Jimmy Alapag has been in basketball for around 20 years. So he knows talent when he sees it – especially when it comes to floor generals.
And for the all-time PBA great, he believes that Mikh McKinney is up there when it comes to the best point guards he has ever seen.
“Incredible! I told him after the game, ‘I’ve been around this game for a long time and I’ve seen a lot of good point guards’,” the 2011 PBA Most Valuable Player remarked about the 6-foot-1 Filipino-American guard.
“He’s up there on the top.”
In a span of nine days, Alapag witnessed McKinney drop a total of 90 points on San Miguel Alab Pilipinas.
Last February 27, the product of Sacramento State torched Alab to the tune of 40 points on 13-of-24 shooting from the field to power Macau to a 116-101 win.
Then Friday evening, McKinney erupted for 50 markers.
“Mikh McKinney is just incredible. He showed it again tonight. I just want to show the guys to not get discouraged on defense, keep challenging him, keep pressuring him,” recalled Alapag, as the top guard in the ABL already scored 18 points in the opening frame alone.
Knowing what could happen if they simply rolled over, Ray Parks and the rest of Alab’s backcourt kept fighting on, eventually holding McKinney scoreless in the last 2:44 of the game. Alab eventually took the victory, 101-96, to defend homecourt for the 13th straight time.
Though McKinney could not tow his team to victory, Alapag still gave McKinney high praise.
“He is just a big-time shot-maker. He competes for every possession. I know he plays for Macau but he has that Filipino spirit too.
“Again, I hate to see him drop fifty on us, but I’m always going to respect a great performance from a great point guard,” closed Alapag.
