By REYNALD MAGALLON
Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone is wary of the San Miguel Beer’s frontline combination of June Mar Fajardo and import Bennie Boatwright ahead of their best-of-five semifinals encounter.
According to the multi-titled mentor, the Beermen are employing the same formula that keyed one of SMB’s most dominant runs in recent memory as he likens the Boatwright-Fajardo combination to that of Fajardo and Arwind Santos tandem.
A menace against opposing team’s defenses, the lethal combination of Fajardo’s imposing presence inside the paint and Santos’ accurate sniping from deep that provided space for the 6-foot-10 big man to operate in the interior became a core part of its famed ‘Death Five’ lineup that produced a total of eight championships.
Seeing Boatwright take on the same role which Santos’ played, and probably even a bigger and better version of it, Cone is convinced that the defending champions are up for tough task of slowing down another formidable SMB frontline.
“Bennie Boatwright is like Arwind Santos x 2. Or x 5 or maybe x 10. What made June Mar so great oftentimes all through those years was having Arwind Santos there sitting on top and keeping defenses honest,” said Cone.
“Bennie’s got that and he’s even better than Arwind,” he added.
Boatwright has been also benefiting from the amount of attention that Fajardo gets as he fires at least six triples per contest while averaging 40.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists.
The SMB star center for his part, had 17.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists since his return from a hand injury.
“It’s a dilemma that every team they faced so far they are like (4-0) with him on the team. That is something we’re gonna have to really try to figure out,” said Cone, who believes Ginebra’s chances of advancing to the finals depends on how much they can contain the formidable duo.
“We’re going to try and figure it out. If we can’t, we’re not going to win the series,” he said.
