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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
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04
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26
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2024
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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
04
26
2024
Barangay Ginebra will not beat San Miguel Beer’s rock solid starting unit but will be able to match up and compete with their support casts.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone bears this in mind, making him hopeful they can duplicate their Game One victory and really get a chance to dethrone PBA Governors Cup titleholder San Miguel Beer.
The Kings go for a pivotal 2-0 lead in their best-of-five semis matchup with the Beermen in Game Two at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Their first five are so solid. That’s better than an All-Star team. When they put some other guys out
there, we were able to match up,” said Cone on their 115-108 triumph Monday.
“They had their bench out there as well. They haven’t played their bench much. We talked about that. It gave us the opportunity to put some guys out there,” Cone added.
Sol Mercado and Joe Devance provided spark off the bench in the second half, igniting a key Ginebra turnaround from a woeful first half.
Mercado, Devance and Mark Caguioa combined for 39 points, giving Ginebra a huge 34-point advantage on bench production.
San Miguel coach Leo Austria took full responsibility for their loss, admitting fault on playing only eight men in the series opener.
Starters Elijah Millsap, June Mar Fajardo, Alex Cabagnot, Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter all played 38 minutes or more.
Ronald Tubid, Gabby Espinas and Chris Ross failed to get into the groove in their short minutes as relievers.
But that’s really Austria’s coaching strategy, banking hard on his core group. He’s had his successes on their three championships in the last four PBA tourneys.
The question is whether it’s going to work against Cone.
The two-time grandslam-winning coach tried to play down their Game One win.
“It was a good win. But it doesn’t win a series. It’s not that big of a deal,” he said. “Game Two becomes a big deal. SMB will put this away and get focused on the next one. Somehow we have to come out and meet their intensity in Game Two.”
Curiously, the Kings pulled off a great feat Monday night with chief playmaker LA Tenorio delivering a big fat egg.
Nonetheless, Cone said Tenorio did his job.
“You’re not going to be carried by the same guy every night. LA carried us against Alaska (in the quarters). He cannot score a point but still be the most impactful player out there. He doesn’t necessarily have to score for us to be good,” Cone said.
“I guarantee you, LA will have a big game more than once in this series. He’ll have it when we need it,” Cone added.
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