Sol Mercado

Balls-Eye: If Tenyente Retires, Who Can Lead Gin Kings?

LA Tenorio

First of all, there aren’t any rumors that L.A. Tenorio will retire. This is just a view of Barangay Ginebra with a different point guard making their plays. So here we go.
If there would be anyone to become Ginebra’s point guard replacing Tenorio on my view we have two potentials – Sol Mercado and Scottie Thompson. It is quite interesting for us to have some predictions on what the picture may look like with this entirely new offensive form so let us begin.

The Sol Train

Sol Mercado is known for his quick penetration through the defense – like a train, that’s why he has that nickname. 
He could shot outside but his specialty is really going hard to the basket and finish with a layup after passing the guards with his speed and agility. 
How about a point guard with that skill? Let us use some known reference like Russell Westbrook. Yes you are right, Westbrook can penetrate also using speed and agility to make great assists for his teammates. So as Sol Mercado, with his quick drives, he’ll draw much of the defense unto him and when attraction is fully established then there’ll be a quick kick out pass to an outside shooter or an extra inside pass to a big man like Greg Slaughter or Japeth Aguilar for an easy finish. 
Point guards who can penetrate can extremely shake up any defense to confusion if they’re the one to shoot or they’ll just pass. The fact is it cannot be predicted for the actions of Sol Mercado as this situation will be based on the reaction of the defense. If the defender becomes static long enough, then he’ll finish the play by himself, but, if the defense suddenly focused onto him then he’ll just find the best open man to finish the shot.

Quick Restart

If Sol Mercado has the agility, then Scottie Thompson is a very much different type of point guard. 
We all know what makes him special – rebounds. 
Imagine a point guard rebounding for his team’s misses. To even imagine the advantage of the scenario, let us use another general reference. Normally, if the first attempt miss, the center or forward is on duty to get an offensive rebound and then kick the ball out to the point guard to revert the offense and try to score again. 
But now, it is the point guard himself who can get his own rebounds for the team, thus there is a lesser time required for the offense to restart, after a play is made regardless of the shot being made or not, the defense will loosen up due to being focused if the ball will go down the rim or not, if this happens, let’s say the shot missed, then there’s Scottie for the board, the play maker already has the ball in his hand and is ready for restart whilst the defense will be rebuilt again, Ginebra will be one step ahead during second chance points.
L.A., Scottie and Sol are very different players providing a very diverse set of attacking schemes for the team. 
The point guard directs the flow but it is still up to the man who touches the ball last if the play will count and make the difference.

By the Numbers: Three Things that Went Wrong for Ginebra in Game 4

Because of these things, the series is tied at 2-2 instead of Ginebra holding a 3-1 leading heading into Game 5

Allen Durham Meralco Bolts
For the second straight game, Ginebra failed to utilize their height advantage. (Photo by the PBA Media Bureau)

Despite another 34-point performance from Justin Brownlee, despite the fact that we got to see the Fast and the Furious in action, and despite the vociferously deafening “GI-NE-BRA!” chants by the Ginebra faithfuls that this basketball pundit on wheels endured, those things weren’t enough as the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings suffered yet another stunning 85-83 defeat at the hands of the Meralco Bolts in last night’s Game 4 which knotted the series at 2-2. 
However, we must remember that the game wasn’t won until the final buzzer when Ginebra took 4 shots right after Allen Durham made a lay-up to give the Bolts the lead. 4 shots. 4 attempts. 0 makes. 
Even Coach Tim Cone admitted that even if one of his players was able to call a timeout before the last possession, he doubted that it could affect the outcome, stating that calling a timeout will also enable Meralco to make some adjustments. So, the players made the call. Justin Brownlee attempted a floater to force an extra period and he missed. Ouch!
Justin Brownlee may have scored 34 points while making half of his 24 field goal attempts but he had 5 turnovers and had 5 personal fouls. Joe Devance broke out of his shooting slump to score 15 points but fouled out late. 
There were many things that went horribly wrong for Ginebra in Game 4 so allow this basketball pundit on wheels to list down 3 things which basically denied the Gin Kings to celebrate tomorrow at the Philippine Arena- should they win Game 5:

4 Points Combined from Tenorio, Thompson and Mercado

One reason why the defending champions struggled and eventually lost Game 4 was the fact none of their guards were shooting and scoring well. 
Scottie Thompson scored 4 points on 2 of 5 field goal shooting. LA Tenorio, the hero of Game 2, was pointless, literally as he missed all of his 7 attempts although he did have 6 assists and a steal. Sol Mercado, who gurt hurt late in the dying moments of the game, was scoreless too. He is likely to miss tomorrow’s Game 5 which means the rest of the Ginebra guards needed to make sure that their presence will be felt offensively.

