The Rock is Back!

ONE can only wonder where the Coa-Cola Tigers would have been at this stage of the 2009-10 KFC PBA Philippine Cup if only lead center Asi Taulava had not missed nine games on account of a foot injury.

With a frenetic pre-season build-up, the Tigers were expected to be up there basking in the limelight along with the league-leaders instead of languishing in the cellar for more than two months. But as fate would have it, Taulava suffered a foot injury eight minutes into Coca-Cola’s second game of the season against Barako Bull and was sidelined for nine matches.
The good news is, Taulava’s back and the Tigers aren’t out yet. In fact, they’re starting to growl!

Last Sunday, Taulava displayed his old fiery form and came away with 18 points, 12 rebounds and six assists as Coca-Cola handed frontrunner Alaska only its second loss in 13 games via a 105-92 rout.

It was the first time that the Tigers scored back-to-back wins in the tournament and that resulted in Coca-Cola moving out of the cellar with a 3-11 record.

"Asi’s winning attitude has positively affected his teammates. His contribution is a given. It is his enthusiasm and leadership that helped us win our last two games," said Coca-Cola coach Dolreich "Bo" Perasol of his 6-9 behemoth who was named Accel-KFC Player of the Week by the PBA Press Corps for the period December 14 to 20.

Taulava also had a double-double (12 points and 10 rebounds) aside from two assists and two steals when Coca-Cola defeated Burger King, 106-94, last December 13.

In winning POTW honors, Taulava edged outTalk N Text’s Jimmy Alapag and Harvey C
arey and San Miguel Beer’s Jonas Villanueva.

Overall, in five games played so far, Taulava has averaged 10.2 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.4 steal and two errors in 27 minutes.

Taulava, a product of Cal State-San Bernardino, spent his first eight and a half seasons in the PBA as the franchise player of Talk N Text. He was hailed as the Most Valuable Player in 2003. Midway into the 2007-08 season, Taulava was shipped to Coca-Cola in exchange for Ali Peek.

At the moment, Coca-Cola can no longer make a run at an automatic quarterfinals berth even if it wins its last four games. At best, the Tigers can only hope to avoid early elimination and then win a pair of knockout matches in the wildcard phase.

With Taulava back in harness, that objective looks very much doable. (BP)