By Jonas Terrado
ANTIPOLO CITY — Blackwater coach Aris Dimaunahan feels there’s no reason for him to worry about the lack of scoring production from rookie Ray Parks Jr. in the past two games.
Ray Park Jr. of the Blackwater Elite. (MB photo | Rio Leonelle Deluvio)
Parks has logged just 8.5 points during the stretch that saw the Elite beat the defending champion Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok and fall short against the Meralco Bolts.
The third pick of last year’s Rookie Draft averaged 27.6 points in the first four games of the PBA Governors’ Cup before his numbers took a dip.
Asked of the trend, Dimaunahan insisted that Parks is putting more premium on other aspects of his game such as finding opportunities for teammate and playing defense.
Dimaunahan pointed out that Parks was able to make eight assists, perhaps a reason why he went scoreless in the first half before making 12 in the Elite’s 106-97 defeat at the hands of the Bolts Friday night here.
“He’s trying to facilitate the offense for us looking for his teammates,” Dimaunahan explained after the game that dropped Blackwater’s record to 2-4.
“I feel yung strength ng team namin is kung ma-spread namin yung production among the players, hindi yung isa lang iiskor ng malaki then wala nang kasunod. Yun ang parang nakikita namin na barometer namin kapag nananalo kami, yung point production ng team is well-spread.
“Nothing to worry about that bumabang point production ni Ray because he’s passing the ball,” he added.
The loss put the Elite in a tie for eighth place with the NorthPort Batang Pier going into the second half of the eliminations.
Blackwater enters next week with a pair of games against teams with losing records: Rain or Shine (1-5) on Wednesday at the Cuneta Astrodome and Alaska (1-6) on Saturday at the Cuneta Astrodome.
Things get tougher for Blackwater as it takes on Barangay Ginebra on Oct. 30 at the Cuneta Astrodome and San Miguel Beer on Nov. 6 before wrapping up the elims against Phoenix Pulse on Nov. 15.
Tags: Aris Dimaunahan , Blackwater , Blackwater Elite , Bobby Ray Parks Jr. , elite , Ray Parks Jr.