14 Missed from Deep

If anything, Game 4 a reversal of roles. Why? In the first two games of the best-of-7 series, it was the Meralco Bolts who were shooting bricks from outside. 
In Games 3 and 4, it was Ginebra who was shooting bricks. Horribly. 
In Game 4 alone, the Gin Kings have attempted 22 shots from the 3-point line and they missed a total of 14. Only Justin Brownlee (4 of 8) and Joe Devance (3 of 5) had respectable shooting performance from long distance as they were the only ones who scored in double figures in the first place.  

17 Offensive Rebounds for the Bolts

This is another one of those nagging ironies of Game 4. The entire Meralco team out-muscled the much-taller Gin Kings on the offensive boards as evident by their 17-12 advantage in that category. Allen Durham, who top-scored for Meralco with his 28 points, grabbed 18 rebounds- 7 on the offensive end. The result: the Bolts also took a 13-9 advantage on second-chance points.

Conclusion

Assuming that Ginebra did get the timeout on the last possession of Game 4, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Sure, they made 43% of their atempts last night but failed to make even one of those 4 attempts in the 40 seconds of the game. Just one make to force an overtime. A 3 to win. Unfortunately, Ginebra faltered. Ginebra missed. And, Ginebra lost. Again. 

Sol Mercado Talks About His Divine Performance in the 4th

When you are in trouble all you need to do is ride the Sol Train. Tonight, Ginebra rode it once again all the way to the end of Game 6. Mercado who had a hot shooting night with 8 of 10 shooting carried the Ginebra and took over the 4th quarter chipping in 12 points and having a total of 21 in the game. Here’s what he got to say about his 4th quarter performance.

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Rides Sol Mercado’s Heroics to Get Their First Win in The Series

Photo by PBA Media Bureau


After being down by 0 to 2 in the series against the Star Hotshots in the first two games of the best of seven semis, The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel finally got their first W after a successful fourth quarter run.

Ginebra dominated most of the quarters, but again found themselves trailing after a huge run by the Hotshots. Paul Lee, the hero of the first two games had a hard time sinking his shots but eventually converted his three pointers during the final stretch.

Sol Mercado, the key player of this game sank three point attempts during the crucial moments of the final quarter along side Japeth Aguilar who surprisingly made a shot from beyond the arc that took the game away from their long time rival Star Hotshots.

With less than two minutes left in the pay off period, Ginebra led with as much as 13 points. Coach Chito Victolero has decided to call the game off by sending his starters back to the bench obviously surrendering from this huge deficit to preserve and prepare his players for game 4 on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Barangay Ginebra stayed alive in the series after a possible 3-0 series lead by Star Hotshots. People are not surprised that Ginebra could comeback in the series as they’ve been to a lot of the same scenarios and eventually emerged victorious.

The scores: 

GINEBRA 73 – Mercado 16, Aguilar 15, Caguioa 8, Tenorio 7, Thompson 7, Ferrer 6, Devance 6, Cruz 3, Marcelo 3, Ellis 2, Mariano 0, Helterbrand 0, Mariano 0. 

STAR 62 – Pingris 12, Melton 8, Jalalon 7, Lee 7, Barroca 6, Sangalang 6, Simon 5, Maliksi 4, Reavis 3, Abundo 2, Dela Rosa 2, Brondial 0, Ramos 0. 

Quarterscores: 21-10, 33-29, 50-51, 73-62.

Tim Cone on non-call on Sol Mercado’s travelling violation: "We have nothing to apologize for"

credits PBA media bureau

The fans and the players went crazy after the referees didn’t call a what could be a travelling violation on Sol Mercado.

The Meralco Bolts were trying to make a comeback and Ginebra were leading 87-81 when Sol Mercado got away with a travelling violation that resulted on a Scottie Thompson’s three pointer later on and push the lead up to 9 points, 90-81 with 44 seconds left in the game.

