Entire Ginebra roster gets chance at building playoffs momentum
The last field goals Barangay Ginebra hit on the way to stretching the lead into 30-point territory against Terrafirma came from Sonny Estil, Norbert Torres and Jayson David.
A couple of days after drawing 53 points from their reserves, the Gin Kings had 61 from the bench on Friday as they hammered the joyless Dyip, 108-77, in their PBA Philippine Cup showdown at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
It may seem coincidental: Over the last two games, Ginebra played teams that have one win each from a combined 17 games—the Kings were coming off a rout of Blackwater. But listening to the Kings talk, you’d get a sense that the bench focus was intentional.
“It is great timing for [the bench],” said the burly Torres, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, while making four of eight attempts in 13 minutes of action. “We’re getting our groove. It’s two games before the playoffs, so it’s good timing.”
Ginebra went off to a 25-12 start and never looked back as Ginebra made it three straight wins to climb to 5-4 in the standings and still in mathematical contention for a Top 4 spot.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone credited the win to the Kings playing “with a level of desperation,” a mentality that isn’t as easy to muster as it sounds, considering the Kings were playing a team that entered the game getting tossed around by an average of 18 points per defeat.
Counting Friday’s rout, this was the third time in the conference that Terrafirma lost by at least 30 points.
“The players knew the magnitude of the last two games in terms of the big picture,” Cone said, referencing Ginebra’s chances of grabbing a twice-to-beat bonus, “we might get lucky,” he said.
“The idea is we want to play good basketball going into the playoffs,” Cone said.
The Kings went off to a 2-4 start to the conference before finding their bearings. “We started even slower than we hoped.”
