As good as advertised.
Mikey Williams is living up to the lofty billing as so far the best rookie in his class.
And in case there was any doubt, the TNT neophyte went up a notch. He made his case as one of the league’s rising stars following a stellar performance in the biggest stage of his young career thus far.
Up against no less than former five-time champion San Miguel in the semifinals, the spitfire guard initially struggled but found his groove in the nick of time as the Tropang Giga earned a gritty win in a best-of-seven series that went the full route to reach the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
The no. 4 overall pick in the last draft was a steady presence in the team’s last two wins in the semis, adding an all-around effort to his scoring prowess for the Tropang Giga, who booked a second straight All-Filipino championship appearance and face the Magnolia Hotshots in the title series that starts Wednesday.
Williams averaged 15.7 points, spiked by an impressive 45-percent clip from downtown (10-of-22) on top of 5.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds. He is now the final Cignal Play-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week this conference.
The Fil-Am ace rifled 18 points on four triples, four assists, and a steal in the Tropang Giga’s huge 110-90 win over the Beermen in Game Five for a 3-2 series lead.
Williams saw himself held down to nine points in TNT’s 103-90 loss in Game Six, before saving his best for last in the rubber match. He had an all-around 20-8-6 line in 42 minutes of action as the Tropang Giga ran away with a 97-79 victory.
He poured 15 points, six rebounds, and four assists of his total output in three quarters alone as TNT held SMB to its lowest scoring output thru three quarters in the series (55). Then the rest of the Tropang Giga took over and put the finishing touches in the final period of the blowout win.
Williams prevailed over teammates RR Pogoy and Troy Rosario, as well as Magnolia’s Mark Barroca, Ian Sangalang, Calvin Abueva, and Jio Jalalon for the weekly honor given by the group covering the PBA beat.
Pogoy, who erupted for a game-high 27 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep in the sudden-death match, also received votes for the weekly award given for the period Oct. 13-17.
