By REYNALD MAGALLON
Ginebra and TNT are both looking to move a win away from a return trip to finals as they gun for commanding 2-0 leads in their best-of-five semifinals series against their respective foes in the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Riding the momentum of their Game 1 wins, the Tropang Giga go up against the Meralco Bolts in the opening game at 4:30 p.m. while the Kings tangle once again with the San Miguel Beermen at 6:45 p.m.
TNT showed no signs of slowing down after extending their winning streak to 10 following a masterful 110-80 victory over the weary Meralco in the series opener.
Import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson as expected proved to be the biggest thorn to the side of the Bolts after anchoring the Tropang Giga’s vaunted offense with a second-straight triple-double performance of 22 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.
Meralco head coach Norman Black is now hard-pressed in finding answers to Hollis-Jefferson although he also still has the likes of RR Pogoy and Mikey Williams to worry about along with veteran Jayson Castro and young gun Calvin Oftana.
Black will also need more from his reinforcement KJ McDaniels who got visibly outplayed in Game 1 after only finishing with just 12 points and 13 rebounds. Guys like Aaron Black and Chris Newsome should also find their groove if they wish to even the series.
“We have to study the tape and figure out what he’s doing offensively, because it’s not just his scoring but it’s the fact that he’s facilitating for his teammates,” said Black.
“He’s giving his teammates wide open shots off his penetrations. Hope we can figure out how we can work defensively against him,” he added.
The same problem is haunting San Miguel Beer head coach Jorge Gallent as he also hopes to find a way to stop the rampage of Christian Standhardinger and Justin Brownlee who keyed Ginebra’s 121-112 win with ailing captain LA Tenorio watching from the sidelines.
With the big void on SMB’s defense following the absence of June Mar Fajardo, Standhardinger, Brownlee and Jamie Malonzo simply had their way inside the paint to lead Ginebra’s scoring with 33, 24 and 27 points respectively.
As much as head coach Tim Cone wanted to put the Beermen on the ropes, it would be easier said than done as he refused to count SMB out.
After all, the Beermen are not lacking in weapons with three players scoring in 20+ points in their first meeting led by import Cameron Clark’s 26 points, CJ Perez’s 23 and Marcio Lassiter’s 20.
