NEW PERSPECTIVE
With Barangay Ginebra San Miguel swapping Leon Rodgers for Josh Powell, what has the former two-time NBA champion brought to the Kings?
A new perspective, for one.
“Its a different look,” said Josh Urbiztondo. “Nothing against Leon, but he’s more of a three-spot, and Josh is a natural five. He gave us a different look. He helped Japeth in the big spot and he did a great job. He’s a really experienced player, and he has brought energy to this team and fortunately, we got the win.”
Minutes after Ginebra broke its two-game losing skid with an 88-78 win over Meralco on Wednesday, the players have clearly righted their ship and a big reason for that is the entry of Powell on board.
“He is very soft-spoken, but he’s all about business,” said Chris Ellis. “He just brings more focus, more seriousness and urgency to the team because nobody’s joking around in the locker room. Everybody’s just talking about the game, everybody’s focused, aggressive mentally. You could just feel his experience on the court.”
Powell had 16 points, 15 rebounds, and two each for assists, steals, and blocks in his debut, and obviously, a lot of other reinforcements have posted gaudier statlines than his, but the biggest story of his Ginebra debut was their ball movement, allowing five other guys to finish in double digits.
“It’s so fun when the ball is moving around like that,” Ellis said. “People are moving and the people are getting excited. A lot of the guys stepped up and our big men did a good job, and we’re just in control. Even if we’re down, we’re still in control.”
“Once you get the big men talking and the guards communicating with the big men, good things happen. The best thing coming in for us was the communication. It translated on offense and defense,” the reigning Slam Dunk King said. “We’ve been practicing like crazy moving the ball, working assists, getting the men open, working on our proper screening, proper movement, and proper spacing. Anything to get the wide-open shots, extra passes, just trying to stay aggressive, get the extra passes.”
Ellis had 14 of his 16 points in the payoff period to save Ginebra in the end game, while Greg Slaughter (15), Mark Caguioa (13), LA Tenorio (10), and Urbiztondo (10) distributed the scoring load in the squad’s third win in the maiden conference.
“I think our whole team was inspired tonight,” Slaughter said. “If you look at the stat sheet, anyone could have been the player of the game tonight.”
This year’s first overall pick who has been flying under the radar for the past few games has once again emerged and reclaimed his dominant self, and, as the case with his other teammates, pointed out the obvious reason for their W.
“The main difference was the ball movement. We’re doing it unselfishly tonight. That’s how we play in practice and I’m happy that we could bring it to the game,” said Slaughter.
Greg also praised the efforts brought by their new reinforcement, saying, “He’s an NBA champion. He has tons of experience and I’m sure it’s not a problem for him adapting to our style of playing basketball. Just goes to show you that as of today, he only had one practice with us, and he blended in very quick. He’s a great professional.”
Although the short second conference has brought some heat into the Ginebra locker room, with no less than their captain Mark Caguioa sending his ire on Twitter, the team seemed to have made the first step in smoothing out that rough patch.
“We motivate each other in our own little ways. When you got a veteran like Mark speaking to us, trying to motivate us, everyone really takes it to the heart and it translated to the game,” said Ellis. “The only thing we could do is to think positive and continue to work hard, stay together, and to keep communicating on offense and defense.”
Urbiztondo adds, “Mark is a great captain, a great leader. He leads by example. He’s not really calling anybody out, but he’s just trying to motivate us with intense urgency and energy, and that’s how Ginebra basketball should be played and that’s what we showed tonight.”
For his part, Slaughter gave his side, noting, “It wasn’t just on Twitter. We’ve been talking about this (slump) for a while now. Its been a tough season so far. Were 3-4 now, and we’re still not playing where we want to be. Its a good note for us based on the way we played today so hopefully, we could continue working and bring it again next Sunday.”
Josh added, “It’s a great win for us. We control our destiny. We get to play the teams we are fighting with. We got Alaska and Rain or Shine for our last games and we’re fighting in the standings with them, so we control our own destiny and we’re gonna take this break, prepare, and get ready for our next game.” (RL)
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
