MANILA: Barangay Ginebra was up against what its coach, Tim Cone, said was the team to beat on Monday night.
And for most of the first half, also to Cone’s own admission, his wards didn’t seem like they belonged on the same floor as defending champion San Miguel Beer.
The Gin Kings, though, turned things around in the second half and gutted out a 115-108 win for a 1-0 lead in their best-of-five Final Four series in the PBA Governors’ Cup that put the Beermen in a must-win situation the next time they clash.
“To tell you the truth, in that first half, it looked like we were totally overmatched,” Cone said after his Gin Kings stared at deficits of as large as 13 points in the second quarter. “We looked like we didn’t belong on the same court. They were doing it with some ease and it was disheartening.”
All Cone needed was a talk with his wards at halftime and he got the response he wanted.
“The guys came out and raised the level of their game and got things going their way to gain some confidence,” Cone said as Ginebra scored 33 points in the third and 36 in the fourth that knocked the wind out of San Miguel’s sails when it mattered.
“I certainly didn’t have a lot of confidence in the first half. To their credit, they kept battling and battling,” Cone said.
Justin Brownlee and Japeth Aguilar scored 10 points each in the third as Ginebra got back in the game, and in the fourth, with the duo being joined in the bench by superstar guard LA Tenorio for the early part, the Kings played their best.
Former MVP Mark Caguioa scored all of his eight points in the first three minutes and change of the fourth as Ginebra opened up a 92-80 lead and was never headed.
Game 2, which Cone said “has now become a big deal (for us),” is set for Wednesday night also at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Brownlee returned with just over eight minutes left and still scored nine of his 39, while Sol Mercado drilled in 19 – eight of them coming in the fourth – with Joe Devance and rookie Scottie Thompson firing a combined 11 in the final 12 minutes.
Mercado’s performance eased the impact of Tenorio going scoreless in 31 minutes, just three nights after dropping 32 in a quarterfinal victory over Alaska.
“Did he go scoreless?” was the surprise reaction of Cone when reporters asked him of Tenorio. “You’re not going to be carried by the same guy every night. LA carried us against Alaska.
“He may not score a point but he can still be the most impactful player out there. He doesn’t necessarily have to score to make us (look) good,” Cone continued. “But I guarantee you, LA will have more than one great game in this series.”
San Miguel was playing fluidly in the early goings and looked every inch like the team to beat that Cone described the Beermen to be before this series started.
June Mar Fajardo, import Elijah Millsap and two other locals were already in twin digits after the first two quarters as San Miguel went back into the locker room holding a 57-46 lead.
Millsap finished with 29 points, Fajardo with 25, but the Beermen seemed to play with much indecisiveness in the final two quarters which did them in.
“I think so,” the 6-foot-10 Fajardo, who is a hot favorite to win a third straight MVP at the end of this season, said in Filipino when asked if over-eagerness got the better of him in the second half.
“They (Kings) played great defense on me (in the second half),” he said.
And for most of the first half, also to Cone’s own admission, his wards didn’t seem like they belonged on the same floor as defending champion San Miguel Beer.
The Gin Kings, though, turned things around in the second half and gutted out a 115-108 win for a 1-0 lead in their best-of-five Final Four series in the PBA Governors’ Cup that put the Beermen in a must-win situation the next time they clash.
“To tell you the truth, in that first half, it looked like we were totally overmatched,” Cone said after his Gin Kings stared at deficits of as large as 13 points in the second quarter. “We looked like we didn’t belong on the same court. They were doing it with some ease and it was disheartening.”
All Cone needed was a talk with his wards at halftime and he got the response he wanted.
“The guys came out and raised the level of their game and got things going their way to gain some confidence,” Cone said as Ginebra scored 33 points in the third and 36 in the fourth that knocked the wind out of San Miguel’s sails when it mattered.
“I certainly didn’t have a lot of confidence in the first half. To their credit, they kept battling and battling,” Cone said.
Justin Brownlee and Japeth Aguilar scored 10 points each in the third as Ginebra got back in the game, and in the fourth, with the duo being joined in the bench by superstar guard LA Tenorio for the early part, the Kings played their best.
Former MVP Mark Caguioa scored all of his eight points in the first three minutes and change of the fourth as Ginebra opened up a 92-80 lead and was never headed.
Game 2, which Cone said “has now become a big deal (for us),” is set for Wednesday night also at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Brownlee returned with just over eight minutes left and still scored nine of his 39, while Sol Mercado drilled in 19 – eight of them coming in the fourth – with Joe Devance and rookie Scottie Thompson firing a combined 11 in the final 12 minutes.
Mercado’s performance eased the impact of Tenorio going scoreless in 31 minutes, just three nights after dropping 32 in a quarterfinal victory over Alaska.
“Did he go scoreless?” was the surprise reaction of Cone when reporters asked him of Tenorio. “You’re not going to be carried by the same guy every night. LA carried us against Alaska.
“He may not score a point but he can still be the most impactful player out there. He doesn’t necessarily have to score to make us (look) good,” Cone continued. “But I guarantee you, LA will have more than one great game in this series.”
San Miguel was playing fluidly in the early goings and looked every inch like the team to beat that Cone described the Beermen to be before this series started.
June Mar Fajardo, import Elijah Millsap and two other locals were already in twin digits after the first two quarters as San Miguel went back into the locker room holding a 57-46 lead.
Millsap finished with 29 points, Fajardo with 25, but the Beermen seemed to play with much indecisiveness in the final two quarters which did them in.
“I think so,” the 6-foot-10 Fajardo, who is a hot favorite to win a third straight MVP at the end of this season, said in Filipino when asked if over-eagerness got the better of him in the second half.
“They (Kings) played great defense on me (in the second half),” he said.
