Greg Slaughter powers Ginebra over Globalport in Jeffrey Cariaso’s debut

Greg Slaughter of Ginebra (light) vs Jondan Salvador of GlobalPort (dark). PBA IMAGE by Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines — Greg Slaughter notched a double-double as Barangay Ginebra San Miguel cruised to an 89-71 win over Globalport in the 2014 PBA Governors’ Cup Tuesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Slaughter posted 19 points and 17 rebounds to go along with two blocks for the Kings, who gave Jeffrey Cariaso something to smile about in his head-coaching debut.

“You know what impressed me so far, it’s only been three weeks, is just the guys willing to run the triangle (offense),” Cariaso, a former assistant of the league’s winningest tactician Tim Cone with Alaska and San Mig Coffee before getting the big break with Ginebra, told reporters.

“Greg is your perfect triangle center. He has real good post moves, he doesn’t keep the ball low, he keeps it high so it’s hard for you block it and he’s strong and really big so it’s hard to push him out,” Cariaso said of the seven-foot rookie, who celebrated his 26th birthday Monday.

“Obviously today he was a mismatch for them. They struggled against guarding Greg and he just opened it up for everybody else,” Cariaso added.

Zaccheus Mason led Ginebra with 21 points on top of 15 rebounds. Chris Ellis scored all of his 10 points in the fourth quarter as he kept Globalport from putting up a threatening run in the fourth quarter.

Ginebra for the most part, limited Globalport to just one shot per possession and it showed with the Kings dominating the rebounding department, 60-32, with Slaughter and Mason clogging the paint.

The Batang Pier came back from an 11-point deficit in the first half but they couldn’t put up another rally after the Kings built another double-digit lead in the third quarter.

Ginebra won by a dominating margin despite committing 21 turnovers, 11 more than the errors made by Globalport.

“It’s a part of it (turnovers) to be honest with you because they’re not used to making those passes. Because the triangle is so intricate, you have to be really firm with your passes and when there’s doubt, that’s when the turnovers happen,” Cariaso explained.

“There’s a progression that you have to follow and sometimes when you don’t follow the progression you can’t find anyone to pass to. So hopefully we’ll be able clean that up.”

Fortunately for the Kings, the Batang Pier failed to capitalize with their miscues with just nine turnover points. And interestingly, it was Ginebra that was able to feast off Globalport’s 10 errors with 22 points.

Returning import Leroy Hickerson topscored with 30 points while veteran point guard Alex Cabagnot added 21 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Batang Pier.

Originally posted: 10:49 pm | Tuesday, May 20th, 2014

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