Cameron Clark is now on his fourth tour of duty in the PBA, so he already knows how physical things can get. And, in the Converge FiberXers’ 124-120 loss to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Tuesday, the burly forward got a taste of playoff hoops against a Yeng Guiao-coached squad.
After exploding for 18 points in the first half and helping Converge erect a 21-point lead at one point, Clark was held to just 10 in the second half as the Elasto Painters mounted a winning comeback.
Rain or Shine Gets Physical on Clark
Leading the way in clamping down on the sweet-shooting American was bruiser Jhonard Clarito, who got the unenviable assignment to start the third quarter and proved up to the task. Hard-nosed Mike Malonzo got his turn as well, and he, too, accepted the challenge.
The strategy seemed obvious: body up on Clark, get in his airspace, and be physical with him. Clarito did that for much of the third quarter. Malonzo did more of the same in the fourth. And the end result was Clark going silent, with only a little-too-late trey getting him to 10 points in the second half.
Afterward, Clark hinted that the Elasto Painters—Clarito and Malonzo, presumably—were intentionally being overly physical and trying to get under his skin.
“It’s just being an import. They got to do a lot of things to get under your skin. I’m not the type to talk about the refs and all that, but they’re going to play physical,” Clark told reporters. “They’re going to try to do everything. When you’re cooking, they’re going to try to do everything to get you out of your game.”
Back to the Drawing Board for Converge
In Game 1, the Elasto Painters definitely succeeded in getting Clark sidetracked in the second half. In fact, Rain or Shine got the entire Converge side out of whack, with the latter settling for outside shots, missing defensive rotations, and failing to keep up.
For Clark, that’s all water under the bridge now. In the interim, Converge needs to figure things out, like how to get Clark in better positions to be more effective than he was in the second half of Game 1.
“We just got to go back to the drawing board, see how I can be more effective and help my teammates more and get them more shots,” the American pointed out.
Game 2 of the Converge-versus-Rain or Shine quarterfinals clash is on Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.
