KINGS NOT TAKING ELITE LIGHTLY
Stopped by NLEX the last time out, Barangay Ginebra seeks to get going again in taking on former player Leo Isaac and his team, the Blackwater Elite, in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Coach Jeff Cariaso is impressed at what Blackwater has been doing that the Kings can only be expected to give the Elite the respect that they deserve.
Cariaso said Blackwater’s 0-3 record could have been 3-0 as the Elite just blew away big leads in losses to the Kia Sorento and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, and then lost a crack at winning their last game against the Meralco Bolts on a crucial call by the refs.
With these losses, the Elite’s determination is not about to waver.
“Malakas ang kalaban, but we just have to believe in ourselves that we can upset Ginebra,” said Isaac, a Ginebra stalwart in the team’s glory days under playing coach Robert Jaworski.
Before bowing to Meralco, 75-83, in overtime, the Elite came close to pulling the rug from the Bolts in regulation play.
The Elite pulled even at 70 on a three-pointer by Bam Gamalinda with 14.8 seconds to go in regulation, then had a chance to steal the game as Jason Ballesteros grabbed an important defensive rebound with four seconds left.
Ballesteros immediately sued for a player’s timeout but the referees apparently missed it and instead ruled a jump ball between Ballesteros and Sean Anthony a little later.
The 6-foot-7 Blackwater center won the tap but the ball went out of bounds as time expired, thus sending the game into five extra minutes.
Meanwhile, NLEX threw Ginebra off with a shifting defense and completely took over the game in the payoff period in hammering out a 97-81 stunner.
Before that downfall, the Kings were impressive in a 101-81 rout of the Talk n Text Tropang Texters and in an 87-55 massacre of the Sorento. (SB)
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