By REYNALD MAGALLON
Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone admitted he took the gamble in starting Stanley Pringle for the first time in the conference in Game 3 of the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
He reaped large dividends for that as the veteran guard put on a vintage performance, pumping in 21 points on a perfect shooting night of 7-of-7 clip from the field, including a 6-of-6 from the deep and a 2-of-2 from the free-throw line to lead Barangay Ginebra to a 117-103 win over the TNT Tropang Giga.
Cone said it was actually a desperation on his part to start Pringle, more so to give him extended minutes on the floor as he is still finding his way back to top form. “It was about 30 times in the game where I said to myself, ‘Do I need to take Stanley out?’ because he’s still battling and he comes off the bench for a purpose. Not because we have a better player than him that starts but so we can keep his minutes shortened,” said the veteran mentor.
“We kind of got desperate and started him and he responded incredibly well. We’ve got to get him back into rehab and get him ready for Sunday,” he added.
Pringle though showed unwavering resolve and powered through with his best performance since his return.
“I felt really good. I’m on this great team. All my teammates are great players. Whenever I get a chance to come out and get some shots, it’s not always like that,” Pringle said of his performance.
“When I do, it means a lot. They’ve been supporting me the whole time I’ve been injured. Whatever I can do to help them, I’m going to try and do it,” said the two-time Mythical team member who was reduced to a supporting role off the bench for Ginebra since recovering from a knee injury.
For Pringle’s part, he just tried to do his job after the rare start and help in any ways he can for the Kings. And that was exactly the reason why he came out strong in the first half, scoring 17 of his total in the first two quarters.
“Coach wanted me to go out and probably be aggressive that’s why he started me. I was just locked in and thinking about spacing the floor and being ready to hit that open shot. In Game Two, we shot pretty poorly. I was just focused on hitting the shot. And the shots fell,” said Pringle.
Even TNT head coach Jojo Lastimosa felt that Cone’s brilliant decision of putting Pringle in the starting lineup was the crucial point of the game.
“Credit to Tim for putting Pringle in the starting lineup, got him going early and he never let up. He didn’t miss the whole game. So that was key,” said Lastimosa, who expects Ginebra to stick with Pringle in the crucial Game 4 on Sunday.
