Lee says Magnolia has to go through Ginebra to win PBA title

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

BOCAUE — Losing its fifth straight Manila Clasico, Paul Lee admitted that Ginebra is indeed the biggest thorn in Magnolia’s side.

“Maybe, they’re really one of the humps that we need to overcome for us to get to the championship,” Lee said after the Hotshots fell to the Gin Kings, 78-89 at Philippine Arena.

For the better part of the last three seasons or since coach Tim Cone transferred to Ginebra, it has always been the Gin Kings, who prevail, including the last three Christmas Day duels.

And the Monday tiff was no different as Magnolia struggled to get its offense going with the stingy Ginebra defense in full bloom, forcing the Hotshots to shoot a woeful 36 percent clip and an undesirable 18 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

It also doesn’t help that the Gin Kings dominated the boards, 56-46, including 16 offensive rebounds that led to 21 second chance points.

Lee, however, doesn’t want to dwell on the defeat, but rather, he is taking this as a lesson for Magnolia to become a better team.

“We need to look at the video to see where we lacked on. It’s better if we see it all together so we can improve on that as a team,” he said.

“Every game, we need to give our best. We can’t put Ginebra as the only team we want to beat because we might get beaten by the other teams. We need to prepare for every team, especially the contenders,” he said.