REPLACING the face of the Philippine Basketball Association and former Most Valuable Player James Yap in the Star Hotshots lineup is quite a burden to carry for Paul Lee.
Just two years removed from their Grand Slam year the Hotshots completed a dour season as they limped home with just 12 wins last season. Desperate to improve the team traded for Lee as they shipped out Yap.
And coming from an injury-plagued final season with the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters it took a while for Lee to take a comfortable position in the star studded Star lineup.
Losing weight and looking fully recovered helped Lee who appears to be back to his lethal form. He is now able to drive to the hoop with authority and score clutch baskets to propel his team back to title contention.
The Hotshots have surprised all experts as they advanced to the semifinals of the Philippine Cup. As we went to press they actually hold a 1-0 edge over the reigning PBA Governors Cup champion Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
En route to that series Lee fired 22 points, five from three-point distance, grabbed four rebounds and tallied the same number of assists as Star beat Phoenix, 114-83 to take Game 1 of their quarterfinal playoff.
The Star guard’s explosion came after his 15-point, five-assists, two-rebound game when he led Star to a 120-73 demolition of Meralco during the team’s last game in the eliminations.
His exploits earned Lee his second Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week award this conference. Lee edged Star teammate Allein Maliksi, Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson and Sol Mercado, San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos and RR Garcia as well as TNT’s Jayson Castro, Larry Fonacier and Mo Tautuaa for the award during the period of Jan. 31-Feb. 4.
The Hotshots were just as dominant in Game 2 of the quarterfinals as they once again trounced the Fuel Masters 91-71 to arrange the semis showdown against Ginebra.
Lee was deadly against the Fuel Masters. He drove into the heart of the Phoenix defense and scored points off floaters and layups. When defenders double-teamed him he whipped passes to open teammates for easy baskets.
That win sent them to the semifinals against Ginebra where Lee was even deadlier.
Leading by just two points, 76-74, with seconds left to play the Star offense was stymied by the Ginebra defense. With time running out and their play broken up Lee drove strong to the hoop, threw the ball against the glass and into the net to propel his team to victory, 78-74.
The play wasn’t even meant for him but with time running out Lee had no choice but to take charge and power his team to victory.
With the way things are going Lee may finally be able to live up to sky high expectations after the trade for Yap. He seems to be on his way but we’ll have to wait and see how his team fares, starting with the ongoing Philippine Cup.