PBA: Player of the Week LA Tenorio reminds Cone of Jolas

MANILA, July 27 (PNA) -- Alaska coach Tim Cone can't help but be reminded of a former special player every time he sees LA Tenorio, the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period July 19 to 25, in action.

"Jolas," Cone said, referring to off-guard Jojo Lastimosa, the 1988 Rookie of the Year, four-time All-Star and vital cog in the Uytengsu franchise's glory days of the mid- to late-1990's who is now one of his assistants.

"Our fourth quarter man, LA reminds me so much of Jojo: Personality-wise, never backs down, ferocious leader, plays game real, real well," Cone added. "He has this ferocious desire, never backs down to anybody and yet he's able to play with such calm.

"A lot of guys with desire and as ferocious like that can't play that calm. He (LA) has got that talent that makes him special, which kind of reminds me of Jojo.

"Jojo always kept his head, always thought. It didn't matter how badly Jojo would play in the course of the game. When it came down to it, he'd make the big play."

Tenorio reinforced Cone's belief by coming up with the big plays down the stretch to help lift the Aces to a 90-86 victory over Talk N Text and into a 2-1 lead in their PBA Fiesta Conference best-of-seven semifinals series.

The former Ateneo star guard scored all of Alaska's last seven points inside the last 48 seconds after being outplayed for the most part by TNT counterpart Jimmy Alapag, whose own clutch triple gave the Tropang Texters an 84-83 edge.

Then came Tenorio's splurge, consisting of a straightaway triple and four straight charities, all coming after TNT had seemingly succeeded in tiring him out.

"They're trying to do different things to wear him out, things you don't really see unless you slow it down and look at the video," Cone pointed out.

"But still he can play through all that and still make that big 3. Most guys can't do that, come down and make four straight free throws under pressure?"

The scintillating performance came after Tenorio, who had 13 points, four assists and three rebounds in a 104-88 win in the series opener, came up short in a 94-100 Game 2 loss last Friday.

In that match, Tenorio scored eight of his nine points in the fourth period but was still ultimately outplayed by Alapag, who wound up with 25 points and 10 assists.

Alapag was again flirting with a double-double in Game 3, netting 17 points and nine assists.

Yet Cone knew Tenorio was bound to bounce back despite being held to only two points and forced to commit five turnovers in his first 29 minutes of action, and especially when the game was on the line last Sunday.

"LA has no fear," Cone said. "He's the kind of guy… you just leave him alone. He'd figure out things for himself."

Tenorio has been similarly cited before, with teammate Cyrus Baguio for the June 14-20 week and for the week spanning May 24-30, when Cone noted his team is taking on Tenorio's "will to win-attitude."

His recent games attest to what Cone maintains and that is a puzzle TNT and its Alapag-led phalanx of playmakers direly wants to solve. (PNA)