Marked man rookie Pogoy starting to feel SMB’s stiffling defense
IT didn’t take long for Roger Pogoy to hit rock bottom.
After posting his most productive game of his young PBA career, the rookie shooting guard of TNT KaTropa was held scoreless by the San Miguel Beermen, who went on to grab the upper hand of the ongoing PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-seven championship series, 2-1.
Mr. Pogoy was a revelation for the KaTropa in Game 1, knocking down a career-high 27 points.
But as sensational as he was in the series opener, Mr. Pogoy was a non- factor in the next two games.
He wasn’t able to finish Game 2 after he was ejected for hitting Arwind Santos in the groin area and was automatically given a flagrant foul penalty 2 early in the third period. He left the game without a point.
In Game 3, he was able to finish the game, but was still ice cold as he was hounded relentlessly by the Beermen defenders.
Mr. Pogoy acknowledged the way San Miguel threw its defensive game plan to keep him out of his comfort zone.
“I felt the defense is closing out more,” Mr. Pogoy told BusinessWorld. “Every time I have the ball, there’s always a defender in front of me. Previously, I was getting good looks as the defense is not concentrated on me.”
With Mr. Pogoy unable to help out TNT, the KaTropa lost in the last two games by a wide margin, but Mr. Pogoy doesn’t consider his zero performance in both games were the reason for the setback.
“I don’t think that’s the factor. We just have to find our balance offensive game and do a better job on defense. You cannot beat San Miguel by just trading baskets. They’re too strong,” added Mr. Pogoy.
For head coach Nash Racela, seeing Mr. Pogoy scoreless for the past two games isn’t a big deal as long as he’s doing his role on defense.
“As long as he’s making the right decisions, taking the right shots that he need to take. If he doesn’t get it going, no problem. I think it’s the same way with ( Marcio) Lassiter. He was struggling a little bit and he was taking the right shots. In Game 3, he contributed, starting to hit his shots,” added Mr. Racela. —