KFC PBA Philippines Cup Power Rankings: Week 5

Biggest jumps: SMB, ROS (1 spot); Biggest drops: ALA, COK (1 spot)

1 San Miguel Beermen (Last week: 2; 6-2)
Six wins in a row, all of them by double-digits, by an average margin of 16 points. Definitely the hottest team in the PBA right now. Arwind Santos is playing inspired ball but he’s hardly doing this alone. Dondon Hontiveros is putting up 16 a game with 5 boards and a block and Mike Cortez is doing his share off the bench, averaging 12.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals in the six-game streak.

2 Alaska Aces (Last week: 1; 6-1)
The unlucky Aces pick up their first loss of the season as they ran into a red hot Don Dulay last Friday, who torched them for 18 points in the 4th quarter. That surprise loss to the then-winless Rain or Shine Elastopainters knocks them down a spot in the rakings. But can anybody explain how the pintsized LA Tenorio is averaging 9.5 rebounds in the last two games? They must have the best rebounding backcourt in the league with Willie Miller averaging 7.6 and Tenorio 5.1 for the season.

3 Brgy Ginebra Kings (Last week: 3; 5-1)
The Gin Kings continue to keep the top spot within striking distance with an out-of-town win over Burger King. Should they be concerned that they only just barely squeaked out a win against the Whoppers? The Kings get a pass because they were working both Jayjay Helterbrand and Eric Menk back into the lineup. Interesting, though, would be to see what impact Helterbrand and Menk’s return, as well as Mark Caguioa’s eventual return, would have on Cyrus Baguio who was tearing it up while the big guns were on sick bay. Baguio scored 15 in the win over BK.

4 Talk N Text Tropang Texters (Last week: 4; 4-2)
The two wins TNT had this week catapults them back into the top 4. Their defense has slipped quite a bit since the start of the season, but they’ve at least proven that they still have that offensive firepower that can put fear into the other teams. Mac Cardona is averaging a league best 19.9 points while Jimmy Alapag is running third with a 17.7 average. Alapag averaged 23 points and has hit 10 three-pointers in the last two games.

5 Purefoods Giants (Last week: 5; 4-3)
The Giants have been up-and-down this season and this week was no exception. They received a bad beating against the streaking Beermen but made up for it with a 34-point victory over Rain or Shine. Purefoods has not won, or lost, consecutive games this year. Look for that to continue, at least until Sunday, when they face an Alaska Aces that will be eager to bounce back from their only loss of the season. Rico Maierhofer looks like a lock for the Rookie of the Year award, averaging 11.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 23.4 minutes of play.

6 Sta Lucia Realtors (Last week: 6; 3-3)
The Realtors get a break from action this week, playing just one no-bearing game against Smart Gilas last Friday. The Realtors are in the middle of a rough patch of the schedule where they play Alaska, San Miguel then Ginebra. Hopefully, the break gives them time to recover from the beatings they took and bounce back against the Kings tonight.

7 Barako Bull Energy Boosters (Last week: 7; 2-5)
It boggles the mind how Barako Bull stays competitive with such a dearth of talent. But it is difficult to play them just because you never know where the points are going to come from. Yousif Aljamal and Leo Najorda are the only two players who average in double figures, but they have seven other guys who score somewhere in between 9.6 to 6.6 points per game. That makes them almost impossible to prepare for.

8 Burger King Whoppers (Last week: 8; 1-5)
The Whoppers have had a tough start to the season. They better take advantage as they get lightweights Coca-cola and Barako Bull next before buckling up to play TNT and San Miguel to end the first round. The Whoppers made a nice challenge against Ginebra, but they need to find ways to score if they want wins. Maybe James Sena, who was reported to have practiced with the team last week, could help.

9 Rain or Shine Elastopainters (Last week: 10; 1-7)
They finally picked up a victory, and at the expense of the #1 team in the league, too. However, that embarrassing 103-69 loss to Purefoods keeps them from moving up any further. Rain or Shine badly needs a guy with a scoring mindset. Sol Mercado used to be that guy, but Sol is just shooting a horrible percentage from the field. Don Dulay may have been the X-factor in the win over Alaska, but it’s Ryan Arana who’s been the consistent guy of late. He’s averaged 20.5 points since he was inserted in the starting lineup two games ago. What does it say about your stars, though, if your team wins in spite of them rather than because of? Mercado and Gabe Norwood combined to shoot 4-21 from the field and 1-11 from three. To be fair, Norwood has 8 rebounds and 6 assists in that game.

10 Coca-cola Tigers (Last week: 9; 1-4)
The good news for the Tigers is that they’ve played the fewest games of any team in the league. That means less games for Asi Taulava to miss as he recovers from his injury. Dennis Espino is actually holding the fort quite decently in Asi’s absence, but can these two actually play together once Asi returns? Also, Alex Cabagnot is pretty much then lone bright spot in the backcourt. Somebody needs to step up for this team.