Talk N Text, Petron tied at 1-1

Following a rather lackluster effort in Game 1, the Talk N Text Tropang Texters made sure that the Petron Boosters wouldn't bury them any further in their out of town Game 2 clash this time in Lanao del Norte.

But not before trailing the Boosters in the first half thanks to the superb efforts of Arwind Santos, Denok Miranda and import Anthony Grundy. It seems as though PB head coach Ato Agustin has learned his lessons from the Philippine Cup (wherein they lost to TNT) and has opted with the heady, defense-first point guard rather than the flashy Alex Cabagnot (Olsen Racela's retirement also helped in settling Agustin's current PG rotation). In fact, Agustin has been able to use both players at times with Cabagnot running the offense and Miranda as the shooting guard to match up with TNT's interchangeable, speedy backcourt monsters in Jimmy Alapag, Ryan Reyes and Jason Castro.

And while flashes of physicality (both of the aggressive/ hurting and sexual kind *Mark Yee!*) have marred both games, I don't really see an all out brawl anytime soon. Kudos to the commissioner for not yet hitting the panic button, since this "mini controversy" is helping sell the games to none PB, TNT fans. Maybe if another altercation broke out in Game 3.

But in my honest opinion, any "fight" started by Alex Cabagnot shouldn't even make sports headlines. Dude has great handles yes, but he'd be the last guy I'd pick for my team in a Survivor Series-type streetfight. Really now, the guy just seems to be too much of a nice, happy fellow to even start shit. The Flagrant One was more likely a frustration foul than anything malicious.

The Mick Penissi-Ranidel de Ocampo cut though, is iffy. The guys have been on national teams the last five years now, so I don't really see any bad blood between the bigs.

And let's all be honest here, the only tough guy on both rosters is Mark Yee. And the refs already have him on their crossheirs for his ass-fingering of Grundy.

Today's a good day to be a Filipino basketball fan, once the spotlight on Smart Gilas is over, we will still have a lot of quality games to look forward to since the Petron-TNT rivalry hasn't even reached its peek. Both rosters have a bunch of young names that will only get better with time.

Until then, I'm pulling for a TNT win and grandslam in five or six games.

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