San Mig Coffee superstar James Yap played a different role in the Mixers’ victory on Friday against Meralco: import stopper. For a big chunk in the fourth quarter, Yap was assigned to guard Bolts import Mario West. His defensive effort was key in San Mig Coffee’s comeback victory, helping hold the prolific reinforcement to just 2-of-6 shooting in the period. While he made his reputation in the PBA as a big-time scorer, Yap said defense has always been a part of his arsenal. “Medyo struggle tayo sa shooting, kaya sa defense na lang ako nag-focus. Ang unang mindset naman namin talaga sa team yung depensa. Kahit hindi ka man gaanong makatulong sa offense, sa defense na lang,” Yap told InterAKTV in an exclusive interview. With the Mixers struggling on offense, San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone went a small lineup to end the game, taking out defensive stopper Marc Pingris. That left Yap having to guard a much bigger player after moving to the front court. “James did a great job defending Mario,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone. “PJ (Simon) was playing so well, but we had to put James back in the game. We cannot put James on either Reynel Hugnatan or Cliff Hodge, so we decided to put him on West and he did a great job defending.” Simon, who had a breakout game by scoring 20 points in the win, wasn’t surprised that Yap held his own. “Hindi naman ako na-surprise kasi alam ko naman magaling dumepensa si James,” said Simon of Yap, who used his size and quickness to try to keep West out of the paint. “Dahil matangkad si James, wala kaming choice kanina kaya dinipensahan niya si West, hindi pwedeng ako dahil maliit ako sa kanya.” Mark Barroca, who had a couple of crucial shots near the end of the game, said Yap’s defense on West was key. “Sabi ko nga kay James, good job on West kasi ang ganda ng dinipensa niya,” said Barroca. interaksyon/interaktv/james-yap-embraces-import-defender-role-in-san-mig-coffee-win-over-meralco --jrome
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 13:18:45 +0000
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