Justin Brownlee (with ball) has been starved to one of his lowest Finals productions for Ginebra. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ .
As much as it was a relief to finally get a win in the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone doesn’t see it as a meaningful outcome.
At least not yet.
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“This one won’t mean much if we don’t get the one on Sunday,” said Cone as the Gin Kings look to even their championship tussle with the TNT Tropang Giga when Game 4 tips off at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Ginebra avoided a dreaded 0-3 hole two nights earlier, turning the tables on TNT with its own defensive stand that translated into an 85-73 win. And with the way the series has been played, the team that forces the other to throw more bricks may have the best chance at winning.
And also perhaps the team that better shows the proverbial willpower.
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“Obviously, we have to exhaust a lot of energy to win [Game 3], and we have to find a way to get more energy to play on Sunday because it’s a real grind for the players,” Cone said.
Grind it seems will be the thing for both teams, with Ginebra looking for more gambits, like starting seldom-used veteran LA Tenorio and making Maverick Ahanmisi an efficient guy off the bench, and having Joe Devance to provide quality minutes in lieu of a weary Japeth Aguilar.
Another thing will be to once again force TNT to miss more shots by making the Tropang Giga take contested attempts.
TNT made just 32 percent of its shots, missed 21 of 29 threes and had Best Import front-runner Rondae Hollis-Jefferson go 8-of-26 from the field on the way to finishing with 22 points.
“Game 3 was hard, but we expect Game 4 to be even harder,” said the Tropang Giga’s RR Pogoy, who will also be key in his team’s bid to take a commanding 3-1 advantage.
‘Incredible defense’
Despite the defeat, the Tropang Giga showed resilience in not allowing the Kings to pull away in the final seven minutes when Ginebra played with total command. And that’s something that could bode well for coach Chot Reyes.
The Tropang Giga forced the Kings to 19 turnovers in Game 3, higher than the 11 Ginebra committed in each of the previous two matches.
“TNT has played incredible defense and we have to match them or be better,” said Brownlee. “I think that’s where it’s going to be from here on.”
Meanwhile, the league will name the winners of the Best Player of the Conference and Best Import before Game 4 tips off at 7:30 p.m.
The BPC is shaping up to be decided either by the brute statistical numbers of San Miguel Beer star June Mar Fajardo or the impact Aguilar had in getting the Kings to the Finals amid their lack of frontcourt pieces.
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Hollis-Jefferson seems to have the upper hand over Brownlee in the Best Import race and, if he ends up getting called, will become the 11th player to win the award named after the late Bobby Parks multiple times.