BY JONAS TERRADO
Game Wednesday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m. — Ginebra vs NorthPort
(Series tied 1-1)
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel finally got the cup of coffee it needed to shake off the hangover of the Southeast Asian Games after responding from an embarrassing Game 1 defeat by turning the tables on NorthPort.
Monday’s 113-88 win at the Smart Araneta Coliseum put Ginebra back in its status as heavy favorites after NorthPort came out and capitalize on its woes two nights earlier with a 124-90 rout.
Coach Tim Cone was glad that he and the rest of the team were able to prepare well after most of Ginebra’s players and staff were on cloud nine after steering the Philippines to a comfortable victory in the SEA Games.
“Everything came out so quickly after the Southeast Asian Games,” Cone said. “LA (Tenorio) actually had one day of practice with the team. Some of the other guys like Stanley (Pringle), Greg (Slaughter) and Japeth (Aguilar) had two days so we couldn’t figure out exactly what we want to do in terms of scheming and what we want to do defensively.
“I thought we came out and did a better job of understanding what we want to do and executing what we want to do. First game, we didn’t know what we want to do and if you don’t know what you gonna do, you certainly can’t execute what you don’t know. So (Game 2) was a lot better than that,” added Cone.
Slaughter, who bounced back from a disappearing act in Game 1 by posting 16 points, said the Game 1 setback was a punch Ginebra needed to get their acts together.
“It was hard to really jump right back into the semifinals where the stakes are really high,” Slaughter said. “But I think getting blown out on that first game served as a really good wake-up call for us. Coach Tim really was able to make some adjustments from the first game to this game.”
The adjustments enabled Ginebra to limit NorthPort import Michael Qualls to his lowest-point output of the conference.
Qualls scored just 20 points on 8-of-26 shooting and it took before late in the second quarter for him to score his first basket.
It was only the second time that Qualls was held below 30 points in a game. He had 27 when the Batang Pier lost 103-89 to the Meralco Bolts last Nov. 10.
“Everybody on their team (Ginebra) played well,” Qualls said. “They outhustled us, they got the looseballs, all that type of stuff. NorthPort, we’re the underdogs, we’re supposed to be the ones who hustles the other team.
“When they had that on the other side, it’s hard to beat them. We got to be the enforcers. If anything, we want to dictate the tempo. It’s just a learning experienced and get ready for the next one,” added Qualls.
The next one is at 7 p.m. Wednesday with the winner gaining a 2-1 lead and closer to a trip to the finals. If the two blowout games are an indication, Cone feels that a down-the-wire is in the offing.
“They had all the answers in Game 1, we had all the answers in Game 2 and usually Game 3 means a huge battle,” Cone said. “It’s gonna be a tight game and a huge battle.”