“We have nothing to apologize for” said Cone on non-call on Sol Mercado’s travelling violation.

“I bet so many bad calls, the last two conferences we were knocked out in what we consider bad calls. We have nothing to apologize for” said by the Ginebra mentor

Ginebra were knocked out by GlobalPort in the last Philippine Cup on a controversial win with multiple violation on the final possession of the Batang Pier that were not called by the referees.

“It’s part of the game, it happens” added by the 18 time champion coach.

Tim Cone also mentioned the non-call on Allen Durham’s push in the rebounding battle against Justin Brownlee.

“My caught there is a player earlier where, Durham got caught on a push on, an obvious push on Justin right in the back, Justin had the ball and put it back in and he push him right out of play, and I call a timeout” cited by Cone.

“That’s part of the game, anybody could complain about all they want” added by the american mentor.

Coach Tim suprised Sol Mercado with his defensive assignment just right before the start of Game 2

If you say import, he must be matched up against another import or a legit bigman in PBA. But in case of Ginebra, it was different.

After exploding for 46 points in Game 1, Allen Durham was contained for only 22 points in almost 41 minutes of playing time.

He was not guarded by Justin Brownlee (Import of Ginebra) or not even Japeth Aguilar. He was mainly guarded by the 6’0 feet tall Sol Mercado.

Sol gives away 6+ inches in terms of height but it seems that Durham was uncomfortable facing Sol as he shoot only 10 out of 24 shots.

But this defensive assignment was extremely suprising for Sol as he only knew it before the game.

“I was suprised actually, Coach Tim told me before the game that I’m going to guard Allen and I just took the challenge. From the beginning I started with Durham, just trying to get him out of his spots. I tried fronting him and run him out of the perimeter, he’s a good player”, Mercado said after they won 82 to 79 in Game 2 of the Finals.

Also Coach Tim Cone said that “You’ve gotta give the credit to Sol, He’s our MVP tonight.”

Tim Cone compliments Sol Mercado’s game 2 defense, "He’s our MVP tonight"

Photo by PBA Media

With another surprising defensive approach, Tim Cone made another breakthrough in making it hard for the Meralco Bolts import to replicate his game 1 performance by putting a combo guard to man the best import awardee Allen Durham.

Tim Cone, is known for his genius innovations when it comes to coming up with different kinds of strategies based on what kind of game and who they’re facing and in this game against Meralco in game 2, the league’s most successful coach gave Sol Mercado the hardest assignment of the night to man their opponent team’s import.

Sol Mercado’s first PBA finals appearance is one of the milestones that the PBA have reached, one of the many first time records in this wonderful conference. Mercado made it hard for Durham to create shots and even stopping Allen from a possible rampage again.

Sol Train, played man to man defense on Durham while their frontliners such as Justin Brownlee, Japeth Aguilar and Joe Devance protects the rim as a support making it a rough road for the Meralco Bolts import before making a field goal.

“Your defense is your constant, the offensive side of all especially shooting that varies from game to game you’ll have good nights you’ll have bad nights but your defense is your constant and that’s why we hang our hats on our defense.” Tim Cone said

Tim Cone also explains how well they executed their plans and how hard it is to stop guys like Durham. “We changed the match ups a little bit today that Sol go after Allen Durham and he did a great job just kinda limit his touches  then when Durham got by Sol there was either Justin or Japeth there at the rim trying to protect it.”

The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach repays Sol Mercado’s great defensive execution against Durham.”You gotta give the credit to Sol, it was a very defensive game It think you gotta give it to the one with the best defense,  He’s really our MVP tonight.”

“Sol has certainly got his disadvantages when he guards Durham because of the size and so Norman’s gonna figure out things to do for him and we gotta figure out something for these adjustments.” Cone said.

Ginebra fend off Meralco’s late rally to tie the series at 1 game apiece.

Ginebra collapsed late again but this time they survived a gritty Meralco Bolts, 82 to 79.


A late follow up by Sol Mercado saves Ginebra for being down 2 games in the ongoing PBA Finals. 

Ginebra build a 15 point lead midway of the 3rd quarter but Meralco made a hugh behind Cliff Hodge and Allen Durham’s heroics. They was able to take a 2 point lead with 2 minutes  left in the ball game but Justin Brownlee and Sol Mercado came to rescue.

