A WORKING HOLIDAY
It’s Christmas, and for longtime PBA fans, they know that crowd darling Barangay Ginebra will be playing.
Only this time, the Gin Kings—seeing action during the most wonderful time of the year—will be fighting for dear life in the Philippine Cup when they slug it out with Converge in the first of two straight games Ginebra needs to win in order to keep playing in the centerpiece conference.
Everyone in the team would surely like to play to entertain. But there will be no shortage of pressure when the Gin Kings take the Smart Araneta Coliseum floor at 7:30 p.m. against the FiberXers, who will surely want to make this Christmas Day an unforgettable one for themselves.
But coach Tim Cone, who has seen his share of pressure-laden games, knows what he and his charges need to do: Embrace it.
“It’s one of the challenges of being Ginebra, coach, team or player. You’re put in those situations a lot,” he said after their 108-105 win over Titan Ultra on Sunday.
“It’s out of our control, the schedule is out of control, but we’ll deal with what we can deal with and we’ll be ready.”
Since 2021, the Gin Kings have won three of their last four Christmas Day games, with the most recent one coming at the expense of Magnolia.
In last year’s “Christmas Clasico,” the Gin Kings beat the Hotshots, 95-92, off a Scottie Thompson buzzer-beater that could be described as nothing short of a holiday miracle.
One of the reasons why Ginebra is so energized for Christmas Day games is the rowdy crowd that shows up for game time.
The Gin Kings will be needing that loud support on Thursday with a young Converge team that could pose as the grinch for the season.
Identical records
“They’re talented across the board with their guards,” Stephen Holt said of the FiberXers. “I’m sure we’ll watch film to come up with the game plan and execute it in Game 1 and maybe build off of that.
“We’ll be ready,” Holt added. “We’re super hungry and obviously, the vibes are good with the five-game winning streak. But that’s just because we work so hard.”
Holt, who finished with 27 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in the Gins’ final game of the elimination round, is wary of the FiberXers, who will be holding a twice-to-beat advantage over them in the quarters.
The FiberXers held off the Gin Kings, 106-96, in the eliminations
So even if both squads finished classification with identical 7-4 cards, Converge ended up with higher ranking because of the win-over-the-other rule.
Meanwhile, top-seeded San Miguel Beer takes on NLEX at 5:15 p.m. in the first game of the day, with the Beermen needing to win only once to make the semifinal round.
The Road Warriors welcome back gunslinger Robert Bolick, who helped Gilas Pilipinas win the gold medal in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games just last week in a stint that slowed down NLEX’s quest to make the upper half of the playoff field and gain a twice-to-beat advantage.
