The 2015 PBA Commissioner’s Cup championship showdown will not be all about Jayson Castro and Paul Lee, but it will mostly be about them, and their ability to take charge, score, create, and lead their respective teams.
“They are absolutely going to have great effects because both are key to Rain or Shine and Talk ‘N Text. The way they’ve been playing in the conference, I think you can expect the same in the finals,” Alapag quipped of two of the league’s best backcourt players right now.
Through pundits’ lens, Castro and Lee have gone neck and neck in the race for the Best Player of the Conference award. Both have showed phenomenal numbers and the ability to become the go-to guys of the squad.
Win shares is a metric that estimates how many wins a player produces for his team. Castro leads the Tropang Texters with 2.9 while Lee has 1.7. Lee led the league in win shares per 48 among locals during the elimination round while Castro is the top player in WS/48 during the playoffs.
Throughout the playoffs, Castro averages 23.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 6.2 APG, 2.2 SPG on 59 percent shooting from three-point land. He scores and creates more than a third of his entire team’s offense and has an assist rate of 33.7 percent (Chris Paul leads the NBA at an astounding rate of 47.6).
Like Castro, Lee’s importance to the Elasto Painters goes beyond his averages of 17.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 3.8 APG along with an 85-percent clip from the free-throw line. There’s a stealth factor in Lee when he enters the court. He can silently score 20 or more points without letting his opponents know and once they realize the damage Lee has done, it is too late to cure the infection.
According to Alapag, who played extensively with the two with Gilas Pilipinas, the finals will be a matter of complementing the backcourt generals given the way the two stars play.
“It will be a matter of the other guys supporting them, and hopefully our guys step up and get the job done. They are obviously a key part of the series although there are two great players on both sides and great imports. It’s really going to come down to the team that makes the plays,” he added.
Castro and Lee affects the series in several ways, making it even more exciting for the basketball fans.
“It will be a tough grind-out. Both teams can play high-scoring and lock down defensively and the complexion of this series will change game to game,” Alapag concluded.