GINEBRA succeeded in putting the cuffs on reigning eight-time MVP June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer in Game 1 of their PBA Philippine semifinals showdown last Wednesday night.
Also spelling doom for the Beermen was a right calf injury the 6-foot-10 behemoth battled through in the series opener—one that the Kings pounced on.
“We saw that June Mar was getting treatment on the sidelines, so we took advantage of the times that he was absent on the floor to get back in the game. When he’s on the floor, it’s just really, really tough. The good news is that we just battled tonight. We didn’t play great. We didn’t shoot great. We didn’t even really defend that great,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said. “We haven’t played here in Mall of Asia Arena for quite a while, so it was a little difficult for us in terms of getting the feel for the rims.
“We didn’t have a chance to practice or shoot here, but the bottom line is we found a way, but it’s only one game. We’ve got to be playing better than this as the series goes, for us to have a chance, but it’s nice always to get the lead in the series,” he added.
Cone’s sentiments came on the heels of his wards’ 73-71 squeaker, where they charged back from an 18-point deficit to grab the early lead in the Last Four.
Fajardo, the pacesetter for the import-less meet’s Best Player of the Conference award, bled for his points—a paltry six-point total, although he did pull down 19 rebounds.
Cone lauded his shock troopers that rose to the challenge when veteran slotman Japeth Aguilar was hounded by foul woes.
“It was a special reason for that. It was basically because Japeth got into early foul trouble. He got two fouls in the first minute and a half of the game and then got another foul in the second quarter and then another foul in the third that gave him four fouls. We had planned defenses for when Raymond (Aguilar), Ben (Adamos), and Troy (Rosario) had to guard June Mar,” he said.
“We didn’t execute them as well as we could. We hope that we can get better at that as the series goes along, as we get more practice on it but they stepped up, especially Raymond.”
Aguilar uncorked 18 points and grabbed nine boards, on top of two assists for the Kings, while former MVP Scottie Thompson added 16 markers and eight caroms.
Jamie Malonzo also got 14 and five as Ginebra seeks a commanding 2-0 lead today in the second tiff amid uncertainty on whether Fajardo will play.
