Laro ngayon:
(Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m. – Ginebra vs Magnolia (Game 2)
SISIKAPIN ng Magnolia na makopo ang 2-0 bentahe laban sa Barangay Ginebra sa Game 2 ng kanilang best-of-5 semi-finals series sa PBA Governors’ Cup ngayon sa Araneta Coliseum.
Naitakas ng Hotshots ang 106-98 panalo noong Sabado upang putulin ang seven-game slide sa Ginebra at kunin ang 1-0 kala-mangan sa serye.
Isang malaking hamon para sa Hotshots ang masundan ang panalo, lalo na’t inaasahang reresbak ang two-time defending champion.
“Knowing (Ginebra) coach Tim (Cone), a many-time champion coach, the winningest coach, he knows kung anong mga adjustment na gagawin,” wika ni Magnolia coach Chito Victolero.
“We’ll just try to be ready and, hopefully, maulit namin in Game 2,” dagdag pa ni Victolero.
“We’re still the underdogs. They have the experience, the talent, skills, coach. Hopefully, the whole coaching staff namin may magandang gameplan for Game 2.”
Maging ang mga pangunahing responsable sa panalo sa Game 1 ay sumasang-ayon sa paniniwala ng kanilang coach.
“They’re not gonna lay down, they got a great coach, they got great players, perennial champions, so they’re gonna come back and it’s not gonna be easy,” sabi ni Romeo Travis, nanguna sa Game 1 na may 37 points, 16 rebounds at 5 assists.
Nine clutch ones in the stretch, readily concurs.
“Knowing coach Tim, you beat him once, he’s gonna beat you twice. We need to be ready,” pahayag naman ni Paul Lee, na nagdagdag ng 27 points.
“The good thing is we have the experience already with what happened. We need to be ready for Game 2 and forget about Game 1, that’s done. Zero-zero again.”
Gagawin naman ng mga bataan ni Cone ang lahat para maipatas ang serye.
“We came out with a good force, started the game well, then we started to succumb to their pressure as the game progressed,” pahayag ni Cone matapos ang Game 1.
“They played the game they wanted to play. We played their game, so we got to be better,” dagdag ni Cone.
Ang pangunahing pagtutuunan ng pansin ni Cone at ng iba pa sa Ginebra ay kung paano matutulungan ng mga tulad nina Greg Slaughter at Japeth Aguilar si Justin Brownlee.
Makaraang umiskor ng 20 points sa mainit na 7-of-9 field goal shooting sa opening quarter, si Brownlee ay biglang nanlamig. Tumapos siya na may 37 points, 14 rebounds at 8 assists, subalit lima sa kanyang mga puntos ay naitala matapos na madesisyunan na ang laro.
Nagdagdag si Aguilar ng 18 points, habang nalimitahan si Slaughter sa walo lamang nang paikutin ng Magnolia ang tatlong players nito sa pagdepensa sa kanya, sa katauhan nina Ian Sangalang, Rafi Reavis at Kyle Pascual.
“I didn’t think our big guys were totally engaged in the game today,” ani Cone. “And they need to get better engaged, and that goes for everybody.”
