Ex-teammates Sol, Jeff Chan shine in today's games

What did KKS say about my game?
Fukk KKS. Watch this biyotches.

In case there were any questions about who Meralco's main man is, Sol Mercado made sure to quell any doubts about his game and health by leading the Bolts to a convincing 80-70 win over previously undefeated Petron Blaze.

As if to make bloggers such as this writer look like complete marks, Mercado posted a solid 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in only 27 minutes of action and showed his true worth by being fearless all throughout the game. When his team needed someone to take command and douse water on Petron's repeated rallies, Mercado was sure to be part of the offensive sequence.

Hell, credit it to adrenaline or first game excitement, but the guy was active as hell on the defensive end. There was one sequence early where I think it was Alex Cabagnot or Chris Lutz who wanted to drive against Mercado only to find his path blocked much like how Petron's own Denok Miranda freezes slashers from going in.

Hopefully, this is the Mercado that we see the rest of the conference: focused, aggressive and superhuman-like. There's not one guard in the league who can stay in front of him one-on-one given his shiftiness, size and speed (though I will always root for Santa Lucia boys Denok Miranda and Ryan Reyes) and yes, when he's on his game, he is "LeBron James-like."

By that I mean, he drives hard or shoots a three. Plays lazy defense with his hands (this game being the exception) and has a knack for choking in the clutch. Will this be the year of the Sol-Train (I find that monicker a tad bit cheesy, wouldn't be surprised if Quinito Henson thought of it)? I would like to see Mercado take and make more jumpers (I've seen him do jump-stops before), but I'd be lying if I said that I don't like watching him driving hard and finishing at the rim like a grown ass man (almost Derrick Rose like, even the ugly misses at times).

Mercado, plus the fact that the Bolts pretty much owned the glass behind Asi Taulava, Gabby Espinas, Bitoy Omolon, Mark Borboran and even Chico "Hinete" Lanete sealed the deal.

And Petron's Chris Lutz scoring 16 on 14/16 from the free throw line? He's being aggressive yes, but the refs are calling it tight in his favor (which is odd for a rookie).

Rizada, Villanueva WHO? I'm that batch's BEST FEU GUARD.

On the other game which turned out to be a brutal massacre of the Alaska Aces who are now 0-4 under coach Joel Banal, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters drew strength from "The Artist Formerly Known as Jeff Chan but is really Allan Caidic using loads of Chin Chun Su."

Chan opened the game with a 5/6 blast from three, with Gabe Norwood setting up the plays and the rest of the guys hitting just about everything from everywhere.

Once they were done, Ronjay Buenafe came off the bench to unload a bunch of points as well with Beau Belga, Ryan Arana and well, just about everyone. Hell, if Dr. J Andy Jao was called in to play, I wouldn't be surprised if he made a three point shot the way they were shooting the basketball. Paul Lee had a blah game and looked out of rhythm, but even that wouldn't spoil the E-painters night.

And, as a conference long tradition since his return to the pro ranks, Yeng Guiao found himself ejected in the third quarter for his legendary and almost "must see TV" audible tirades that ranges from "tumawag ka ng foul gago!" to "Tanginamo!" I swear, he's the only guy on national TV that gets away with cursing on air-- the man has yet to receive a love letter from the MTRCB.

As for the Aces, they need to ditch the triangle and stop pretending. They have new players, and they can't learn something that their coaches don't fully understand. It's like having a tutor teach you algebra at home. You can learn some stuff, but others you're better off learning from your teacher at school.

Hats off to L.A. Tenorio for trying his best to keep the Aces afloat despite a still sore right elbow. It's Cyrus Baguio and the other guards who're missing. THAT, or maybe the new post offense that they're trying to develop with Twin Tower combo of JayR Reyes and Sonny Thoss hasn't gotten off the ground yet.

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