Roger Yap Tallest Among Giants

Player of the Week - Nov. 30 to Dec. 6

FOR a player dubbed as the "Samboy Lim of the Visayas’ during his amateur days, a lot was expected from Roger Yap when he moved up to the pros.

But that monicker wouldn’t stick as the excitement in is game took a backseat when he concentrated on being a role player.

Still, Yap has a special place in the scheme of things for Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants coach Paul Ryan Gregoriowho considers him one of the best defensive players of the team. Btut when the need toscorer arises, Yap could still dish it out and be a pain in the neck for the opposing team.

As what he did Sunday night when he exploded for 21 points to lead the Giants to their third straight win over Barangay Ginebra, 89-81. As a result, Purefoods moved up to third place in a tie with the Gin Kings and defending champion Talk N Text at 7-4.
For his efforts, Yap was named Accel-KFC Player of the Week by the PBA Press Corps for the period November 30 to December 6.

The 32-year old product of the University of San Jose Recolletos averaged 16 points, four rebounds, four assists, one steal, 0.5 blocked shot and 3.5 errors in 23.5 minutes. In the two games played by the Giants last week. The Giants actually broke the pattern of not having a winning or losing streak in the first round of the eliminations by scoring their second straight win over the Coca-Cola Tigers, 88-79 last Wednesday.

"He’s been a fighter all his life. He’s been the most consistent defender among our guards. That’s already a given,." said Gregorio. "But whenever he explodes offensively, that’s a bonus and more often than not, we’ll win that game."
Aside from 21 points, Yap also added four rebounds, four assists, a stealand a blocked shot in 24 minutes coming off the bench against the Gin Kings.
And that’s no wonder why after the match, as players from both camps emerged from their respective dugouts to proceed tothe parking lot of the Araneta Coliseum, Gin Kings like Enrico Villanueva and Rich Alvarez, who were former teammates of Yap at Purefoods, chided him and said, "This guy is the reason why we lost the game."

Still,Yap maintained,"Defense is the only way we’ll be able to beat Barangay Ginebra. We all know that we have to limit their scoring so as not to let the crowd get in the game. Mahirap kapag nagsisigaw na ang mga fans ng Ginebra. That’s why I told my teammates na kailangang pagtiyaan namin ang depensa. Nagbunga naman ng maganda."

In 11 games played in the ongoing 2009 KFC-PBA Philippine Cup, Yap averaged 9.91 points, 4.27 rebounds, 3.73 assists, 0.18 steal, 0.64 blocked shot and 2.45 errors in 23.64 minutes.
Of course, he could do more than that.