Barangay Ginebra guard Scottie Thompson during Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals.–PBA IMAGES
Barangay Ginebra is starting to get back on its feet in the PBA Governors’ Cup and play the role of a title contender to the hilt. And cornerstone Scottie Thompson is obviously thrilled that this is happening sooner than later.
“We are still figuring things out, but I’m happy,” the do-it-all playmaker told reporters in Filipino recently. “As a team, we’re finally starting to recover.”
The crowd darlings split their first four outings here and are coming off a convincing 119-91 win over NLEX last Tuesday. Ginebra now holds a 2-2 mark, with a chance to finally get a streak going late Friday night against struggling Phoenix.
“Of course, we want to keep winning, but whatever the results may be, we’re thinking of the bigger picture,” Thompson added. “The playoffs—I hope by the time we get there, our chemistry is well and we’re on the same page with the system that coach Tim (Cone) wants to [run].”
Learning curve
Like another all-around talent in Justin Brownlee, Thompson would’ve wanted a good start for his crew, but he understands that there’s a learning curve that Ginebra has to go through with the entry of a lot of new faces.
“It’s been tough, especially for the newcomers,” the former league MVP said of Cone’s triangle offense. “The veterans really need to be role models during practices.”
Rookie of the Year Stephen Holt, No. 3 pick RJ Abarrientos, Maverick Ahanmisi, and Thompson—who played his finest game thus far after dealing with a bad back—were all big against the Road Warriors, all of them putting up at least 19 points each in the triumph that allowed core players Brownlee and Japeth Aguilar to take their feet off the pedal a bit.
And that’s quite the springboard for the long game Ginebra needs.
“I really thought we played with a good tempo and I thought other guys, other than Justin, stepped up and played aggressively and looked for their shots, especially Stephen, RJ, and Scottie—and that takes the pressure off Justin,” Cone said.
“(We are) slowly getting there,” Thompson said of Ginebra’s form.
“Our new guys have high basketball IQ. And like I’ve said, we’re all thinking about the bigger picture so that by playoff time or crucial games, we’re at our peak and we’re already accustomed to each other’s way of playing,” he said.