Feasting in the paint against the smaller TNT frontline, Greg Slaughter had a field day in Game 1 of 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals series on Monday with 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four blocks.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise, especially with the Cebuano giant averaging 14.3 markers, 9.3 boards, this conference.
Slaughter, however, argues that he’s still far from his peak form.
“I definitely don’t feel that I’m at 100 percent,” he said.
Despite of that, the towering big man is doing everything he could to help the Gin Kings, with his main fuel his desire to help the Kings successfully defend their throne.
“I’m giving my all for this postseason. I know I still got a lot of work to do, especially after this conference. I know I’ll be working hard, but for now, there’s nothing I can do now. We got to play these games every other day, so whatever I can give, I’ll give to the team,” he said.
And one of his main focal points is on the defensive end, as evidenced by Ginebra limiting TNT to just 40 percent from the field to come away with the 121-94 blowout win.
“I think we came out really aggressive and did well on the defensive end. That’s our calling card, it’s how hard and how aggressive we play on defense,” he said.
But Slaughter knows the KaTropa are no pushovers as he prepares for a tougher fight from them come Wednesday in Batangas for Game 2.
“We know TNT is a very dangerous team. We were able to play good defense on them now, but it wasn’t too long ago that they scored 120 on us. So we just got to stay aggressive on defense, maintain our defensive intensity, and just keep executing on our offense, and you know, just have each other’s backs like we did this past couple of games,” he said.