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MANILA, Philippines – Talk ‘N Text’s steady veteran Ranidel De Ocampo has been named the PBA Player of the Week after his solid play helped the Texters finish in the Top Two of the league standings in the Commissioner’s Cup.
De Ocampo averaged 18.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in crucial wins over San Miguel and Alaska, which allowed TNT to finish the elimination round with an 8-3 record and nab a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarter finals.
The Texters routed San Miguel, 113-93, and held on to beat Alaska, 101-93, in the past week. De Ocampo had 17 points against the Beermen, and 20 points and eight boards against the Aces.
A lot of the credit has gone to explosive import Ivan Johnson, although De Ocampo admits that it took them some time to adjust to their import.
“‘Yung team namin, marami ring bago, pero kahit paano, malaking tulong si Ivan kasi nagagawan namin ng paraan,” he told PBA.ph. “And tingin ko, nakukuha na din namin.”
Talk ‘N Text has yet to discover which team they will play in the quarter-finals as many of the lower seeds are still being contested.
De Ocampo told PBA.ph in a previous interview that while they have a twice-to-beat edge, they cannot afford to relax.
“Wala namang mahinang team eh,” he stressed. “Kahit nasa baba ng standings, malakas pa rin.”
But having a twice-to-beat edge is surely a boost to a Talk ‘N Text squad that is hoping to make up for a 4-0 sweep at the hands of San Miguel Beer in the All-Filipino Cup.
“Malaking advantage ‘yun, kasi isang panalo na lang ang kailangan mo. ‘Yun naman ang gusto ng lahat, makapunta sa top two,” said De Ocampo. “Kailangan lang namin i-maximize ‘yung advantage na ‘yun.”
Photo: Nuki Sabio/PBA Images
This story was republished with permission from ABS-CBNNews.com
