TNT's ace rookie Mikey Williams named PBA Player of the Week

MANILA, Philippines – As good as advertised, Mikey Williams is living up to the lofty billing as so far the best rookie in his class.

And if there’s any doubt on it, the TNT Tropang Giga neophyte went up a notch and made a case as one of the league’s rising stars following a stellar performance in the biggest stage of his young career thus far.

Up against no less than former five-time champion San Miguel in the semifinals, the spitfire guard initially struggled, but found his groove in the nick of time as the Tropang Giga earned a gritty win in a best-of-seven series that went the full route to reach the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

The No. 4 overall pick in the last draft was a steady presence in the team’s last two wins in the semis, adding an all-around effort to his scoring prowess for the Tropang Giga, who booked a second straight All-Filipino championship appearance, and face the Magnolia Hotshots in the title series that starts Wednesday.

Williams averaged 15.7 points, spiked by an impressive 45% clip from downtown (10-of-22) on top of 5.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds to be named the final Cignal Play-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week this conference.

The Fil-Am ace rifled 18 points on four triples, four assists and a steal in the Tropang Giga’s huge 110-90 win over the Beermen in Game Five for a 3-2 series lead.

Williams was held down to nine points in TNT’s 103-90 loss in Game 6, before saving his best for last in the rubber match with an all-around 20-8-6 line in 42 minutes of action as the Tropang Giga ran away with a 97-79 victory.

He poured 15 points, six rebounds, and four assists of his total output in three quarters alone as TNT held SMB to its lowest scoring output thru three quarters in the series (55), before the rest of the Tropang Giga took over and put the finishing touches in the final period of the blowout win.
 
Williams prevailed over teammates RR Pogoy and Troy Rosario as well as Magnolia’s Mark Barroca, Ian Sangalang, Calvin Abueva and Jio Jalalon for the weekly honor being handed by the group covering the PBA beat.
 
Pogoy, who erupted for a game-high 27 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep in the sudden-death match, also received votes for the weekly award given for the period Oct. 13-17.