CASTRO, TENORIO PLAY DOWN MATCHUP
Philippine Cup enters twilight zone
CLARK — The contending small men of the championship series actually have big fighting hearts. It is obvious that TNT’s mercurial guard Jayson Castro and Barangay Ginebra’s razzle-dazzle playmaker LA Tenorio badly both want the PBA Philippine Cup that the race-to-four now pegged at 2-1 in favor of the Kings won’t be ending anytime soon.
The two teams are slugging it out at press time and the 34-year-old Castro, despite back problems, insists his mission is to lead his team to the title and not to win individual honors.
In fact, TNT appeared down and out after dropping the first two games but Castro came to the Tropang Giga’s rescue when he starred in their 88-67 victory.
With Ray Parks grounded owing to an injury, Castro came up with 15 points and ten assists.
Of course I cannot handle Jayson alone, he’s gonna eat me alive.
“I never thought about individual matchups. For me, I just keep my focus on how I could perform my role better for the team,” said Castro, who is seeking to end their franchise’s five-year title drought.
“We have a lot of scorers now. And as compared before, where I needed to keep on scoring, now I just need to do my role as a point guard.”
As for Tenorio, the 36-year-old former Ateneo star admits playing his Glas Pilipinas teammate one-on-one is going to be catastrophic.
“Of course I cannot handle Jayson alone, he’s gonna eat me alive. I know the capability of Jayson, he can lift his team,” said Tenorio, who is now averaging 12 points and 4.8 assists in the finals.
Like Castro, Tenorio isn’t 100 percent physically as he even underwent an operation a week before the bubble conference started.
Although he is feeling much better, Tenorio swears his goal of winning his first-ever Philippine Cup won’t be easy.
“We really have a plan for Jayson and of course to their other players. I just have to be ready,” Tenorio said.
Asked about the crucial matchup with Castro, Tenorio swears he won’t mind being edged as long as the Kings end up holding the trophy.
“Again, I’m not playing one-on-one here, we are here to play as a team.”