JAMES YAP didn’t mind playing a scoreless game as long as his team wins.
In last season’s Governors’ Cup, the two-time Most Valuable Player failed to score, but his team, the Star Hotshots, went on to beat the GlobalPort Batang Pier.
The veteran swingman had another zero output, but was happy with the turnout of the match as his new team, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters were finally able to end the Hotshots’ dominance.
Prior to this game, Rain or Shine was 0-4 against Star since the much celebrated trade between Messrs. Yap and Paul Lee was finalized.
“I’m happy to finally win one over my former team, Star. We’re zero-four against them so we need to win three more,” said Mr. Yap. “But I’m glad we finally won one.”
Mr. Yap played less than 10 minutes as he watched his other teammates stepping up and making balance contributions.
Jericho Cruz put up 18 points, the same number of output produced by the Elasto Painters’ import, J’Nathan Bullock while Gabe Norwood and Raymond Almazan, who came back from a tour of duty with Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon, tallied 15 and 13 points, respectively,
For Mr. Yap, he doesn’t mind seeing limited minutes nor having another scoreless game as long as the team continues to win.
The Elasto Painters had extended their winning streak to three to improve their record to 4-2.
Mr. Yap added that games like this one where Rain or Shine lost its 20-point lead, but stayed tough and preserved a win, was a great learning experience for the squad.
“Games like this one will toughen us up,” added Mr. Yap. “For me, this is a good learning experience to test our character.” — Rey Joble
