When you put up a triple-double in two of your first four games as a PBA player, just as Juan Gomez de Liaño did for the Converge FiberXers, expect other teams to take notice—and devise ways to stop you as well. That’s exactly what the San Miguel Beermen did, according to Leo Austria.
“JGDL is the one orchestrating the team,” Austria told the media after San Miguel got the better of Converge on Sunday at Ynares Center in Antipolo. “There’s a lot of assists, there’s a lot of points from him because they can dominate the game, especially ‘yung mga big man nila. But against us, because of the presence of our two bigs, nahirapan din sila. And special mention talaga si Juan Gomez de Liaño.”
In other words, Gomez de Liaño was a marked man as far as Austria and the Beermen were concerned.
Special Attention on Gomez de Liaño Pays Off for San Miguel
Of course, game-planning to stop one player is one thing. Executing it is another. The Beermen did both on Sunday, shackling the prolific rookie to a season-low 8 points on 2-for-10 shooting and limiting him to just 4 rebounds and 6 assists—a far cry from the 16.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 10.3 assists he put up in his first four games in this PBA Philippine Cup.
Then again, it probably isn’t a surprise that San Miguel was able to contain Gomez de Liaño. After all, the Beermen do employ a certain Chris Ross, who just happens to be one of the league’s premier defenders. As expected, Ross drew the assignment of shadowing Converge’s impressive rookie, and he was, to no one’s surprise, up to the challenge, hounding the former UP Fighting Maroon early and disrupting his rhythm.
That effort wasn’t lost on Juami Tiongson, whose fourth-quarter explosion helped San Miguel seal their third win in five tries to pull even with the FiberXers at 3-2.
“It started with Chris Ross. Talagang ganado si Ross at the start defending him. Talagang kitang-kita natin ‘yung energy niya at the start, so nag-rub off ‘yun sa rest of us,” Tiongson pointed out.
Indeed, Ross marked Gomez de Liaño early, as Austria drew it up. It paid off in the end.
