GARY DAVID once again proved his worth to the Powerade Tigers as he anchored the squad to back-to-back wins that led to him getting the Player of the Week award for the period of Nov. 21 to 27 in the PBA Philippine Cup.
David gave those statements more concrete form by averaging 21.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals in the week that was that saw the Tigers snap out of a three-game losing skid with a 102-84 win over Shopinas.com and then following that up with a 131-96 drubbing of Talk ‘N Text.
Teammate Marcio Lassiter actually had better all-around numbers of 20.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.5 assists, but it was clearly David who pointed Powerade to the victories.
The back-to-back scoring champion scattered 11 points in the opening quarter against the Clickers before practically allowing Lassiter, Doug Kramer and Casio to bring the team home.
David changed gears a bit against TNT, scoring 19 in the two middle quarters before making six in the final canto to power the Tigers to their first win in 14 games against the Tropang Texters.
Those victories gave Powerade a 5-7 (win-loss) record overall, good for a one-and-a-half game lead over Alaska for the eighth and last quarterfinals slot.
The Tigers, who have finished no higher than seventh in the last seven conferences, wind up the eliminations against Meralco on Dec. 2 and Barako Bull four days later.
In getting the scribes’ nod, David also beat out the likes of Petron Blaze’s Arwind Santos and B-MEG’s James Yap. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio