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ILOILO CITY-It’s easy to forget that James Yap has been a 17-time All-Star, and never missed a game in the midseason extravaganza. It’s hard to imagine that until this season, Kevin Alas had never entered.
Yap’s strength and Alas’ comeback from a pair of career-threatening injuries is a career arc that has a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) All-Star Game thought never to come.
And it’s no surprise that both sides have vowed to make the most of the opportunity on Sunday.
“Of all places, this is where I started playing basketball seriously,” Yap told the Inquirer on Saturday after a short practice before the exhibition at the City of Passi Arena.
“I came from Escalante, but here [in Iloilo province] if I go to high school. I have also played in Passi City. I have really played in every field here,” he added with a smile.
Yap is a multi-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) and two-time League Most Valuable Player (MVP), which is a long time coming. Somehow, he broke this year’s list of players for the show – while some of the stars who are more active in production were humiliated – despite not having a year to start his political career, getting 1,190,624 votes in a 21-day window to the sixth time. voting.
“I thank God for making me healthy enough to make it to the 17th All-Star [game]going [into my] 19th year in PBA. I never miss it [the showcase],” he said.
Dream pipe
For a while, Alas thought that an appearance among the most popular stars in the league would not come. In fact, after two tears in the same knee ligament, the NLEX ace feels that just playing at the elite level has become a pipe dream.
“After two ACL surgeries, I never expected to be able to play at a high level,” he told the Inquirer as he surprised his teammates in the half-court scrimmage at the Iloilo Sports Complex.
“I only pray for one thing, and that’s just to get back to basketball,” he said. “So to play with this superstar? I never expected this.”
Alas got 1,148,628 votes, which put him ahead of Meralco’s Chris Newsome, Ginebra’s Nards Pinto, and TNT’s Mikey Williams in a poll that has been a divisive topic on the internet for weeks.
Yap and Alas are Ginebra’s best squad and Scottie Thompson’s League MVP squad that will also feature a healthy mix of high motor and sweet shooting stars: Christian Standhardinger, CJ Perez, Calvin Abueva, Robert Bolick, Arvin Tolentino, Jayson Castro, Stanley Pringle, Marcio Lassiter, and Mark Barroca.
Scottie’s team took on Ginebra teammate Japeth Aguilar in hopes of bettering the performances put on by the league’s rookies, sophomores and juniors last Friday.
“[We’ll] have the same tone,” said Team Scottie coach Yeng Guiao. “We’re going to have fun and let the fans enjoy it by not changing it with a bad game.”
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