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[av_heading heading=’Ginebra to bank on defense in Game 4 ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings will rely on its defense as it seeks an equalizer in Game 4 of the 2016 Oppo PBA Governor’s Cup Finals against Meralco Bolts 8:10 p.m. tonight at Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Kings head coach Tim Cone said he was frustrated during their 107-103 Game 3 loss to Bolts on Wednesday night. He claimed his players allowed their opponents to score at will from inside and outside.
“Defensively, we weren’t real good (in Game 3). We just gave up 107 points to Meralco, and it’s just too much,” Cone said. “We just did not play to our identity. I was upset from the first minute onwards, upset for 48 minutes.”
Cone also failed to use his ploy of Solomon Mercado defending Bolts import Allen Durham as the former got into early foul trouble. Durham, a Best Import awardee, finished the match with 32 points and 20 rebounds.
“I just think we did not play to our identity, and if we have forgotten it, we have to remember it a hurry or these things will get away from us if weren’t careful,” said the two-time Grand Slam mentor.
Despite another tightly contested game, Bolts came up the victor in Game 3 following impressive outputs from Durham and Chris Newsome and late triples by Jimmy Alapag and Bacolod City native Reynel Hugnatan.
But Bolts head coach Norman Black remains wary as he expects Cone and Kings to make major adjustments heading into the match tonight, just like they did in their 82-79 Game 2 win.
“So far it’s a game of adjustments here in the PBA Finals. I am expecting coach Tim to make adjustments defensively. We just got to be ready for anything they will do,” said Black.
“We’re getting closer to where we want to be. We really wanted to take Game 3 because we feel that it would give us an advantage going further into the series,” he said./PN
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