MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings aim to widen their advantage in Game 2 of their 2020 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup finals against TNT Tropang Giga at the AUF Sports Arena and Cultural Center in Pampanga tonight.
The crowd’s favorite will enter the match set at 6 p.m. with a 1-0 advantage following a 100-94 overtime triumph over the Tropang Giga behind the solid efforts of Japeth Aguilar, Stanley Pringle and rookie Arvin Tolentino.
More than the trio’s offense, Kings head coach Tim Cone was also able to rely on the veteran smarts of guard LA Tenorio, who tallied double-double 12 points and 10 assists in the win.
“They were doing a really good job on Stanley, switching out and doubling him down the stretch so we started to put the ball in LA’s hands and making him make the decisions,” Cone said. “He was really asking for it. He was asking for the ball.”
“He’s used to that kind of situation where he has the ball in his hands. I remember saying to the team as we are going into the timeout, I was yelling, that’s how you are a team. Everybody is contributing,” he added.
Cone, however, hopes that contributions from other players such as Earl Scottie Thompson, Aljon Mariano, Jared Dillinger, and Negrenses Jeffrei Chan and Joe Devance will also come as the series progresses.
“We have a lot of contributions and that’s the way it’s going to have to be when we play in this team. No person is able to beat Talk ‘N Text. It’s going to be as a team, everybody contributing, everybody stepping up,” Cone said.
“This is just the first game. There’s going to be a lot of back and forth in terms of everything – scoring, adjustments – and seeing how fresh people can stay through this rigorous, really rigorous, seven-game series,” he added.
Tropang Giga mentor Ferdinand “Bong” Ravena, for his part, said his team should be on their toes tonight or they will be in trouble against the sharp offense of Barangay Ginebra.
“We should learn from Game 1 and, hopefully, it will be a different ball game on Wednesday,” said the Ilonggo head coach.
The Kings, who captured the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup title last January, are eyeing their second consecutive title, first All-Filipino since 2007. The Tropang Giga, on the other hand, aims to hoist a PBA title for the first time since 2015./PN
