Ginebra, San Miguel clash; Spotlight on Fajardo-Slaughter match-up
Junmar Fajardo is A-OK, fully recovered from a foot injury while Greg Slaughter is simply at his best and finest.
Their elite matchup provides a major plot as San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra figure in a titanic clash in the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at the Philsports Arena in Pasig Sunday.
Fajardo and his teammates try to break off a four-way logjam atop the leaderboard while Slaughter and the Gin Kings seek to get going after getting off the hump versus the Alaska Milk Aces in their Dubai tussle.
But much of the attention in the 5:15 p.m. tiff is likely to be on the Fajardo-Slaughter duel.
Slaughter started his third season in the pros with monstrous averages of 27.3 points and 20.3 points in three games.
The 7-foor-1 behemoth knocked in two key charities in the closing seconds, preserving a 27-point, 19-rebound game as they squeaked past the Aces, 93-92, for a first win following back-to-back losses to the Star Hotshots and the Barako Bull Energy.
Fajardo had his double-double averages of 16 points and 13 rebounds as they got past Globalpot, Meralco and Blackwater and dropped a loss to Rain or Shine in their first four games.
“Greg vs Junmar is always exciting, but we have to make sure we don’t stand around and watch those two play,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
“We need to get a better balance in our scoring and more production from the bench,” he added.
The SMB-Ginebra game will feature other marquee matchups with the Beermen boasting other high-profile players in Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross, Chris Lutz, Ronald Tubid and Gabby Espinas.
The Gin Kings, meanwhile, have their strong support cast to Slaughter in Japeth Aguilar, LA Tenorio, Mark Caguioa, Chris Ellis, Sol Mercado, Joe Devance and rookie guard Scottie Thompson.
The Gin Kings have a momentum to ride on with their victory in Dubai.
“We escaped in our last game against Alaska, but we can’t expect to do the same against SMB. We’ve got to be a lot more solid for 48 minutes,” said Cone.
“I’m hoping the Gin Kings fans come out in droves. We need it loud and noisy if we’re going to beat SMB,” he added.
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