Justin Brownlee finished the game with 32 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists while the Best Import of the Conference can only produce 22 points and 15 rebounds after exploding for 46 points in Game 1.

The virtual best of five will continue on Wednesday, 7pm at Araneta Coliseum.



Box Score:
GINEBRA 82 – Brownlee 32, Mercado 12, Caguioa 10, Tenorio 9, Thompson 9, Aguilar 6, Devance 2, Helterbrand 2, Cruz 0, Marcelo 0.

MERALCO 79 – Durham 22, Hodge 16, Newsome 10, Hugnatan 9, Nabong 6, Amer 4, Caram 4, Alapag 3, Uyloan 3, Faundo 2.

Quarterscores: 24-21, 43-44, 69-60, 82-79

Norman Black says what Meralco lacks in loss over Ginebra




The Meralco Bolts could have been leading the Best-of-Seven finals series of the PBA Governor’s Cup, but there is something that lacks their performance.


Bolts’ coach Norman Black said that they lost because of failure to get rebounds, as highlighted by the Barangay Ginebra Kings’ dramatic victory due to Sol Mercado’s follow-up shot, where he came from under the basket and flew above Meralco’s big men, Reynel Hugnatan and Allen Durnham.


“We actually lost the game on an offensive rebound by Sol Mercado.” Black admitted

Given the fact that the Gin Kings specialized on a three-guard line up, Black is expecting the Bolt to be dominating the boards, both offensively and defensively because they have taller players on their line up.

And after being dismayed by the Kings in the dying seconds of Game 2, Black said that the team will give importance on controlling the boards more, knowing that it was the rebounding that stopped them from getting the series lead.

“That’s the number one thing [rebound] we have to address in practice. Certainly, we would not be doing rebounding drills, but mentally, we just have to focus on the fact that we got killed on the board tonight,” Black said.

What Should Ginebra Do to End their Title Drought?

With the takeover of CTC as head coach of the team this season, the Barangay Ginebra are expected
to end their eight year title drought. Unfortunately, the team failed to do so in the AFC after the
controversial loss and quarterfinal exit against the GlobalPort Batang Pier. But they still have 2 conferences to lived up the expectations or else, another failed season. Let us examine what are they
need to do to finally take home the trophy this season.

1. MORE PLAYING TIME for the YOUNG GUNS

a. Scottie Thompson – The very promising rookie out of the Perpetual Help Atlas had make an impression last conference.  He is an all around player and is a very energetic player. He could be the new spark off the bench for Ginebra. Scottie will fill the statsheet every game if given a chance. Based on P.E.R., Thompson is a very efficient player.

b. Nico Salva – Salva had a great collegiate career from Ateneo and we know what he can do inside the court if given a chance. CTC can develop this guy into something special. He can provide some shooting and scoring for the team. He could be the today’s Sunday Salvacion or Mark Macapagal for Ginebra.

2. ACQUIRE a DEADLY SHOOTER and WING DEFENDER

This is what I think the missing piece in Barangay Ginebra’s title quest. Chris Ellis hasn’t shown improvement on his offensive game. And I think its time for them to part with him. They can trade him for the likes of Rey Guevarra, Anthony Semerad or Ronald Pascual plus future picks.

3. CONSISTENCY for JAPETH AGUILAR

Greg Slaughter is the only consistent contributor in Barangay Ginebra bigs and Japeth Aguilar should be the other one. If he will only be consistent together with Slaughter, they will be a force to reckon with every night. Japeth needs to do something with his game or else he would end up playing for another team.

4. SOL MERCADO should be the “SIXTH MAN”

Sol Mercado is a combo guard so he can be the reliever of either L.A. Tenorio or Mark Caguioa. I see him as a great team leader that could guide this team to the championship. You can see the “Never Say Die” spirit on him. If he can average atleast 13 points and 5 assists a game off the bench, Ginebra will be back to the Finals.

5. JOE DEVANCE and JERVY CRUZ should be the “TWIN TOWER’S RELIEVER”

Joe Devance and Jervy Cruz need to provide some scoring off the bench. They should be the reliever of Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter. If this two will be consistent and will contribute every game together with Slaughter and Aguilar, Ginebra would be unstoppable.