BY JONAS TERRADO
Game Friday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m. – NorthPort vs Ginebra
(Ginebra leads series 2-1)
Jeff Chan has become important part of the last two victories that put Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on the cusp of advancing to the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
The veteran shooter made his presence felt Wednesday when he dropped 11 of his 17 points during a decisive second quarter that keyed Ginebra’s 132-105 win over NorthPort and a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five series.
Chan made Ginebra’s first seven points of the second to make the score 43-34, more than two minutes into the period, setting the stage for another blowout victory that quickly atoned for the shock 124-90 defeat in Saturday’s series opener.
“He spearheaded the breakaway that we had in that second quarter and he hit some shots,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone, whose team is 4-0 this conference when Chan scores in double figures.
Chan had 12 in Ginebra’s 113-88 win in Game 2 last Monday.
“I think importante yung defense namin,” said Chan, stressing how Ginebra’s defense has resulted in a good play on offense. “Pag nakakastop kami nagtatranslate sa offense. Yung shooting namin mas gumaganda dahil sa transition at pag may open. Yun siguro nagpapalamang sa amin.”
Ginebra has been getting the chunk of points from Justin Brownlee, who ended Game 3 with 41 points, and Stanley Pringle, who’s averaging 19.3 points in the series. But Chan has been making sure that he’ll make things more difficult for NorthPort.
“It’s tough when you’re trying to focus on Justin Brownlee or Stanley Pringle and Japeth (Aguilar) or Greg (Slaughter) inside,” said Cone. “Then you got Jeff out there spotting around and it’s hard to account for him.
“And when he’s knocking down shots, it makes the game easier for us. He was by far the best player off the bench and if he can continue to do that in this series, and if we can get to the next one, we gonna be tough to beat,” he added.
Ginebra is looking to close it out at 7 p.m. Friday and advance to the finals for the fifth time in Cone’s tenure.
Cone and the Kings are fixtures in the season-ending conference, having won the 2017 and 2018 editions all at the expense of the Meralco Bolts. Last year, Ginebra’s bid for a three-peat was squashed by eventual champion Magnolia in the semis.
As much as the momentum has swung in Ginebra’s hands, Cone refused to be carried away. But having the series lead is something of a good start while making NorthPort play the role of trying to make a counterattack.
“It’s still 50-50 (in Game 4) but it’s nice to get ahead and dictate the series and force the other team to make adjustments,” said Cone.
