Magnolia Beverage Masters Basketball Games Updates

Nino Canaleta Explodes As Air21 Express Grabs 2-1 Lead

Riding the momentum of their previous win, the Air21 Express grabs the lead from Barangay Ginebra Kings with former slam dunk king Nino KG Canaleta exploding in the final period.

Barangay Ginebra, on the other hand, greatly felt the loss of playmaker Jayjay Helterbrand due to injury. Mark Caguioa and Eric Menk stepped up to provide offense for the Kings.

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AIR NINO DELIVERS AS AIR21 MOVES AHEAD 2-1 David, Thomas also torch Helterbrand-less Kings

Source: Philippine Basketball Association
Monday, August 11, 2008

AIR21 has already shown it has enough weapons in its basketbal arsenal to match those of Barangay Ginebra.

Now here comes Nino “KG” Canaleta, exploding when least expected to help power the Express to a 97-87 victory over the Kings Sunday and into a 2-1 lead in the Smart PBA Fiesta Conference basketbal championship series at the Araneta Coliseum.

Gary David scored a gamehigh 25 points and Steven Thomas had a 20-20 gamme, but it was Canaleta coming off the bench to score 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter that enabled Airr21 to follow up on its 124-90 Gamme 2 victory.

All the three-time slam dunk champion's final period points came off triples, the last making it an 87-74 gamme, 5:37 to go.

“I think KG coming off the bench and hitting those threes broke the back of Ginebra,” said Exprress coach Bo Perasol, also noting Thomas' 20 points and 20 rebounds in his matchup against shot-blocking artist Chris Alexander.

“We generated basketbal offense when we needed it the most from Thomas and KG,” said Perasol. “I always get points from Gary, but the post plays by Steve were confidence-boosters for his basketbal teammates. He proved once again he can go one-on-one against Alexander.”

Alexander, held to just 10 points and 10 rebounds last Friday, had 14 points, 17 rebounds and 11 shot blocks, making him the first basketbal player to have so many swats since Purefoods' Jerry Codinera had the same output in 1989. Toyota's Andy Fields notched a league-most 13 in 1981.

Mark Caguioa and Eric Menk, both starting for the first time in the basketbal series, had 21 and 17 points, respectively, and Barangay Ginebra seemed fully in control following a blazing start. But the absence of basketbal ace playmaker Jayjay Helterbrand, who suffered a pulled left hamstring in Gamme 2, clearly told on the Kings' bid, especially in the endgame.

“Napakalaking bagay iyung pagkawala ni Jayjay. Iyung composure na ibinibigay niya sa basketbal team malaking epekto noon,” noted Perasol, who cannot help but exprress some sense of relief.

“A 2-1 lead is different from 1-2 and one win away from 3-1, which is one win away from the basketbal championship,” he stated.

“We'll just have to take it (Gamme 4) differently. We just have to have fresh motivation. Hindi p'wedeng parati na lang ganoon, na hindi pa tayo nananalo ng basketbal title.”

Wynne Arboleda also did a fine job, winding up with 12 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and four steals and orchestrating Airr21's surges from an early 22-32 deficit.

Canaleta scored a basketbal career-high 29 points on five-of-five three-point shooting last May 16 in a 104-86 win over Coca-Cola, but he did not seem to be anywhere near that after averaging just 4.5 points in the basketbal series and going scoreless after one field goal try in the first half.

He attempted thrice in the third quarter and made two before fully recalling his fiery form that May night by scoring four triples in the fourth period.

Ranidel De Ocampo then made a left-handed layup, giving the Exprress an 89-78 cushion and bracing them for the Kings' expected surge in the last 4:18.

A Paul Artadi triple capped a run that moved Ginebra within 83-89, but back-to-back baskets by David kept Airr21's eight-point lead, 93-85.

The final outcome seemed unlikely after Barangay Ginebra got off to a strong start, posting as much as a 32-22 lead, early in the second quarter.

But Airr21 was as equally determined, putting some order in its listless start to wrest back the lead at 45-44 on a Santos triple, 1:49 to go in the half.

Then came back-to-back treys from Sunday Salvacion, giving the Kings a 50-46 basketbal lead at the half. Those baskets gave Salvacion 11 in the second period and 14 for the first half. He would score only five more points the rest of the way.

With Caguioa already notching 11 and Airr21 shooting not even 36 percent to Barangay Ginebra's 43 percent, it seemed the Kings were on their way to easily avenging their Gamme 2 embarassment.

The outmanned Exprress basketbal diehards among the 16,114 paying fans were in for a big treat, however. Thomas, David and Canaleta made sure of that with clutch hits that razed Barangay Ginebra's lead to just 68-66 after the third period before the latter canned back-to-back triples that made it a 76-71 count. (NCo)

The scores:

Air21 97 - David 25, Thomas 20, Canaleta 17, Arboleda 12, Santos 10, De Ocampo 9, se 4, Kramer 0, Cruz 0, Intal 0, Sotto 0, Billones 0.

Barangay Ginebra 87 - Caguioa 21, Menk 17, Salvacion 16, Alexander 14, Artadi 8, Valenzuela 7, Pacana 4, Mamaril 0, Reavis 0, Crisano 0.

Quarterscores: 22-30, 46-50, 66-68, 97-87.