Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (left) and the Tropang Giga were involved in Barangay Ginebra’s poor shooting in Game 1. – PBA IMAGES
It’s a credit to the way Barangay Ginebra has turned the three-point shot into a weapon that TNT coach Chot Reyes warned his team that a poor shooting night by the Gin Kings was the exception and not the rule.
“They are an outside shooting team. So they rely a lot on their three-point shooting,” Reyes said. “There are days when they will be sidelined, but that won’t happen every day and that’s why I told (the players) we have to be ready for the next game.”
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Barangay Ginebra’s 2-for-21 shooting from three-point land in Game 1 was its worst in a series finale in over a decade. The last time a club performed miserably from beyond the arc was San Mig Coffee during the 2014 Commissioner’s Cup final, in an era when hot shots from outside the arc were often dismissed as a rarity.
Curiously, the San Mig team was also coached by Tim Cone, who led the team to this conference’s title – the second for the team en route to a rare treble.
Unimpressed
The Tropang Giga, defending champions of this conference, will be looking to unleash the same defensive magic that they used to silence the top guns of their dream opponents in the second leg at 7:30 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
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The Gin Kings, for their part, were poised for a rebound shortly after their 104-88 loss in front of a record crowd of 11,021 on Sunday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City. RJ Abarrientos, one of Ginebra’s starters who struggled with the loss, hardly seemed fazed by the series-opening loss.
“We feel like our intensity is still (intact) for the next game,” said the flamboyant rookie, who only blamed five points for the defeat.
“We just came out flat. Not just me, but the rest of the team,” he added. “It’s just basketball. There will be a loser and a winner.”
Justin Brownlee, one of the biggest outliers in this best-of-seven showdown, was equally determined, saying that Cone warned Ginebra about just that.
“It won’t be easy and coach Tim explained that to us. We have been preparing since last week. He told us (we’re not going to do the same… shots we’re probably used to) he said.
“We just have to work a little harder (for them), that’s all. You also have to give them credit for their defense,” said the resident Ginebra import. “I think the mix of us is just missing some good looks. But at the same time, if I’m not mistaken, the statistics say that TNT is the best defending team in the threesome. So it’s no secret why we had problems.”
And Cone, who had competed in such rodeos many times in the past, remained calm as expected.
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“We weren’t locked in the whole game. They beat us one-on-one and…really embarrassed our defense. We’ll see what we can do about it,” he said. INQ