BATTLE OF THE UNDERDOGS: Debuting Shopinas against the Rejuvenated Powerade

This will be a baptism of fire for coach Franz Pumaren as his troops, Shopinas.com Clickers, will face the much improved line-up of Powerade Tigers.

It is a tough test for the Clickers because they are facing the opponent’s top draft picks in the person of JV Casio, the Gilas’ court general, and defense specialist and three point bomber Marcio Lassiter.

With old reliables Gary David, scoring leader in the last PBA season, sophomore Sean Anthony, former Elasto Painters Doug Kramer and Josh Vandalingham and the sturdy frontcourt duo of Rommel Adducul and Alex Crisano, expect Powerade Tigers to put their claws on Clickers come Wednesday afternoon.

Pumaren will rely on his former De La Salle gunner Ren-ren Ritualo, who expressed to prove again his worth under his former DLSU mentor and now his present head coach. Elmer Espiritu, RJ Jazul, former Petron Blazers Paolo Hubalde and Jojo Duncil will help the Clickers to register their win this coming Wednesday.

Game face

I think this will be an easy game for coach Bo Perasol and the rest of the Powerade Tigers and will notch their first win in this conference. Franz Pumaren must find another offensive option to complement Ritualo (maybe Pong Escobal) because Ritualo alone cannot carry the scoring load of his team.

Talking about defense, Lassiter, Anthony and Kramer will “bully” the bigs of Clickers inside the paint. Magi Sison is still raw and so is Mark Canlas.

Powerade Tigers will win this game.