DEFENDING champion Ginebra is out to do an encore to its emphatic win against a TNT side that simply threw bricks in the opener of the Big Dance.
But Kings coach Tim Cone insisted the Tropang Giga’s struggles in a 90-102 loss in Game 1 last Sunday would likely not happen anew, at least in back-to-back games.
“They didn’t have a great shooting night, but they’re going to have two or three games where they just shoot the lights out and there’s probably nothing we can do about it,” Cone said.
“In Game 1, that didn’t happen, so we were able to control the game a little bit,” he added.
Ginebra seeks a commanding 2-0 lead when it squares off with TNT tonight in Game 2 of their best-of-7 finals clash for the PBA Governors’ Cup crown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The match is set at 5:45 p.m., with the Kings bidding to move within two victories of reaching the Promised Land for the third straight time and fifth in the last six editions of the Third Conference.
The Tropang Giga will go into the game determined not to fall into a 0-2 hole in the race-to-4 series and instead will try to make it a best-of-5.
The likes of naturalized Filipino player Justin Brownlee, reigning MVP Scottie Thompson, Christian Standhardinger, Jamie Malonzo, Jeremiah Gray, and Stanley Pringle will boost Ginebra’s hopes.
With veteran big man Kelly Williams sitting out the first tiff (calf), TNT tactician Jojo Lastimosa took center JP Erram to task for losing his cool that led to two straight fouls on Standhardinger early in the fourth quarter. Erram fouled out with still 9:51 to go.
The Tropang Giga also lost another big man in Justin Chua due to a knee injury early in the duel.
“We talked about it as a staff and I already talked about it and I was actually pissed at him (Erram), and his teammates were actually getting on him because he’s beginning to be a distraction when he complains too much,” Lastimosa said.
“We need Poy. We need him, we need his head to be in the game. Now that Justin is out, and Kelly’s out, so who do we have?”
Even Cone sees the value of the 6-foot-8 Erram.
“They’re missing Kelly Williams and so, without Kelly to back up Poy or Poy backing up Kelly, they have to go small against us and that causes problems for us in terms of matchups, but it also causes problems for them as well,” he said.
“It’s basically whoever’s going to take advantage of that situation. Poy’s a really important part of what they do because he is a guy that protects the rim. He has the size to play Christian (Standhardinger) and he can also go to the help on Justin (Brownlee).”
TNT will rely on import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Mikey Williams, Roger Pogoy, Jayson Castro, and Calvin Oftana.
