KFC PBA Philippines Cup Power Rankings: Week 4

Biggest loser this week is Smart Gilas, with their games being declared no-bearing and as such, they no longer belong on the Power Rankings. I’m keeping the stats already compiled by other teams against them when the games still meant something, though. Because, well, those games meant something. Well, they come up as winners anyway, after pulling off a no-bearing victory over Coke. Although, whether that win is legitimate or not is up in the air. Without further ado, this week’s rankings.

Biggest jumps: SMB (2 spots); Biggest drops: TNT (2 spots)

1 Alaska Aces (Last week: 1; 6-1)
Blowout wins against offensively-challenged squads Sta Lucia and Burger King allow the unbeaten Aces to emerge as the second-best defensive team in the league. That’s great news for Alaska fans because they remain the best offensive team with a 103.74 Offensive Efficiency, over 10 points above the league average. This team is a blast to watch on offense, because of how easy they make things look. And am I the only one surprised by how well Reynel Hugnatan is playing (14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds in only 24 minutes)?

2 San Miguel Beermen (Last week: 4; 4-2)
Looks like the real season is just beginning for the perennial powerhouse San Miguel. Throw away the numbers from the first two games, when SMB was struggling to incorporate their many new pieces, and having to face two of the best teams in the L, and here’s what you get. 101 points per 100 possessions (2nd behind Alaska), 85 points allowed per 100 possessions (1st in the PBA) and a point differential of nearly 16 in their last four games. All of them wins. League better take notice.

3 Brgy Ginebra Kings (Last week: 3; 4-1)
Injuries to MVP Jayjay Helterbrand and Johnny Abarrientos have left the point guard spot depleted, but that doesn’t matter much for Ginebra. They can get by with marginally good play from the 1 because it’s their wings that make them dangerous. Cyrus Baguio, in particular, has been deadly, averaging 19.5 points on an eFG% of .869 and a TS% of .933 in the last two games. Those shooting numbers are simply mind-blowing.

4 Talk N Text Tropang Texters (Last week: 2; 2-2)
Now this is the TNT team I remember from last conference. Put up a one-game Offensive Efficiency of 113.3 against Purefoods, but gave up a stunning 119.9 to lose the game anyway. Foul trouble may have something to do with it. Ali Peek, Ranidel and Yancy de Ocampo combined for 15 fouls as the Tropang Texters gave up a whopping 43 free throw attempts to the Giants.

5 Purefoods Giants (Last week: 6; 3-2)
They have a league-worst Defensive Efficiency of 99.1 points allowed per 100 possessions, but somehow balance it out with the second-best Offensive Efficiency at 101.8. That last number may be a little bloated by that 119.9 they put up against TNT where they got very unlikely contributions. Rico Maierhofer shot 8-10, Marc Pingris 6-8 and KG Canaleta 7-10 even as superstar James Yap shot just 3 for 13 from the field. Oh, and Roger Yap with a team-high 11 boards.

6 Sta Lucia Realtors (Last week: 5; 3-3)
The Realtors stock is dropping after running into the Alaska-SMB gauntlet last week. This team is right in the thick of things, but they need more efficiency from their backcourt. Ryan Reyes and Joseph Yeo have combined to shoot an ugly .342 from the field and .250 from three. Meanwhile, Kelly Williams (16 pts, 13.2 reb, 2.2 ast, 2.6 stl/blk) is still awesome.

7 Barako Bull Energy Boosters (Last week: 7; 2-3)
Are the Energy Boosters overachieving or are other teams simply underachieving? They might have a better team than an Asi Taulava-less Coke team and it’s quite difficult not to be better than Rain or Shine at this point. Leo Najorda is beginning to provide them a steady presence in their spread-the-wealth offense, averaging 14.5 in the last two games.

8 Burger King Whoppers (Last week: 8; 1-4)
Where do you start with Burger King? If you take away the game against Smart Gilas, where they broke out for an Offensive Efficiency of 121, they’ve only been able to put around 86 points per 100 possessions. They’re next to last on defense, only slightly ahead of Purefoods in that department. And somebody needs to find the real Gary David and quick. This conference’s David is averaging just 12.0 points while turning the ball over 3.2 times.

9 Coca-cola Tigers (Last week: 9; 1-3)
The Tigers now have the dubious distinction of losing to both Barako Bull and Smart Gilas. Coke is dead last in point differential, worse than the Elastopainters despite having only half as many losses. Jaemark of Fire Quinito doesn’t think too highly of the coaching duo of Bo Perasol and Kenneth Duremdes, based on this tweet. (Can we give them a Hollywood couple nickname now? “Bonneth”). Wish I could say the answer to Coke’s problems is a healthy Asi Taulava, but there are too many problems for the Tigers right now for the answer to be that simple.

10 Rain or Shine Elastopainters (Last week: 10; 0-6)
ROS is last on the rankings because of their lack of Ws but they haven’t been that much worse than Coke. Funny, the Elastopainters have been a good defensive team for a while now but underrated because of their fast pace. More possessions means more opportunities for opponents to score, but nothing to do with how often (rate of their scoring). During their first three games, they’ve had an average pace of 101.9 possessions and a very good Defensive Efficiency of 85.7 (league average is 93). They lost one of those games by just two points and another in overtime. In their last three games, they’ve slowed the games down to an average pace of 91.1 possessions but with a poor Defensive Efficiency of 98 points allowed per 100 possessions. They lost those games by an average margin of 11. Moral of the story? Don’t equate “slowing the game down” with “playing better defense”. And stop trying to fix the defense when it’s your offense that sucks.