Ginebra star Scottie Thompson (proper) finds the door slammed to his face by Magnolia import Antonio Hester. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ
Nothing has modified for Barangay Ginebra even after a 118-88 blowout by the hands of its sister crew Magnolia within the Philippine Basketball Affiliation (PBA) Governors’ Cup on Sunday.
The Gin Kings are nonetheless the defending champions right here and have been essentially the most dominant squad within the season-ending match— they received 4 of the final 5 editions of the Governors’ Cup. And extra importantly, for this version, it was solely Ginebra’s first loss in 4 video games.
However all of that might not persuade Tim Cone from seeing the loss for what it was.
“It simply became a extremely embarrassing evening,” he mentioned on the heels of the fancied duel at Mall of Asia Enviornment in Pasay Metropolis.
“Tonight was really our first [championship] hangover evening. I imply, we simply didn’t have it. I attempted arduous, we tried arduous to get on them at halftime. [The players] got here out with somewhat bit of fireside to start out a run, however we simply couldn’t maintain it.”
Save for the primary six minutes of the competition, Ginebra hardly discovered methods to match the enemy’s zest. They wound up shedding in practically each statistical contest of the sport as effectively, aside from second-chance factors and blocks.
The Gin Kings additionally trailed by as many as 31 factors within the recreation.
“I hate to confess this, however we actually have been a drained crew tonight, and you’ll see it in our physique language [and] our lack of exercise. We simply weren’t getting up and down the ground, we weren’t transferring with out the ball. The ball was transferring slowly tonight, and we have been late on all of our rotations,” Cone mentioned of the loss which pushed the membership right down to fifth place.
“It was an ideal storm: We have been drained, and we performed a crew that was determined and has discovered life with a brand new import, and simply got here out and so they out-physicaled us and out-energized us,” he added, whereas ruing the densely-packed schedule his crew has been on since profitable the Commissioner’s Cup.
On-loan stars
Ginebra is likely one of the three professional groups tapped to mortgage its stars to the Nationwide Workforce that might be wrapping up its Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers marketing campaign on Feb. 24 and 27 at cavernous Philippine Enviornment in Bulacan.
Amongst these standouts is Justin Brownlee, who was held to simply 22 factors—additionally essentially the most by any Gin King that evening.
“I simply need to give Magnolia a number of credit score. They performed an important recreation. I don’t need to take something away from their win. They deserved it, they performed arduous, and had an important recreation plan,” Brownlee, a naturalized Filipino, mentioned.
Silver lining
“For us, after all, we’re coming off a championship. We’ve had a number of success and began off 3-0. [But] this loss, you realize, it may be optimistic,” he added. “Hopefully, we will collect ourselves from this loss, study lots and transfer ahead. Perceive that if we come out and play mediocre [basketball] and never mentally targeted, this might additionally occur not solely in opposition to Magnolia however a number of groups.”
Cone additionally noticed a silver lining within the stand.
“It was good to have Christian [Standhardinger] again tonight, and he performed prolonged minutes in order that was very encouraging. LA [Tenorio] performed a little bit of prolonged minutes tonight, too. So, hopefully, we’re getting somewhat bit wholesome as we watch for Japeth [Aguilar] to return,” mentioned the Grand Slam coach.
The Gin Kings might want to seize essentially the most out of these positives, what with a killer stretch forward. Nonetheless on faucet for the gang darlings are San Miguel Beer, Meralco, Converge, and TNT — which have mixed for 15 wins in opposition to a mere three losses to create a three-way tie on prime.
“We’ve to verify we’re able to play all out,” Brownlee mentioned.
RELATED STORIES
Cone seems to be for consistency amid Gin Kings’ tight schedule
PBA: Weary Ginebra ‘simply didn’t have it’ in blowout loss to Magnolia, says Tim Cone
PBA: Tim Cone says Jeremiah Grey reminds him of Kenneth Duremdes
Learn Subsequent
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get entry to The Philippine Each day Inquirer & different 70+ titles, share as much as 5 devices, take heed to the information, obtain as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Name 896 6000.
