PBA: Finals MVP James Yap is indeed ‘Big Game James’

As befits someone who’s been in the PBA for 10 seasons, and someone who’s been a marquee player through all that time, James Yap has a lot of nicknames.

“King James”

“The Man with a Million Moves”

“Boy Thunder”

“The Face of the PBA”

But as Yap gets up in age, as his shooting percentages and playing time continue to decline, as the team brings in more players that are on the precipice of becoming franchise stars, the monicker that still remains most appropriate for the second overall pick of the 2004 draft is a simple one: “Big Game James.”

On the surface, it’s hard to treat Yap as a superstar player. A superstar player can’t shoot like this and expect to get lots of playing time:

4-of-9
4-of-16
3-of-8
5-of-13
2-of-12
3-of-13
4-of-9
2-of-13

Those are Yap’s field goal makes and attempts for the eight games he played in the elimination round of the 2014 Commissioner’s Cup. All-in-all, he converted 27-of-93 attempts for a sub-.300 figure of 29 percent. As a result, he normed only 28.62 minutes, cracking the 30-minute line just thrice.

Against the Alaska Aces in the quarterfinals, his shooting percentage slumped to a rough 23.5 percent (8-of-34), before picking up slightly versus Air21 in the semis (after starting 5-of-29, he improved to 13-of-23 in the last two games of the series).

Come the Finals, he began solidly with a 17-point outburst, albeit on 18 attempts. Then he  sank back down to Earth with a 2-of-6 night for six points that lasted just 18 minutes.

Did he not have enough lift anymore? Was his back still bothering him? Was the toll of the ultra-compressed schedule wearing down on him?

As it turned out he was saving himself for a pair of clutch moments.

To break their 1-1 series deadlock with Talk ’N Text, Yap nailed the go-ahead basket with 28 seconds left in game three, to give the Mixers a 76-76 lead that they didn’t relinquish. Then in the decider, Yap unloaded 10 points in the fourth period, one of which was a triple with two minutes left in the game that handed SMC a two-possession lead. Rightfully so, he was named Finals MVP.

Perhaps Yap can’t do it on a game-to-game basis anymore. Especially not when teams barely get five days between the Commissioner’s Cup Finals and the start of the Governors’ Cup. More so when there are five gamedays a week. But the way Tim Cone and company have assembled this Mixers team, he probably doesn’t have to, not when the young legs like Mark Barroca, Ian Sangalang, Justin Melton and Allein Maliksi can take over games.

In a way, James Yap’s role on the team now resembles that of Vince Carter with the Dallas Mavericks. Both were the centerpieces of franchises for a while, but as age robbed them of some of their explosiveness they became craftier players, leaning more on guile than athleticism, though they can still bust the latter out when needed. Furthermore, they’ve willingly accepted the fact that they’re part of an ensemble now, an important cog, but a cog nonetheless, in a larger machine. This past season, Carter was provided off-the-bench scoring punch. We may not be that far off from Yap assuming the same function.

Marquee players eventually get old, and in the PBA, the drop-off is more gradual, and old warriors tend to stick around much longer. Yap will one day hang up his sneakers and move to the next phase of his career, but that day isn’t now. He may not be able to bring it as a daily warrior, but when the clock is winding down and the stakes are high, his fans, fans of the team, his coach Tim Cone, and his teammates, know they can turn to him for a clutch performance.

They don’t call him “Big Game” for nothing. - JDL, GMA News