San Miguel, TNT imports try to atone for poor start

MANILA, Philippines -  San Miguel Beer import Charles Rhodes and TNT KaTropa reinforcement Donte Greene vow to redeem themselves from a pair of mediocre PBA debuts, hoping to power their respective teams against separate opponents tonight in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the MOA Arena.

The Texters tangle with the NLEX Road Warriors at 4:15 p.m. then the Beermen tackle the Phoenix Fuel Masters at 7 p.m.

Rhodes and Greene put in so-so performances in their initial outing but drew all the needed help from the locals as the Beermen stopped the Meralco Bolts, 99-92, Sunday and the Texters overcame the Blackwater Elite, 92-89, last Friday.

“I had kind of like a bad game. I don’t normally miss free throws. And I just got in foul trouble. That was real frustrating for me, so I’ve just got to get adjusted to the style of play with the referees,” said Rhodes after his 22-point debut where he went 8-of-13 from the stripe.

“Nine-of-28 shooting? That was terrible. It didn’t go as planned. Shots weren’t falling. I’ve got things to go back and work on. Hopefully, I’ll have a better game next time,” said Greene on his own 22-point game against Blackwater.

San Miguel coach Leo Austria was actually satisfied with Rhodes’ performance Sunday.

The Texters, meanwhile, have high hopes Greene will improve following a series of practice sessions.

The Beermen are ranged against a Phoenix side coming off a morale-boosting 94-91 win over Barangay Ginebra while the Texters are pitted against the NLEX squad miring in the cellar on a poor 0-4 conference start.

Phoenix coach Ariel Vanguardia said they will have their hands full against San Miguel even with Ronald Tubid serving suspension for a flagrant foul on Meralco’s Chris Newsome.

The Fuel Masters will still have to deal with a lot of SMB weapons in Rhodes, June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot and Chris Ross.