Gin Kings face tough stretch after whipping lowly Risers
Barangay Ginebra seems to be peaking at the right time with its fifth straight win on Sunday in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
That form will come in handy for the crowd-favorites, who, after securing the quarterfinals berth with their 119-107 mastery of Titan Ultra, enter the final stretch of the eliminations with massive challenges to be hurdled.
Ginebra will battle Meralco first on Friday and league-leader Rain or Shine on Sunday, both at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Ginebra will then wrap up the elimination round against TNT and Bol Bol on May 10 at the Mall of Asia Arena. All three games are not just against teams also chasing the top four, but potential playoff foes down the road.
“Of course, the biggest goal now is to get to the top four,” coach Tim Cone said of the twice-to-beat advantage given to the four best teams entering the playoffs. “Last conference, we had to come from the bottom and we know now how tough the road is when you are in the bottom four.
“That’s truly our first goal right now. And then these are the teams we’re gonna be playing if we make it, hopefully, to the semis or the Finals. We will meet them somewhere down the line. So they’ll get to know us, we’ll get to know them.”
The Gin Kings are tied for second with the NLEx Road Warriors at 7-2, trailing only the Elasto Painters with their near-flawless 8-1 win-loss slate. Meralco is at 5-2, followed by TNT at 6-3.
Ginebra beat the Giant Risers despite missing Japeth Aguilar, who has spent the last few days in the hospital after a hard fall in Friday’s tough 115-108 win over the Blackwater Bossing.
Aguilar landed hard on the floor as he was trying to stop the hulking Blackwater import Robert Upshaw III. The injury also made him doubtful for the weekend, though Cone is stressing the importance of his health, rather than his availability.
“We don’t have a timeframe in terms of when he’ll be back in the lineup or if he’s ready to play. I think the first step is getting out of the hospital and then we’ll decide from there,” said Cone, who also tried to give a layman’s explanation of his ward’s condition.
“Basically, he has some air in his lungs or some air in the pockets of his lungs and they had to take it out,” he added.
Without Aguilar, Ginebra got another important contribution from Troy Rosario, who built on his Player of the Game outing against Blackwater by posting 12 points and 13 rebounds against Titan Ultra.
“[My performance] was needed because Japeth was down,” said Rosario. “The bigs have to step up without him and I felt that rebounding was one of the things I could contribute because it is one of my fortes.”
Ginebra has won five in a row and is now the hottest team in the conference after splitting the first four games. The Gin Kings haven’t lost since a heartbreaker against the San Miguel Beermen last April 5.
“I think our chemistry has been very important,” said RJ Abarrientos after scoring 25 against the Giant Risers. “We’ve been digging in during practice on how we can contribute, individually and as a team. I think the mindset of our team, even the third stringers, has been key and that’s what we need in our last three games.”
