GINEBRA can always rely on prized import Justin Brownlee, reigning MVP Scottie Thompson, or its young guns in Jamie Malonzo and Jeremiah Gray.
But in moments like these — in the playoffs where the stakes are high — count on Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio to deliver.
With Aguilar and Tenorio showing the way, the Kings ripped the Magnolia Hotshots 99-84 yesterday in Game 4 of their best-of-5 semifinals duel to reach the finals of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Aguilar wound up with 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and issued three assists for Ginebra, while Tenorio sank four three-pointers and finished with 18 markers, five boards, and five dimes.
The two veterans’ big contributions complemented Brownlee’s game-highs of 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Thompson and Malonzo also had 18 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Kings.
The emphatic win served as a fitting follow up to Ginebra’s 103-80 thumping of Magnolia in the third game four days ago as the Kings wrapped up the series 3-1.
The charges of coach Tim Cone advanced to the Big Dance of the same mid-season tourney for the first time since 2018 where they will take on either defending champion San Miguel Beer or foreign guest team Bay Area in a best-of-7 finals series.
The Dragons, holding a 2-1 edge in their semis showdown, clashed with the Beermen in Game 4 at press time last night.
Game 1 of the finals is set on Christmas day, Dec. 25, also at the same Pasay-based venue.
“I’m just thankful we don’t have to play a Game 5 against this team. We talked about how to say no to a Game 5. I put all the eggs in the basket but that’s not really the expression.
I said we have to put all our eggs in one basket — that’s really the expression and we did,” Cone said. “These guys didn’t leave anything. They didn’t think about beyond this game.
“One thing that’s awesome about this team is we truly have great leadership, and they take responsibility not just for themselves, like LA, he doesn’t take responsibility for himself just to get prepared and ready and get mentally locked in. He takes it upon himself to make sure the rest of his teammates are locked in,” he added.
The Kings bucked the ejection of big man Christian Standhardinger early in the first quarter and took a 53-41 lead at the halfway mark.
A Brownlee putback off an Aguilar missed layup stretched Ginebra’s lead to as much as 71-47 with 6:25 remaining in the third canto.
The Kings went into the final stanza with an 82-68 spread and never looked back from there.
Calvin Abueva paced the Hotshots with 14 points, six caroms, and two feeds, while reinforcement Nick Rakocevic added 13 and 13. Jio Jalalon also contributed 12 markers for Magnolia.
