Ranidel De Ocampo comes to TNT’s rescue
THE CAPTAIN simply would not let his ship sink.
That was what Talk ‘ N Text skipper Ranidel De Ocampo exactly did as he towed the Texters to an epic 121-119 victory over the Rain or Shine Elastopainters to claim the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup title on Wednesday night.
Stretched to the limit in a Game Seven that went to doubleovertime, Talk ‘N Text held off a gallant stand from Rain or Shine, led by 33-year-old team captain De Ocampo.
The Gilas Pilipinas member, who took over from the nowretired Jimmy Alapag as skipper, came up big when his team needed him the most.
“RDO” scored eight of his career- and team-high 34 points to open up the second overtime, which turned out to be the difference-maker in the title-clincher as the Elastopainters could not recover after that.
The former St. Francis of Assisi star partnered his offensive explosion with seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 47 minutes of play.
Mr. De Ocampo’s rousing Game Seven performance was a culmination of a banner championship series that saw him average 24 points, seven rounds and 40% shooting clip from the beyond the arc, en route to being named finals most valuable player, the second such award in his illustrious career.
‘THAT’S MY JOB’
After the game, Mr. De Ocampo said he was just doing his job as team captain in explaining the spirited showing he had.
“Being the team captain I have a huge responsibility to show the way,” Mr. De Ocampo said.
Like a true leader, he did not take full credit for everything, choosing to pay tribute as well to his teammates.
“It was not only me. Others also stepped up like (import) Ivan Johnson and ( best player of the conference) Jayson Castro, Harvey Carey, Kelly Williams, Larry Fonacier and our role players,” he said.
Mr. De Ocampo said he is savoring their latest title conquest — the seventh in franchise history — as it was a result of their hard work amid a lot of adversities.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to win a championship in a very tough and physical series. This title is very sweet because we really had to work hard for it. We also had to deal with injuries to some of our key players, some of which played through pain,” he said.
Next stop for Mr. De Ocampo and the rest of the Texters is the PBA Governors’ Cup which will start next week.