durham will continue to “eat” Acox alive every time they slug it out in the court. 

Acox Delivers the Goods as Star Hotshots Eliminates the Road Warriors to Move to the Semi-Finals

Hotshots barge into semifinals after eliminating NLEX

Paul Lee was the top scorer for the locals

Paul Lee scored 18 points for Star (Photo by the PBA Media Bureau)

For Yeng Guiao, coaching a team that has been tagged as a considerable underdog against a powerhouse team such as the Star Hotshots is no longer new to him as he already attained years’ worth of experience of coaching underdogs and still, winning. That’s how dangerous the NLEX Road Warriors are despite the absence of a consistent player who can produce big numbers every time. For the Hotshots of Chito Victolero, having the twice-to-beat advantage against the multi-titled Yeng Guiao is a false advantage because he knew as well as the rest of the Star team that NLEX has made significant improvements since Guiao took over at the helm.

Down 2 entering the fourth quarter, the Star Hotshots jumped out firing and took the lead away from the NLEX Road Warriors as they held a double-digit lead during the dying minutes of the game as the Hotshots prevailed, 89-77 to enter the semifinals where they will face the winner of the do-or-die game between the Meralco Bolts and the Blackwater Elite

The game began with both teams starting to find their respective rhythm as NLEX led at 23-22 after the first quarter with Kevin Alas led the scoring chores for the Road Warriors with 8 points. The run-and-gun battle carried over during the opening minutes of quarter number two as Paul Lee, Rafi Reavis, Ian Sangalang and Jio Jalalon all scored on different occasions to put Star up by 7 points, at 34-27 with 8:46 to go in the 2nd quarter. However, Star’s tendency to commit nonsense turnovers hindered their capability to ignite a significant scoring run throughout the first half as the Road Warriors were able to climb right back with timely three-pointers.

Juami Tiongson later scored on a lay-up to tie the score at 37 apiece with under 6 minutes to play and then import Aaron Fuller scored on an offensive rebound to give the lead back to NLEX at 39-37 as Chito Victolero signaled that he wanted a timeout with 4:36 to play in the quarter.

Then, the Hotshots went on a 7-0 scoring run that began on Aldrich Ramos’ 3-pointer that was followed by a dunk by Kris Acox and a running shot by PJ Simon to put Star up by, at 45-43 only to watch JR Quinahan tied it up again with 12 seconds remaining in the first half.

Both imports have failed to make their respective presence felt during the first half as Fuller and Acox scored 10 and 9 respectively. Despite having committed 14 turnovers in the first half alone, the Hotshots stayed close by making half of their 34 shot attempts in the first 24 minutes of the game. Another reason why Star remained in the game was their fastbreak points wich the Hotshots dominated at 8-2 in the first half For their part, the Road Warriors were able to stick around by scoring more off their missed points.

Both imports then started off the scoring for their respective teams to start the second half as Larry Fornacier drilled a trey to put NLEX by 3, 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter. NLEX later increased their lead to 7 on Fuller’s putback. Alex Mallari drained a 3-pointer a few possessions later to put the Road Warriors up by 8 points, at 63-55. However, NLEX’s inconsistency to sustain a scoring run doomed them as Hotshots went on a scoring run on their own to cut the lead down to 63-61 heading into the final quarter.

Star went on an 8-0 run to open the fourth quarter to snatch the lead 69-63 on Kris Acox’s acrobatic lay-up. Star later increased their lead to 8 and NLEX cut it down to 6 on multiple times only for Acox to score on another lay-up off a pass from Marc Pingris to put the Hotshots up by 8 with 7:07 remaining in the game, forcing Yeng Guiao to call a much-needed timeout. Aaron Fuller’s shot with under 6 minutes to go put down the lead at 75-71 only for Paul Lee to make 1 of 2 charities and Marc Pingris to score on a lucky bounce to increase the lead anew to 8 and Paul Lee added another lay-up to give Star its first double-digit lead of the game with under 4 minutes to spare. Paul Lee made another pair of free throws to sustain a 10-point lead for his team with 2:50 play, forcing NLEX to call another timeout.

That appeared to be the turning point as NLEX was plagued with turnovers and fouls as Paul Lee added another jumper to increase the lead to 14 under 2 minutes to go in the game.

Star Hotshots were led by import, Kris Acox who had 21 points and 12 rebounds. Paul Lee finally broke out of his scoring slump, adding 18 points while Ian Sangalang added 14 points. The Star as a team made 52% of their shot attempts as compared to the Road Warriors who only made 39% of their attempts during the entire game.

For the eliminated Road Warriors, Aaron Fuller finished his Governors’ Cup campaign with 16 points to lead his team while former Star player Alex Mallari added 15 points while Kevin Alas finished with 14 on 5 out of 9 shooting.

Scores:

Star – 89

Acox 21, Lee 18, Sangalang 14, Pingris 8, Jalalon 7, Simon 7, Brondial 5, Raamos 3, Barroca 2, Reavis 2, dela Rosa 2, Melton 0, Mendoza 0, Gamalinda 0, Abundo 0,  Pascual 0

NLEX – 77

Fuller 16, Mallari 15, Alas 14, Fornacier 9, Quinahan 6, Tiongson 5, Baguio 5, Rios 4, Al-Hussaini 3, Taulava 0, Monfort 0, Lastimosa 0, Villanueva 0, Soyud 0, Ighalo 0, Gotladera 0

Quarter scores:

22-23, 45-45, 61-63, 89-77