CHAMPIONS don’t rest on their laurels– just like reigning titlist Ginebra, which notched its fourth straight win despite playing three games in five days, with its key players also suiting up for two matches for Gilas Pilipinas in the sixth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.
Even Kings coach Tim Cone was left flabbergasted that his charges continue to prove their worth in the Third Conference.
“It’s been really crazy for us and the fact that these guys keep finding a way and reaching deep. It’s just amazing to watch, be a part of it and see it,” Cone said. “We trained Jamie (Malonzo), Justin (Brownlee), and Scottie (Thompson) all the stuff that they’ve been through like I said I was there through that week, and I know how hard that week was during the window.”
“The twice a day practices, staying at the hotel, not being home. It was a tough week, then to come here and play three games in five days, just a testament of character of those guys,” he added.
Cone spoke after Ginebra ripped a suddenly struggling Converge side 120-101 last Sunday night and boosted its bid for a top four finish in the eliminations of the PBA Governors’ Cup.
High-flying wingman Jamie Malonzo dazzled with a career-high 29 points, to go with eight rebounds and five assists for the Kings, while naturalized Filipino Justin Brownlee chipped in 28 markers, 10 boards, and seven dimes.
Christian Standhardinger also added 28 points and 12 rebounds, while Jeremiah Gray had 16 points and five rebounds for Ginebra, which went into the duel armed with a 109-89 dumping of Phoenix four days ago and rose to 7-2 in a tie with San Miguel Beer at second.
The FiberXers absorbed their third loss in a row, counting a numbing 129-132 overtime setback at the hands of Meralco last Friday and wound up their elims campaign with a 6-5 card for seventh.
The top four squads after the eliminations will have win-once incentives against the fifth to eight-ranked teams in the quarterfinals.
With the trio of Brownlee, Thompson, and Gray weary after playing for the nationals in a 107-96 win over Lebanon and a sorry 90-91 defeat to Jordan last week, Cone, also an assistant coach with Gilas, was glad the Kings’ other players are stepping up.
“We always rely on Jamie, Justin and Scottie to be the man on our team, but the other guys stepped up. Nards (Pinto) is playing well, Christian is obviously jumping to a whole new level in Japeth’s (Aguilar) absence,” Cone said.
“We’re also missing LA (Tenorio) so Miah (Gray) is playing big moments especially in the fourth quarter. There’s really been a lot of guys contributing and it’s taking some of the load off the three of them.”
Maverick Ahanmisi paced Converge with 24 points, eight boards and three feeds, while Jeron Teng also had 12 markers.
Justin Arana, David Murrell, and Alec Stockton also got 11, 11, and 10 points, respectively for the FiberXers, whose reinforcement Jamaal Franklin only took five shots overall and finished with only four markers– a far cry from his 57-point explosion where he attempted 36 times in their setback to the Bolts.
